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Gramp’s 1941 New World - Trying to get it running as a rat rod bike
- Thread starter Miq
- Start date
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Eric Amlie
Wore out three sets of tires already!
You have some great heritage there between your Gramps & Great Grand Dad.
Did your Dad carry on the tradition? I assume he did in some fashion or you would probably not be tackling this project today.
Did your Dad carry on the tradition? I assume he did in some fashion or you would probably not be tackling this project today.
Beach Bum III
Finally riding a big boys bike
Looking fantastic! Your question about running 70's Continental cranks as a substitute. They will work...and ride nice because they are usually longer, giving you a little more torque for powering up hills. BUT, you can find long, period correct "dog leg" cranks without too much trouble. They have so much nicer of a finish and shape than the 60's and 70's stuff. And rusty ones are cheap.
Miq
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Hi Eric, I'm doubly blessed in those genes. The grampa I inherited the bike from is my mom's father. Luckily, the family on my dad's side are also performance car enthusiasts. I can't locate the pics of my dad's family's 57 Corvette, or the 1967 Lotus Elan+2 that my dad restored in our garage when I was in middle school, or I would post them. In fact, that is the only other time I breathed thinner fumes for hours on end. It took days to strip the Lotus's seven different paintjobs off it's fiberglass body using insane chemicals. I was amazed the day it came back from paint with shiny new metallic blue finish. So much work, but so beautiful in the end.
So many great memories this project conjures up. Thanks for asking Eric.
Miq
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Hi Beach Bum III, I received the crank I ordered and took a look at it. It will definitely work and fit the bottom bkt. It is a little different in the "dog leg" area of the crank as you mentioned. It doesn't look too far off but clearly people who are into this will notice the difference.
I think I can live with it for now. The replacement crank came with a "sweetheart" skip tooth sprocket so it is close I imagine. If anyone has the correct crank and wants to trade please let me know.
Miq
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
I've been looking at the New Departure "NOS" parts I've been buying on ebay. Wondered what you thought of this?
The "NOS" bearings I've received, for the most part, do not have the "New Departure" name stamps on the cages and the cages themselves are not formed as nicely as the original ND hubs on Gramp's bike. Maybe the tooling was worn, or different when these cages where fabricated. Here's a bearing I got with the "NOS New Departure WL Front Axle Assembly" I ordered next to the original from Gramp's bike with New Departure stamp in the cage.
The holes that the balls sit in are not formed (stamped) as cleanly and there is a ridge all the way around most of them, formed by the worn or different tooling. What happened to the "NEW DEPARTURE" name stamp on top???
Closer look at the clean vs ridges holes.
Maybe it's not a big deal since it's just the cages but why so different? Did they start skipping the deburring step after they got stamped?? The people at New Departure were proud enough of their work/design to stamp their name on top of the cage for a reason. I know first hand about tooling redesign and yearly cost downs, so I'm not claiming I know these aren't ND NOS parts because they absolutely could be. But it looks weird. Anyone with unopened NOS ND bearing packs in their original ND packaging see them without the New Departures name stamps on top or not?!!
Like Rustjunkie and others have mentioned you can just push the old balls out of, and pop the new ones into, the old cages. So that's what I did. The balls were the same size old vs new.
Ball Swap:
You can see one of the original WL bearing cages from Gramp's bike doesn't have the New Departure stamp, but the holes are still clean and the top of that cage looks worn.
The new axle looks a little different in length than the original but it won't stick out of the hub too much further and everything can be properly adjusted still. The threads on the new axle are so much less munched up too. All the new cones and old nuts spin smoothly on the threads. So much better! The new axle has the cool circle ND logo in the center too. The cones look exactly the same with the ND WL stamps on top.
The "NOS" bearings I've received, for the most part, do not have the "New Departure" name stamps on the cages and the cages themselves are not formed as nicely as the original ND hubs on Gramp's bike. Maybe the tooling was worn, or different when these cages where fabricated. Here's a bearing I got with the "NOS New Departure WL Front Axle Assembly" I ordered next to the original from Gramp's bike with New Departure stamp in the cage.
