Story and photos by Mark Wing; Key Ways and Step Keys write-up by Paul Duncan
Larry held work parties on January 21st and 24th to focus on projects that required more concentrated attention than is possible at a typical work party day. Projects at these two work parties included assembling Dave Ferro’s 1927 speedster engine, replacing the triple gear bushings on Mark Wing’s late 1924 coupe, and babbitting and line-boring Frank Lewark’s 1924 sedan engine.
Larry called for the first club-wide work party for 2019 at his garage for Saturday, January 26th. Projects included Phil and Zack Lance cleaning and restoring rear axle and differential parts for a speedster project, Dave Ferro continuing with his 1927 speedster engine, and Mark Wing cleaning and assessing the condition of two low heads for some upcoming brass-era car projects.
Newly elected Tin Lizzies Club President – Paul Duncan and his spouse, Club Treasurer Marilyn Duncan, were joined by board member Vern Willan to inspect the Club’s 1925 telephone truck for potential repairs. This telephone truck and trailer are stored at Larry’s residence in Corrales, NM. The telephone truck was donated by the Telephone Pioneers of America and is used by club members at official functions such as car shows and parades. Many of the members that use the telephone truck don’t have running Model T’s of their own, so it was decided at a recent board of directors meeting that the truck receive maintenance and repairs to make sure it’s in top notch running condition.
Zack Lance and his girlfriend Alexis are very interested in antique cars and they heard that Larry wanted to gift a 1927 Graham tow truck to someone willing to restore it. In addition to helping all club members with their cars, Larry has a fleet of a dozen Model T’s and approximately eight other cars, so he realized he probably wasn’t going to have the time to complete the Graham tow truck project himself. The truck had been sitting outside for some decades, but is quite complete and should be fairly easy to restore. Larry also had tires for the tow truck and it should be a very interesting and challenging project for these young car enthusiasts. Good luck Alexis and Zack!
Joining us at this work party was T.J. Carr, a long time Albuquerque car collector. T.J.’s collection includes a 1948 Diamond truck, a 1947 Plymouth coupe, a 1947 CJ-2A Jeep, a 1952 International Harvester pickup truck, and a 1956 Chrysler station wagon. All of T.J.’s cars are in outstanding condition! He said that he had a wonderful time and was very impressed by Larry’s car collection.
Key Ways and Step Keys
By Paul Duncan
Work day, Saturday January 26, 2019, was welcomed by a crew of club members who had not been in the shop since the last work day November 17, 2018. One project caught my attention and led to quite a discussion of “step keys” which the majority of those there had never heard of. Larry had and he had some step key stock which he provided for our inspection. Sure, enough it was goggled by the assembled and it is available on Amazon. Let me explain: Zach and Phil Lance were rebuilding a differential and on one gear the key way was badly worn. A key is a machine element and many are needed for the successful operation of our T’s. “Keys are used to connect a rotating machine element to a shaft.” (Wikipedia) It is important that the keys fit snuggly into the key way for them to work well. We will need to wait to learn if the step key stock Larry had was useful to the Lances in this setting but it was a fine learning experience for all. We all know Larry’s plate is really full now-he is the Vice-President of MTFCA and he still has more things to move from his parents’ home in California. We appreciate the work days when he is available.
