Model T 2-speed axle revisited...

Talked to a Model T expert this morning. He said that Henry wouldn't make a 2-speed rear axle, but he did allow an outside company to provide a complete 2-speed rear axle that also required another gear in the drive train, thus the extra shift lever in the car. The 2-speed axle was a better unit than the standard Ford drive axle.

He mentioned the name of the outside company, which I promptly forgot, but he didn't know how many of the 2-speed axles were actually sold.

All of our trucks on the farm had 2-speeds, early ones were vacuum and the newer ones electric, they worked so well that we never had one apart to see how they worked. Do they just have 2 pinions on different centers or do you need 2 ring gears too?

Ruckstell.

As many accessories as there were for the Model T, I'm gonna bet there were DOZENS of other brands sold, as well.

We had a Model T farm truck with a Ruxtel two speed rear axle. Separate lever for the axle. I'd assume they made some for passenger cars, but I never saw one.

I have a very close friend who dealt in Model Ts and Model T parts for decades. He is a legitimate Model T expert. He is now 85 and in a nursing home. I visit him periodically.

His last project, completed several years ago, before he became unable to continue such work is a nearly new 1927 Model T depot hack (railroad taxi). This one, his third (the other 2 were built to order for others) was built from mostly NOS parts that he had collected over the decades. The engine was the best of his decades of collecting and he rebuilt it himself, including pouring and fitting the babbit bearings and align boring the block using Ford shop tools.

He also built the wood hack body from trees. He selected and cut the trees, hickory for the wheel spokes (yes, he turned new spokes and assembled new wheels), oak for the hack body, sawed and dried the lumber, and fabricated and finished the entire body. AFAIK, the only work that he farmed out was the finish painting of the NOS sheet metal and the upholstery. Aside from Model Ts, this man knows more about trees, lumber and woodworking than any other person that I have met.

His depot hack has all of the latest Model T bells and whistles, including a 2 speed rear axle. At the moment, I cannot remember the manufacturer but it too is NOS. He told me that there were several manufacturers.

FWIW, he also owns a very nice 1926 Willys Knight. The sleeve valve Willys is a fascinating machine in its own right but the subject of another thread.

The world will soon loose a great deal of knowledge when this man passes. Vultures are lurking.

Dean

I don't know if there were many 2-speed axle builders at that time. There were lots of companies that made specialty bodies for Model T's. My friend was fortunate that he obtained some original body builder prints from one of the companies that he used to make a Depot Hack and a Police Paddy Wagon. When he built the fire department truck, he used his own design for that.

He sold all 3 of those units when his wife's health went bad. After she passed away, he restored a 1924 Chevrolet. I had hoped to get some pics of that, but he told me that he sold the Chevy and is now working on another Model T. However, he is going back to Michigan next week for the summer and won't be back until fall. He is 86 and still in pretty good health.

I remember guys talking about a Columbia 2 speed ends in cars of the thirtys and fortys, google Columbia rear axle. Pete

Bingo.

Columbia was one such manufacturer of two speed rear axle assemblies for Ford vehicles.

Such units were once desired by hot rodders in the hot rod Lincoln era.

Dean

The 2 speed axle in the Model T was made by Ruxtel ( not sure of spelling) Same company also made tandem and 2 speed axles for the Model AA . A and later 1930's trucks. The Columbia was an overdrive rear axle used in the late 30's and 40's Ford cars. it was not a heavy duty unit

forgot to mention that there was no extra gear in the transmission, but there was a gearshift added for the 2 speed rear end, had a long shift rod running from near the back of the transmission to the rear axle. They made lots and lots of those Ruxtel axles. I think that there were other outfits that made a 2 speed axle, but most were Ruxtel.

A bit of OT trivia about ND license plates in the Model T era. I found this while researching the number of ND 1943 license plates, as they were only issued to new car truck registrations when vehicles were almost impossible to get during WW2.
In 1925 and 1926, any license plate issued to a Ford in ND,had the number start with the letter F (aprox 70-80 thousand Fords registered in each of those two years. Every other brand (aprox 50,000 combined) had only a number without the letter at the front. I know Ford had a huge market share in the model T era, but no explanation why the plates for Fords were Marked with the letter F ??

I remember my dat telling of Ruxtel SP ? 2 speed axles in model T's