The holes that the balls sit in are not formed (stamped) as cleanly and there is a ridge all the way around most of them, formed by the worn or different tooling. What happened to the "NEW DEPARTURE" name stamp on top???
Closer look at the clean vs ridges holes.
Maybe it's not a big deal since it's just the cages but why so different? Did they start skipping the deburring step after they got stamped?? The people at New Departure were proud enough of their work/design to stamp their name on top of the cage for a reason. I know first hand about tooling redesign and yearly cost downs, so I'm not claiming I know these aren't ND NOS parts because they absolutely could be. But it looks weird. Anyone with unopened NOS ND bearing packs in their original ND packaging see them without the New Departures name stamps on top or not?!!
Like Rustjunkie and others have mentioned you can just push the old balls out of, and pop the new ones into, the old cages. So that's what I did. The balls were the same size old vs new.
Ball Swap:
You can see one of the original WL bearing cages from Gramp's bike doesn't have the New Departure stamp, but the holes are still clean and the top of that cage looks worn.
The new axle looks a little different in length than the original but it won't stick out of the hub too much further and everything can be properly adjusted still. The threads on the new axle are so much less munched up too. All the new cones and old nuts spin smoothly on the threads. So much better! The new axle has the cool circle ND logo in the center too. The cones look exactly the same with the ND WL stamps on top.
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Miq
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Its a similar story with the bearing cages for the rear Big Arm = Brake D Coaster. The small bearing in the NOS set has the New Departure stamp and it's holes are pretty nicely formed. The bigger bearings don't have the stamp and don't have nicely formed holes again.
The one on the right is Gramps's bike's:
Big bearings Old and New Old Stock
Popping the balls in and out of these too...
The ND Coaster adjuster cone I bought is not exactly the same as the original. The neck doesn't extend as far. It's not going to make a difference since the balls still have plenty of material they are riding on. I think this is legitimately a cost saving redesign since they were able to save a fair amount of material by making the part smaller in a way that didn't change the performance. This will work great and is in much better condition!
The one on the right is Gramps's bike's:
Big bearings Old and New Old Stock
Popping the balls in and out of these too...
The ND Coaster adjuster cone I bought is not exactly the same as the original. The neck doesn't extend as far. It's not going to make a difference since the balls still have plenty of material they are riding on. I think this is legitimately a cost saving redesign since they were able to save a fair amount of material by making the part smaller in a way that didn't change the performance. This will work great and is in much better condition!
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Miq
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Observations:
The parts I found in the New Departure hubs from this 1941 bike are not the same as some of those I located on ebay. Maybe these are clues others can use when dating the parts in their hubs.
Bearing Cages - have New Departure stamped in top of cage. Ball holes are smooth and well formed.
Big Arm = Brake ND Model D
Brake Disc Count (D-278) = 23
Alternating Steel - Bronze
Longer neck on the Axle Adjusting Cone (D-7)
There's probably others but those are the parts I've seen so far...
Miq
The parts I found in the New Departure hubs from this 1941 bike are not the same as some of those I located on ebay. Maybe these are clues others can use when dating the parts in their hubs.
Bearing Cages - have New Departure stamped in top of cage. Ball holes are smooth and well formed.
Big Arm = Brake ND Model D
Brake Disc Count (D-278) = 23
Alternating Steel - Bronze
Longer neck on the Axle Adjusting Cone (D-7)
There's probably others but those are the parts I've seen so far...
Miq
Eatontkd
Finally riding a big boys bike
Aside from the interest generated in bringing back something of your Grandfather; Miq, I really appreciate the photos you post. The detail is outstanding. I have to ask, are you taking these pics with your cell phone? This has been an interesting thread, thank you.
Miq
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
@Eatontkd Thank you. All the pics have been taken with my vintage iPhone6. Years ago I bought a clip on macro lens and I use that for most of the closeups. Last night I used my 10X loupe in front of the phone's camera lens and it worked OK with a lot of vignetting I had to crop out. Almost every pic the phone takes needs post processing. Crank up the brightness, crop out the kids' Legos or my foot, etc... Makes them more useful and clear.
Thanks for noticing.
Thanks for noticing.
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