Once I had the Michigan up the hill and on the street, Janet & I took a very short journey down the block.
Janet & Craig’s first & very short ride in the finished Michigan.
It was immediately clear that the clutch was not working well and was rapidly becoming inoperable. We quickly put the car into our regular garage and I sought out the problem.
Our 1914 Model T Ford and the 1912 Michigan in the garage.
Apparently the bolts holding the throw-out bearing pressure plate were unscrewing themselves, thereby lengthening the throw of the throw-out bearing. The clutch pedal went to the floor without anything happening. So, I screwed the bolts back in and figured, that I simply hadn’t tightened them enough. Then reinstalled the heavy and greasy U joints. That should do it………………… wrong. (At the time of this posting – Jan. 8, 2022, this problem was to revisit us several more times — until we resolved the problem — maybe? I hope!)
The next issue was one that presented itself when trying to get the car turned around to go up the hill from the workshop. (just prior to the video, above) The car made fine RIGHT turns, but LEFT turns were very restricted. I was really scratching my head trying to figure out what was wrong with the steering gear or front suspension. Had I broken something? No — I hadn’t. It was just a small installation error. The pitman arm was hitting a nut that fastened the steering gear to the frame. I needed to reverse the ends of the bolts so that the bolt head (narrow) would be adjacent to the pitman arm (allowing it to pass by). The nut side stuck out too far and stopped the arm from swinging the necessary distance to allow a proper left turn. Problem solved.
On October 10, 2021, we got the car back out started it up and took it down the street. Same problem – shifting becomes very difficult when the throw-out pressure plate unscrews itself and gets loose. I barely made it back into the garage after a 3/4 mile lap around the neighborhood. This issue clearly required more thought and a permanent fix.
This time I completely removed the pressure plate/throw-out bearing retainer. It was held on by 4 slotted bolts, that were made to be tightened with a screwdriver (not a whole lot of torque). I replaced these with 5/16″ x 18 t.p.i. socket cap screw bolts with lock washers. Close examination of the retaining plate revealed punch indentations adjacent to the four plate holes. Apparently I was not the first person to experience this problem. The original slotted bolts had been “staked” by a previous repair person. STAKING is a method (not a very good one) of stopping a bolt or screw from loosening. A metal punch is used with a hammer to put a dent in a bolt or the adjacent metal to use the burr created by the punch to keep the bolt from unscrewing. It permanently deforms the metal and sometimes works.
Dents adjacent to the 4 central holes in the plate show “staking” of the slotted (right group) bolts. Left group & lock washers for replacement.
The new socket cap bolts were inserted and tightened with an Allen wrench. This should hold a lot better than the slotted bolts.
The leaky rear hubs were the next issue. Gear oil from the differential was finding its way out the axle tubes to the wheel bearings and out onto the wheels and rear brakes. In the two brief rides we took with the Michigan, it was noticeable that the car did not really want to stop. This is a very not good condition. Oil and grease from prior use of the car (probably about 100 years ago) had saturated the brake pads (inside the drums) and the brake bands (outside the drums). New leaks from the axle tubes would not improve our stopping power.
Heavy gear oil from the differential flows down the axle tubes and escapes onto the wheel and brake drum.
The solution to the leaking oil is a set of seals. The inboard side of the hub has a rotting leather seal with what appears to be oakum packing (Nasty fibrous oily tarry burlap) providing packing behind the seal. This seal has failed. So we need to find a solution.
The old leather is tediously riveted in place with copper rivets. Because these seals are notoriously leaky, and replacing it would be a truly awful project requiring the creation of new tools to fit into the very tight dome area, we are going to try a work around. If the work around fails, this will be a future project. What is also missing is several felt seals that go on both sides of the hub.
Inside of Rear Wheel
The next project was to cut felt seals of the correct dimensions. To do this I needed to create a set of cutting dies to be used in my hydraulic press. The felt is one half inch thick so scissors are not very useful. Dies were made from short pieces of tubing which I sharpened on one side in my lathe. Then the felt was placed on a flat piece of scrap wood, the die positioned on the felt, and the ram for the press positioned above a chunk of steel to spread the force over the entire circumference of the tubing section. Then apply pressure from the hydraulic jack.
Dies and cut felt seals
Ready to cut the felt seal.
Several sizes of felt seals were required for the rear axles.
While I was workin on the rear axles, it became obvious that I needed to work on the brakes. They were both (internal hand brake and external foot brake) saturated with old oil. These original brakes were lined with what is undoubtedly asbestos, and – other than being oil soaked, were in remarkably good shape.
Royal Equipment Co. Duplex brakes with Raybestos brand lining – and a lot of grease & oil.
I cooked the brakes in bath of super degreaser that I have used previously for 36 hours at about 150 degrees (TASC – Total Aqueous Systems Cleaner from Green Power Chemicals). It removed a lot of oil, but unfortunately not all. I will get to revisit the brake linings at some point in the future, because they still are not as grippy as they need to be.
Cooking the brakes.
The week of October 24 – 31, 2021, Janet’s sister Sally and her husband Clarence Davis flew in for a visit…… and as always, Clarence got drafted to work on the Michigan. (He and Sally were custodians for the car from 2011 to 2013 and restoration contributors all along.) We got busy working on the rear axles to stop the leaking. We installed new felt seals, new oakum packing behind the felts, an O-ring just because and a squirt or two of magic Ultra Black RTV sealant. We will see how it all works…………………………….. or doesn’t.
Clarence cradles an axle while I prepare to commit modern automotive sacrilege with silicone sealant.
With the rear axles installed with new and non-leaky seals (we hope), the next order of business is to fill the differential with heavy oil. My horseless carriage consultants advised that if the SAE 140 weight stuff was moving out the axle housings and escaping into the brakes, I should GO BIG. Use SAE 1500 weight. This is seriously viscous stuff. Start pouring it in now and by next October, it should be in the differential. But seriously, we did heat it in a water bath before trying to pour it in. And we did get some lunch while the last glops got differentiated.
Clarence bides his time while the goop in the funnel slowly follows gravity.
After lunch, it was time to see if our work paid off. Let’s go for a ride! BUT WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!
What’s that horrible grinding in REVERSE?
I hadn’t used REVERSE before. And that sounds like marbles in a blender. Oh dear. That is NOT good. Put the car back in the garage. We have to figure out what that noise is about. But not today. If we cannot get a ride in the Michigan we’ll have to go do something else. Since we have been dealing with slow viscous fluids…….. we naturally needed to visit…
The LA BREA TAR PITS! Home of real fossil fuels – Pleistocene pachyderms among others.