Thread: New Member Would Like To Know.

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Would Like The Opinion Of You Guys If A Stock '40 Ford Rear End In A '24 Roadster Would Take The Strain Of A 350 Sbc?

That depends entirely on you. One hammer and it is history.

At one time this was all we had. It was an upgrade in our hot rods from the weaker ones that were available up until that time, but it certainly had it's limitations. The '37-40 units are somewhat less prone to breakage than the earlier ones.

Here were some of the weak spots in the banjos:

1) Axle keys and keyways. You can buy (or at least you could at one time ) hardened racing keys that held up better than the stock ones, which were prone to shearing off. Sometimes the keyway itself would break out.

2) Ring gears would flex away from the pinion and take some teeth off.

3) The driveshaft itself would snap off. This was sometimes a bigger problem than the rear itself.

4) The axles would snap off on the tapered end. When this happened there was NOTHING to keep the wheel from coming off the car! Most racing associations made you run these retainers (shown below) They clamped over the brake drum and if the axle broke it would be held in place. Speedway still carries them.

If you want the banjo for the oldtimey look you will have to put up with it's weaknesses, and probably become quite good at changing keys and parts. On the other hand, there were a whole lot of drag and lakes cars running these until better ones came out.........and then we changed them as soon as they DID come out.

Don

Whoops, forgot my manners. Welcome to the forum.

Thanks to all for you advice. Glad to be on board.