The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Columbia Rearend

A buddy of mine has a Columbia two speed rearend under his 40 Ford & needs info on how to hook it up & operate it. Is anyone here familiar with the Columbia rearend & how it operates? I've found a couple of sites that speak of the rearend but none that go into the kind of detail he needs. Any help will be appreciated.

Tiny,

He might see if he can get in contact with anyone over at the Early Ford V-8 Club or their website.

http://hail.he.net/cgi-bin/suid/~kes/dcforum/dcboard.cgi

That's a very valuable piece of equipment he has there. It's a shame to have it and it not work.

Columbia huh,,??? havent heard of it,,, whats he want to know..how to hook up the two speed part??? is it vacuum operated?,, most old ones are vacuum operated ive seen anyway... where is it... you near wichita..?? weve got an older ford sittin in the pasture,,im not sure if its got a rear end in it tho.... and LOL.. theres a 39 ford Columbian my uncle calls it sittin there too... its a car though...

Fatweed,

If your uncle has a Columbia rear-end sitting in the pature, give me a call. I'll come over and haul it away for him. (LOL!)

They're selling for several thousand dollars, if and when you find em.

Jed,

I thought Fatweed said he had a 39 year old Columbian living next door! Part of the Florence Cartel.

Stuart

I think I've heard about those guys. Pretty scary group.

Aren't they rumored to have the sunflower market in that area under their control.

Hey neighbor, I live in Ark City. PM me with your e-mail addy & I'll put you in touch with my buddy. He might be interested in your pasture cars. You going to Wellington this weekend? I think I'll take the 38 over & sweat all day in the 100 deg. heat.

It works it's just in high gear & he's trying to figure out how hook it up to have both gears.

Ur Pmd tiny.... but email is nesser@galaxycable.net and i still see my old site is up, dont know how long it will be,,i closed the account..
www.rustyoldrelics.com

I forwarded your site to him.

is a cartel anything like a harem..??? thas what ol weed wants is a harem.....

Tiny,

Don't know if it's much help, but I talked to an old guy from our car club tonight about the Columbia rear-ends. He tells me that your buddy's is likely a vaccum unit, although the earlier Columbia's were mechanical.

His advice was if it's stuck in high, make sure and check the level of the gear lube. While I'm not familiar with them, he tells me there can't be too much that can go wrong with them.

Thanks Jed. It isn't "stuck" in high as in a mechanical problem. It's "stuck" in high because he doesn't have everything connected to be able to operate it normally. The installation manual link that someone posted (I can't find it now) will probably do the trick. Thanks everyone.

Tiny, check your Email.

My very first car was a 40 F*^d and I had a Columbia 2 speed rear for it. Yes, there were vacuum operated and used a switch that was mounted to the shift lever (at least mine was) same a truck would have. It worked OK but was pretty slow to operate. You'll need a vacuum reservoir too. I don't recall the ratio's but the original F*#d rear was 4:44 so the bottom was probably about that and I'll guess the top side was approximately 3:75. They were a pretty common way to get those old flatheads to run over 75MPH but it took a while with only 80HP and that was in the DeLuxe model. I had an Olds V8 in mine so it screamed anyway.

Tiny,

In playing around last night, I came across this site that may help your friend:

http://www.btc-bci.com/~billben/flathead.htm

Look down towards the bottom, under "overdrive".

Cool site Jed. I'll forward it to him.

Got it bigmacdaddy. He's been trying to call but hasn't gotten ahold of him yet.

53moneypit, Vacuum operated anything is not good. I wonder if it's possible to bypass the vacuum & run a mechanical cable down to change between high & low. Similar to what we did with our exhaust dumps. Hmmmmm.

I can't say Tiny. I was only 16 y/o and didn't concern myself with the details back then. Fortunately I had Dad to lean on when the wrenching got too heavy duty for me.

Tiny, have your buddy get in touch with me. I have a columbia rear end and I am sure I have a book on it. I would be glad to give him any info I can. I also have some ideas on how he can hook it up to work without having the original (EXPENSIVE)actuator. My email address is jddial@wildblue.net Joe Dial

OK Joe, I'll send him your addy.