Milwaukee Midget

[Milwaukee Midget]

Well, here’s a thinker – or maybe not.

I pulled the rear end on the Midget a few weeks ago, pulled the hubs and replaced the wheel studs with some longer units from a Mini Cooper.  All’s well, reinstalled the axles – the splines looked great – and I hand turned the pinion.  It turned freely, but every complete turn of the crown gear, there was a spot where it was just a touch tougher to turn – barely perceptible, not grinding or anything that created a noise, just a small bit of extra resistance. 

As I’m at the point where I’m trying to reduce every possible Newton of resistance, I reluctantly pulled the pumpkin.



The crown gear and the pinion looked flawless.  The pumpkin came out of a 1959 Bugeye, and the gears have clearly been harmoniously working together since Harold Macmillan lived at 10 Downing Street.  These things were notorious for slap-dash assembly and disinterested inspection, but were also designed so that they never really had to be put together all that carefully.  On Spridgets, the axles tend to go before the diffs.  I saw no unusual wear patterns, to the naked eye everything looks great, and if it were in a street car, I’d just throw it back in and go.

But taking the dial indicator to it showed it just far enough out that I may have to do something with it.

The backface of the crown gear varied .0035 through a complete rotation – the tight spot, right where I felt the nominal resistance.  It’s likely that some of that is just take-up onto the bearing shims.  The circumfrance runout was also .0035, corresponding to the tight spot.  The pinion turns freely with no funny business or slop.

Lash was .010.  Factory spec is .002, but given the great shape of the gears and that I’m trying to lose some rolling resistance, I’m not uncomfortable running that a little loose.  Bearings all looked good.

What I plan to do is simply remove the crown gear, clean everything up really well and reassemble it, hoping to better index the crown gear onto the differential cage.

And speaking of pumpkins –

Kate reminded me yesterday that Trick or Treat was this afternoon in our neighborhood, and that she needed help cutting Jack-O-Lanterns.  I told her I was already working on a pumpkin, but she didn’t appreciate the joke.

Kate took hours, painstakingly drawing the face and carving her gourd.

I had mine done in 5 minutes . . .






 

[Peter Jack]

It's perfect when you have the right tools for the job!!! 

Pete

[Stainless1]

The one on the left looks just like you... the right one looks a little like my ex when I'd come back from racing.... 
 

[manta22]

"Kate reminded me yesterday that Trick or Treat was this afternoon in our neighborhood, ..."

Getting a little ahead of schedule aren't they? What will they do on Halloween? Go around for seconds? It's kind of hard being scary in the afternoon.

Good grief, I'm glad that I was a kid back when I was.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[Milwaukee Midget]

"Kate reminded me yesterday that Trick or Treat was this afternoon in our neighborhood, ..."

Getting a little ahead of schedule aren't they? What will they do on Halloween? Go around for seconds? It's kind of hard being scary in the afternoon.

Good grief, I'm glad that I was a kid back when I was.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

A function of living in "the big city".  Milwaukee sets up Trick or Treat on the Sunday of or before Halloween, between 1 and 4 in the afternoon.

What usually happens is the Packer game starts at noon, it's over by 3:00 and we get slammed between 3 and 4.  With this week's game being a Sunday night game, we had the same amount of kids, but the parents wanted to get it done early, and it was all over by 3:00.

I know what you mean, Neil - it's no fun tipping outhouses or tee peeing trees in the daylight.  

[lsrjunkie]

MM, I have seen no finer way of carving a pumpkin! I have been laughing for fifteen minutes! Love it man!

[Milwaukee Midget]

Well, I ran out of chainsaw oil, so I had to improvise . . .

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Chris, Rick Holman -- the guy that does our wood cutting - has worked in the woods for years and uses drain oil from the cars and trucks to oil his chain.  He gets a whole heck of a lot of life out of chains -- so maybe you didn't have to forgo the chainsaw after all.  Probably too late for now, but next year. . .

[Elmo Rodge]

Well, I ran out of chainsaw oil, so I had to improvise . . .

Aren't pumpkin guts a lubricant?  Wayno

[38flattie]

Well, here’s a thinker – or maybe not.

I pulled the rear end on the Midget a few weeks ago, pulled the hubs and replaced the wheel studs with some longer units from a Mini Cooper.  All’s well, reinstalled the axles – the splines looked great – and I hand turned the pinion.  It turned freely, but every complete turn of the crown gear, there was a spot where it was just a touch tougher to turn – barely perceptible, not grinding or anything that created a noise, just a small bit of extra resistance.  

As I’m at the point where I’m trying to reduce every possible Newton of resistance, I reluctantly pulled the pumpkin.



The crown gear and the pinion looked flawless.  The pumpkin came out of a 1959 Bugeye, and the gears have clearly been harmoniously working together since Harold Macmillan lived at 10 Downing Street.  These things were notorious for slap-dash assembly and disinterested inspection, but were also designed so that they never really had to be put together all that carefully.  On Spridgets, the axles tend to go before the diffs.  I saw no unusual wear patterns, to the naked eye everything looks great, and if it were in a street car, I’d just throw it back in and go.

But taking the dial indicator to it showed it just far enough out that I may have to do something with it.

The backface of the crown gear varied .0035 through a complete rotation – the tight spot, right where I felt the nominal resistance.  It’s likely that some of that is just take-up onto the bearing shims.  The circumfrance runout was also .0035, corresponding to the tight spot.  The pinion turns freely with no funny business or slop.

Lash was .010.  Factory spec is .002, but given the great shape of the gears and that I’m trying to lose some rolling resistance, I’m not uncomfortable running that a little loose.  Bearings all looked good.

What I plan to do is simply remove the crown gear, clean everything up really well and reassemble it, hoping to better index the crown gear onto the differential cage.

And speaking of pumpkins –

Kate reminded me yesterday that Trick or Treat was this afternoon in our neighborhood, and that she needed help cutting Jack-O-Lanterns.  I told her I was already working on a pumpkin, but she didn’t appreciate the joke.

Kate took hours, painstakingly drawing the face and carving her gourd.

I had mine done in 5 minutes . . .






  

Chris, weren't you thinking about changing the gearing? Now looks to be the perfect time!

[Milwaukee Midget]

Chris, weren't you thinking about changing the gearing? Now looks to be the perfect time!

All the models indicate I'm right about where I need to be for the record as far as gearing is concerned.  These are 4:22s, the options either side are 3:92 and 4:55.

This year, I'm going to concentrate on getting this thing slammed, minimizing rolling resistance, and refining the tune - I'm looking at anti reversion valves and a cam cover that will let me easily adjust cam timing on the dyno.

And I hope to put a REAL paint job on it.

[38flattie]

.....except you're not pulling 8K out of it!

Good luck-I can't wait to see it next year!

[Milwaukee Midget]

.....except you're not pulling 8K out of it!

Good luck-I can't wait to see it next year!

I will pull 8K in fourth.

[38flattie]

Is 4th 1:1?

[Milwaukee Midget]

Is 4th 1:1?

Yup.  22" tires @ 8000 = 124 - figure a bit of slippage, I'm on track.

I am pulling 9200 in third.

I've got to squeeze a couple of more horse out of the donk, minimize rolling resistance and wind issues and optimize the tune for the salt.

Just going back to the basics - eliminating the front brakes, losing the diff oil and transmission oil in exchange for ATF, slam the crap out of it, get the body panels aligned correctly - my trunk gaps and hood gaps are obscene - just dozens of little stupid things that I hope can be somewhat additive.

It's going to be a long, cold winter in Beerhaven, but the garage heater is working fine.