Fordson WOT6

[Motleyholt]

wheel nuts as requested, 3 left and 3 right. I can have more parts if you need any. The rear brake linkage is mostly there.

[67burwood]

4 hours ago, Motleyholt said:

wheel nuts as requested, 3 left and 3 right. I can have more parts if you need any. The rear brake linkage is mostly there.

Many thanks Martin, I’ll pm you to arrange p&p. 
 

I’d also like to thank members of the Early Ford V8 Club UK for coming up trumps with a replacement transfer lever button. 

[67burwood]

21 hours ago, Richard Farrant said:

On the WOT6 that I was involved in restoring, I rewired it myself and it is quite a simple system. When you put the wiring to the rear of the vehicle, just use trailer cable and that will suit all your needs. The instrument panel is dead easy to access.

regards, Richard

Hi Richard

quick question, do you remember if the wot6 you worked on had axle breathers ? I can’t find anything obvious on mine.

Seamus

[Richard Farrant]

4 minutes ago, 67burwood said:

Hi Richard

quick question, do you remember if the wot6 you worked on had axle breathers ? I can’t find anything obvious on mine.

Seamus

Sorry, you have got me there, I cannot remember now, must have been about 15 years ago. I don't have a manual either.

Richard

[67burwood]

8 minutes ago, Richard Farrant said:

Sorry, you have got me there, I cannot remember now, must have been about 15 years ago. I don't have a manual either.

Richard

No worries, I picked up a workshop manual recently but haven’t had a chance to read through it yet, I checked the front diff oil level last weekend and there was some pressure build up but no obvious breather, I’ll refer to the manual to see what I can find. 
 

Seamus 

[Motleyholt]

1 hour ago, 67burwood said:

No worries, I picked up a workshop manual recently but haven’t had a chance to read through it yet, I checked the front diff oil level last weekend and there was some pressure build up but no obvious breather, I’ll refer to the manual to see what I can find. 

Pressure or vacuum? Vacumn would be fairly normal for old breathers with a valve/ball bearing in. Pressure can escape but water can't get in. Net result slight vacumn when cold.

[67burwood]

1 hour ago, Motleyholt said:

Pressure or vacuum? Vacumn would be fairly normal for old breathers with a valve/ball bearing in. Pressure can escape but water can't get in. Net result slight vacumn when cold.

Cold axle and now you mention it it could have been vacuum, I just remember undoing the level plug and hearing a very slight noise, I’ll pay more attention when I check the rear. 

[67burwood]

WHAT AM I MISSING!!

So….I’ve been working my way through the running gear cleaning, checking, servicing etc and noticed that the truck wasn’t engaging 4 wheel drive, there’s only one adjustment which is on the connecting rod, the previous owner had this screwed fully in

 

 

Simple I through, take the rod off, unsieze it and adjust, the manual said place transfer lever in 4 wheel drive and adjust rod, which I did and happy to say 4 WD now works……but…..now I don’t have 2WD 🤔

There is only 2 positions for the transfer lever

 

Ok, I’ve adjusted to far, to adjust the rod you have to remove it each time and screw in or out as it can’t be adjusted in situ 🤨

I’ve removed all the linkages, cleaned and checked there working freely 

 

 

So basically I can only have 2WD and neutral or 4WD and neutral, it’s as if there’s not enough travel on the transfer lever, in the picture above you can see the positions on the transfer box which are located by a sprung load pin. 
 

Any ideas welcome, I’ve spend several hours and I am getting nowhere!! 

[Richard Farrant]

As your WOT6 now has a different engine, does it mean that the mounting point of the operating lever in the cab has been changed, as this could have a bearing on your problem. Never had any issues with this on the WOT6 that I worked on as it had original V8 fitted.

[67burwood]

15 minutes ago, Richard Farrant said:

As your WOT6 now has a different engine, does it mean that the mounting point of the operating lever in the cab has been changed, as this could have a bearing on your problem. Never had any issues with this on the WOT6 that I worked on as it had original V8 fitted.

