1930 DC Dodge Gas sender unit gears

[Kevin bc]

Just a bit of info that may help DC Dodge owners with a faulty gas sender unit

 

       After pulling 3 old sender units to pieces looking for a good set of muck metal gears, a friend with a DA suggested that "MYERS" had brass gears for DA's listed, which might be similar to what I was looking for. They certainly looked similar, so took a chance and contacted Cindy, and I had a set from the States to Australia in 9 days. Best delivery time I have ever had from the states. When they arrived they were identical to my muck metal cogs

 

I had to do a few things to get them to fit the DC, but I think the same would be needed for the DA

I had to surface the faces of the crown wheel to fit inside the frame.

I had to run a drill through the crown wheel to take the large headed screw that holds the crown wheel,( only a small clearance was required) and then drill the crown wheel adjacent to the teeth to take the  side spring &  large head of the crown wheel screw. 

To remove the old crown wheel from float wire, a electric soldering iron soon loosened  the wire. There are some  crimp grooves in the float wire which bonded with  the crown wheel metal. I smoothed them a little to get the new crown wheel onto the wire which I then soldered.

At this stage the Crown wheel & float could be fitted  to the frame, and looked the part.

 

The old pinion gear on mine had been fitted with a small split pin(Other one was pressed on). When the pinion gear was removed this shaft too had some grooves to stop the pinion moving.

 

Looking at the assembly I decided that as I wanted to solder the pinion on, the shaft would have to come out so I could fit & solder the pinion gear on, without trying to negotiate the confines of the frame. The only problem here was that once the pinion was soldered on, you could not put the shaft back in, because of the top unit wiper arm. This part nessitates the removal of 5 rivits to remove the top of the unit to get the shaft out

 

Any way the wiper arm just presses off using a very small long shafted punch, not too much force needed to move it, then the shaft can be refitted from the bottom, and the wiper arm refitted.

I mentioned the grooves in this shaft for the pinion, and they are also at the wiper end. I had to smooth these off slightly to fit the pinion before soldering it, and also at the wiper end so that the shaft passed freely through the frame at the pinion end ,and through the collar at the wiper end.

 

On the top resistance section I  had drilled the rivets out so that the top could be removed, as I wanted to check the condition of the rheostat, wiper arm etc. Just be careful if you do this as the little spring inside the wiper arm is very hard to see once it has sprung somewhere in the shed.

 

The top has 10 holes in it & it only fits in one position. . With this top off  you can see where the rheostat wire starts and finishes to line up the wiper arm with the meshing of the cogs.

My 40 years as a technician helped with getting the unit back together & working. Might be something not to play with if you don,t have fiddley fingers.

 

A little bit of fiddling may be needed to ensure proper meshing of the gears. I had to fit a small washer above the pinion gear to mesh the gears correctly

 

Hooked the gauge, and sender unit up to a 6v lantern battery, and away the gas gauge went, empty to full as the float was moved, and back the other way.

The spring in the wiper arm is a very soft compression spring. If you loose it & replace it with a  stronger spring it will put more load on the wiper arm and  make the movement of the float stiffer, but the sloshing of the gas should still move it OK.

 

Kevin BC

[Spinneyhill]

Thanks for that Kevin. Mine has brass gears; I thought they were mechano because the frame was made of mechano when I got it. Can you post some pictures please? My rheostat is nothing like the original but it sort of works, once I spend some time setting it up. The resistance change is not smooth. One day I'll find something better. I have mine apart at the moment. It is was hard to find the wee tubular rivets to put it back together.

[Ron Lawson]

Spinneyhill I have heaps of those little aluminium rivets If you need some flick me a p/m with your address and I'll get some off to you  

The same goes for any one else that needs some   Ron

[gundog99]

Could you post some pictures? I wonder if these gears be fitted to the Senior sender, my sender gears appear to be so worn that the unit has now stopped working.

[Kevin bc]

Will post some photos so as soon as I work out how to, never posted photos before, looks easier to restore a car than operate technology.

 

Kevin BC

[Kevin bc]

 

Spinneyhill & Gundog9

Here are a few photos, that may help you.

1st one of new gears fitted to old unit(note the washer above pinion to ensure good mesh)

2nd - view of inside rheostat showing condition  of windings

3rd - Insulation pieces for inside & outside of rheostat unit

4th - Screw & spring that holds crown wheel in place, along with the 2 brass tubes that provide the wiper  arm in the top of the rheostat unit (small spring not shown)

5th - whats left of 2 sets of muck metal gears

 

Kevin bc

[Spinneyhill]

Thanks very much Kevin. Mine looks nothing like that! At least I now see the shape of the frame below the rheostat housing. I fashioned something out of zinc plated steel to replace the Mechano stuff that was a bit flexible. I don't know where the rheostat came from.

[Kevin bc]

Spinneyhill

 

Your rheostat certainly looks very different. Doesn't look Mopar, probally grabbed off something else when the orig gave up the ghost. Looking at the construction of the top it appears similar in construction, but  looks to be a high class product off a higher luxury market car.

 

Kevin bc

[Spinneyhill]

I am not sure it is an automotive rheostat. I wonder about a heater or some other domestic appliance.