Repro Ring and Pinion Gear Suppliers

[1913Moline]

Anyone have any recommendations for a supplier of repro high speed gearsets? It is pretty easy to find a gear house to do these if you want to order twenty of them. I have a friend that wants to buy 1 set!! These are spiral bevel gears- not hypoid.

Anyone actually done this recently?

Greg

[Restorer32]

Lots of luck. If you do find anyone I would love to know who and how much.

[21raceabout]

I got in on a set of new ring and pinion gears for Lhead Mercer a few years back with several other owners. It was coordinated by an owner in Florida. I believe there were 10 sets made, at a cost of about $600 per set. As it is usually the set up time that costs, I would imagine a single set would run $3000 or more... I could try to find out the manufacturer if you are still interested.

[1913Moline]

If you could find the name of the supplier, that would be great. A ring and pinion swap is so much cleaner than an overdrive setup, particularly the larger displacement cars of the teens and twenties.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Greg

[Friartuck]

Within the past two years, an attempt was made to have a common set of high-speed ring & pinion gears made for both late model L and early model K Lincolns. Commonality was key because 30 sets could have been made (0.200 inch on the pinion was only difference). This differed from a run of gears done in the 1980?s for model L?s at a ratio of 3.77:1. Great on flat highway but some say the ratio went too far and cars lugged up hills. The original ratios were 4.58:1 for sedans and 4.26:1 for the roadster. The new ratio selected was 3.95:1. Conclusion: Care should be taken when selecting the ratio.

Fairfield Gear in Lafayette, Indiana takes on these projects and usually charges about $3500 set-up cost and the price would have been about $800 a set in quantities of 25. The project did not go through as planned and Mr. Phil Bray, ORF Corp., Grosse Ile, Michigan offered to make the sets. He charged a flat rate of $1,450 per set in quantity of 12.

[Guest imported_oldmitchell]

This may not even apply, but a friend of mine was mentioning that he had seen ring and pinion gear sets in a McMaster Carr catalogue. If that doesn't work try an old time gear shop. Sometimes another make of rear end gears can be made to fit. I know of a 1910 or so Hudson that has Chevy internals in the rear.

[A. Woolf]

McMaster-Carr does carry a limited selection of gear sets. They have one in a 3 to 1 ratio that might be good for a smaller car. It may not be big enough in your situation.

Someone you might check with is a company named REMPCO in Cadillac, MI (www.rempco.com 1-800-736-0108). I met Gilbert Hall at Hershey in his space in the Red Field last year and he has a commercial machine shop but is an old car guy and machines parts for cars. He made a worm gear (see pictures) that we needed for our Stanley at a reasonable cost and turned it around quickly. I would contact him and see if he can do what you need done.

Alan

[Peter J.Heizmann]

The scenario, of which, this thread paints is exactly the same as what I have been saying considering "odd-ball, one of a kind type castings".

If you could find more car owners who share the same problem, get a quote from a reputable shop, enlist car owners (investors) who require the same, and, lower the "set-up, or, tooling costs".

Regards and good luck, Peter J.