Yes that’s something I had looked at, there are a couple of shims under the mounting bracket so it misses a bell housing bolt but it fully engages both positions on the lever

 

 

Full operation 

 

 

 

[Pete Ashby]

I may have misunderstood the problem here but is it that the lever physically wont engage/disengage depending on adjustment or, is it that the lever operates but the transfer gear won't engage/disengage ?

I'm just wondering if you have front axle wind up as I assume you are not moving very far if at all?

Pete

[Pete Ashby]

Ignore that last post of mine,

I've just re read your comments, it looks very much for what ever reason the activating rod is not long enough,  for some bizarre reason somebody hasn't chopped a portion of the adjustment thread off have they?

Pete

[67burwood]

37 minutes ago, Pete Ashby said:

Ignore that last post of mine,

I've just re read your comments, it looks very much for what ever reason the activating rod is not long enough,  for some bizarre reason somebody hasn't chopped a portion of the adjustment thread off have they?

Pete

The rod is long enough, you can fully adjust it in and out, it’s almost like the throw on the lever is not long enough, if you set the adjustment to select 4WD then pull the lever back to engage 2 WD it won’t fully engage, so you shorten the adjustment to engage 2WD then when you move the lever back to 4WD it’s to short to engage 4WD, it’s as if the travel on the transfer lever in the cab is different to the travel on the transfer box lever, whatever the problem is I just can’t work it out ( yet ) , I don’t really need 4WD but if it’s there it would be nice if it worked. 

[David Herbert]

Has someone cut a bit off the bottom of the lever in the cab and re-drilled it to make it clear the bell housing? that would reduce the travel of the bottom of the lever between the two positions that the detent / latch allows and could be causing this. it is the only explanation that I can think of.

David

[67burwood]

23 minutes ago, David Herbert said:

Has someone cut a bit off the bottom of the lever in the cab and re-drilled it to make it clear the bell housing? that would reduce the travel of the bottom of the lever between the two positions that the detent / latch allows and could be causing this. it is the only explanation that I can think of.

David

That’s a possibility David, I’ll take the clevis pin out tomorrow and have a better look, it is quite possible that it’s something to do with the engine conversion, there’s always a knock on affect when you convert something, the bell housing is the same as original and I know that the engine sits higher than the original V8 but the gear-lever position hasn’t been affected and you would have to drop the gearbox housing considerably if the transfer lever was longer 🤔

[67burwood]

On 4/23/2022 at 4:38 PM, David Herbert said:

Has someone cut a bit off the bottom of the lever in the cab and re-drilled it to make it clear the bell housing? that would reduce the travel of the bottom of the lever between the two positions that the detent / latch allows and could be causing this. it is the only explanation that I can think of.

David

I suspect your right David, it’s difficult to get a decent picture but it looks like cut marks to me, the rod is also bent up at one end which I think the previous owner has done to shorten the rod. 
 

 

So the question is….what now??

 

[Zuffen]

Could I suggest making a fitting to engage the clevis of the top shaft (the one with the detents on it) to relocate the pivot point of the shaft lower down the shaft.

This would compensate for the shortened lever.

It wouldn't need to be irreversible and well within your talents.

[67burwood]

7 hours ago, Zuffen said:

Could I suggest making a fitting to engage the clevis of the top shaft (the one with the detents on it) to relocate the pivot point of the shaft lower down the shaft.

This would compensate for the shortened lever.

It wouldn't need to be irreversible and well within your talents.

Do you mean an extension attached to here?

[Zuffen]

I would lower the mounting point on the top lever of the transfer where the actuating rod is attached at the clevis.

Your photo has me confused.

I hope the first sentence makes more sense.

[67burwood]

3 hours ago, Zuffen said:

I would lower the mounting point on the top lever of the transfer where the actuating rod is attached at the clevis.

Your photo has me confused.

I hope the first sentence makes more sense.

Apologies I am a little confused, do you mean change the pivot point as pictured below??

[rog8811]

The easiest way I can see is to cut out the bottom section and weld an offset replacement piece, it would need a bit of maths to get it right but I would work on the principal that the lever was cut just above the original hole as a starting point.

The offset will still  clear whatever it would have hit and the rod adjustment should cater for the offset hole.

