Spridget Repairs/Maintenance

[Nial McCabe]

Time for some maintenance on #909. In this case, ring & pinion.

I find I'm getting about 10 events out of a ring and pinion these days. To me, that's not too bad.....used replacements are cheap and pretty easy to find. I'm swapping out the entire differential and not just the ring & pinion.

I actually "caught" this one just before total failure. The pinion is severely worn and there is a ton of "slack" between it and the ring gear. Teeth on the pinion are especially eroded. These differentials are old and come from well used street cars so I'm not complaining. Honestly, I think it's the sticky race tires (R888s) that are causing the failure. Not much to be done about that.

The differential I'm replacing is from the Sprite I drove in college (45 years ago). I know because it's welded and that's the only one I've ever welded. I only put it in because I had no other spares at the time (I've collected a few more since then).Over the years, I have generally preferred a normal "open" diff and that's what I'm putting in today. I like the open diff at least partly because it's easier to push the car around in my driveway

Such are the priorities of us mid-pack racers.

I used to snap half-shafts (outer end) until I switched to double-bearing hubs about 10 years ago. Now they seem to last quite a long time (I just use stock, used axles). I also added Speedi Sleeves a few years ago and that seems to have stopped (most) gear oil leakage into the brake drums. I'm still running the normal 7" rear drums. It would be nice to switch to the 8" Morris Minor units, but it's not urgent (we are not allowed to run rear disks on Spridgets under our vintage rules). Just installed new rear shoes and wheel cylinders so things should be OK for a while. I hope....

The car is resting on jack stands, but I also left the lift jacks in place. Plus I put the tires under the car just in case. Belt and suspenders



I'll be running #909 in the Vintage Motorsports Festival at Thompson Speedway (Connecticut) in a few weeks so I'll get a chance to see if things are OK.