 |
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|||||
|
Installing Overdrive in Drive Line 1. Trial fit the overdrive unit to the torque tube by mating the splines in the overdrive with the torque tube (Photo 7). It should fit flush on the torque tube without excess pressure. Gear Vendors provides two different couplings to fit early and late Ghosts. The early Ghost coupling is deeper and will not mate properly to a later Ghost’s torque tube. Bob Thompson suggests you trial fit the overdrive to the torque tube with a piece of plastigage on the end of the splined shaft to be sure there is end clearance between the overdrive unit and the torque tube. 2. Bolt the overdrive unit to the torque tube (Photo 3). You may find it easier to substitute short 5/16” BSF nuts in place of the long, original Rolls-Royce nuts in a few positions due to interference with the overdrive case. 3. Trial fit the coarse splined end of the shaft (Photo 8) provided with the overdrive to the sphere. Be sure the splines mate easily with a slip fit. The shaft should seat deep enough into the sphere so that the splines are completely inside the sphere. If the splines are visible outside the sphere, check the following: A. The shaft supplied by Gear Vendors may bind in the sphere and require light filing for a slip fit. The author’s shaft could only be inserted about ½” and would bind. Layout blue was sprayed on the coarse splines and refitted. The layout blue indicated the grooves between the splines were binding in the sphere. Light filing in each of the grooves eliminated the problem. B. On late English Ghosts, there is a bell-mouthed shaped oil baffle sweated into the rear sphere housing that was designed to retain oil in the sphere (Photo 9). With the baffle fitted, the opening is too small to allow the overdrive shaft with the circlip attached (Photo 10) to be fully inserted into the sphere. Jim Stroman encountered this problem on Jim Armstrong’s Ghost, 74AU, and also found the remedy. The oil baffle is sweated in and can be accessed by removing the back half of the sphere. Apply heat to the edges of the oil baffle to melt the solder, and lightly tap the oil baffle out from inside the sphere. The author encountered this obstacle on 3AU. To remove the back half of the sphere, remove the four 5/16” BSF nuts at the top and bottom of the sphere. Remove the 12 - 3/16” BSF nuts on each side of the sphere and the underlying washers. You should be able to withdraw the back half of the sphere to gain access to the oil baffle at the workbench. New leather washers designed to seal the floating edge of the sphere should be refitted and are available from Coldwell Engineering.5 The leather washer seals (RR part # G6584) are designed to keep oil in the sphere and water out. 4. Push or pull the axle and torque tube back under the chassis while lining up the rear spring connections. Bill Kennedy used a rope to pull the axle and torque tube back under the chassis. If you roll the axle and torque tube assembly back under the chassis on the brake drums, note that the splined shaft in the overdrive rotates as the brake drums turn, making the final alignment with the fixed sphere difficult. Use the rolling jack to lift the brake drums off the ground and roll the axle and torque tube the last few inches on the jack to mate with the sphere. An assistant can turn a rear brake drum to precisely line up the splined shaft from the overdrive to mate with the sphere. The front shaft of the overdrive should have a circlip (Photo 8 & 11) positioned near the shaft’s end with coarse splines. Be sure the circlip is in place since it prevents the splined shaft from shifting forward into the sphere and slipping out of the overdrive unit splines. Bolt the front of the overdrive unit to the sphere with the splined shaft installed in the overdrive unit (Photo 11). The overdrive unit is heavier than the front section of the torque tube that was removed. You may need assistance in holding the unit up while it is reconnected to the sphere. David Morrison suggests using a block and tackle or ‘come-along’ to lift the torque tube and support it while refitting to the sphere. 5. Check the clearance between the overdrive and the brake equalizer bar. On some chassis, the breather plug on top of the overdrive is directly beneath the brake equalizer bar. Some installations have had the breather plug smash against the brake equalizer bar when the springs bottom out. If your brake equalizer bar is directly above the breather, Gear Vendors suggests you remove the rear leaf springs and jack up the differential against the axle stops to check the clearance between the breather and brake equalizer bar. WARNING: Contact between the overdrive and brake equalizer bar while driving could cause damage to the overdrive and affect the structural integrity of the driveline. Gear Vendors recommends that taller axle stops be installed or the existing axle stops shimmed to limit the travel if the overdrive case touches the brake equalizer bar. Gear Vendors now supplies a low profile breather plug on new units (Photo 12) and does not recommend grinding down the rib adjacent to the plug since it weakens the structural integrity of the unit (Photo 13). You can replace the rubber axle stops with taller ones (approximately 2" suggested by David Morrison), or extend the existing ones with a block of wood or aluminum. 6. Reconnect the shock absorbers, springs and brake cables.
|
|||||
|
Section 1 - Disconnecting Torque Tube |
|||||