Edited April 26, 2022 by rog8811

[Zuffen]

I don't think you can change the pivot point on the selector lever and have it all still work as it should.

Because the bottom of the selector lever has been shortened you need to look elsewhere in the linkages to find where you can shorten another shaft/lever to compensate for the shortened selector lever.

The only place I can see is the lever that operates the drop shaft to the lever that enters the transfer case. 

If this was shortened by the appropriate amount you would end up with the correct throw on the shaft for the correct movement of the selector lever.  Plus the detents at the pivot point on that lever would still work as they were designed.

I've had a similar situation on a Nissan Patrol transfer case where I had to play around with ratios of the actuating levers to make it work how I wanted.

I agree with your comments on modifications, the knock on effect is high.

[Richard Farrant]

If the lever was cut off at the bottom to clear the engine flywheel housing (?), then surely the only thing to do is to to increase the movement of the lever in the cab to compensate. To do this it would mean the pawl that engages with the gate would be further forward, so the gate could easily be modified. This all depends on whether there is enough room for the lever to go further forward without touching the engine cover. A much easier solution I would have thought.

[T.Watts]

Just to confuse the matter a bit more, If it’s any help the distance from the pivot point to where the rod joins is approx 115mm.

 

[67burwood]

Apologies for the late reply and thank you for your comments and advice. 
 

On 4/26/2022 at 7:39 AM, rog8811 said:

The easiest way I can see is to cut out the bottom section and weld an offset replacement piece, it would need a bit of maths to get it right but I would work on the principal that the lever was cut just above the original hole as a starting point.

The offset will still  clear whatever it would have hit and the rod adjustment should cater for the offset hole.

This set up is along the same lines as I was thinking, it’s not the bell housing that’s in the way it’s the conversion plate, the extended part would have to be angled at about 45 degrees to completely clear. 👍

On 4/26/2022 at 8:32 AM, Zuffen said:

I don't think you can change the pivot point on the selector lever and have it all still work as it should.

Because the bottom of the selector lever has been shortened you need to look elsewhere in the linkages to find where you can shorten another shaft/lever to compensate for the shortened selector lever.

The only place I can see is the lever that operates the drop shaft to the lever that enters the transfer case. 

If this was shortened by the appropriate amount you would end up with the correct throw on the shaft for the correct movement of the selector lever.  Plus the detents at the pivot point on that lever would still work as they were designed.

I've had a similar situation on a Nissan Patrol transfer case where I had to play around with ratios of the actuating levers to make it work how I wanted.

I agree with your comments on modifications, the knock on effect is high.

I’ve looked at shortening the lever at the transfer box and it’s not that simple, the connecting rod passes through a crossmember and would foul if lowered, also it’s not the same set up as the transfer lever end and would take quite a bit of engineering to alter but thanks for the idea. 👍

 

On 4/26/2022 at 8:33 AM, Richard Farrant said:

If the lever was cut off at the bottom to clear the engine flywheel housing (?), then surely the only thing to do is to to increase the movement of the lever in the cab to compensate. To do this it would mean the pawl that engages with the gate would be further forward, so the gate could easily be modified. This all depends on whether there is enough room for the lever to go further forward without touching the engine cover. A much easier solution I would have thought.

The lever has definitely been cut off to clear the conversion plate, Tom’s pictures with the flathead V8 have a mile of clearance. I had looked at altering the travel on the lever and have slightly enlarged the opening in the cover but unfortunately there’s not enough space without it hitting the engine cover or the boxed section at the rear. 👍

 

On 4/26/2022 at 7:13 PM, T.Watts said:

Just to confuse the matter a bit more, If it’s any help the distance from the pivot point to where the rod joins is approx 115mm.

 

Thank you Tom for the pictures and measurements, I’ve measured my lever and it’s about 25mm shorter than yours. 
 

So…it looks like the best course of action is to extend the lower part of the lever about an inch at an angle to clear the conversion plate and then I’ll have to cut down the connecting rod and re weld it as it’s already fully screwed in and straighten it to allow for the lower connection….simple 🤨🙄

Edited April 27, 2022 by 67burwood