A Free Wheel Puzzle.

[luli]

I am working now on restoring a 1947 16 hp gearbox, from a recent “barn find” stock of Rover P2 parts which I have discovered here in Israel. On opening the free wheel I was amazed to find the following:

Which is clearly working backwards. Just compare it with the official car owner handbook illustration:

The fixed cam roller shoe should point (spring- free cam) anti-clockwise but it points clockwise.
I compared the odd inner member with two other “normal” inner members:

(the odd one is on the right).
Checking the master spare parts list reveals that all inner members of all models had the same part number (07251) and should therefore be the same. At first I had assumed that this was a local mechanic mistake, taking it apart and putting it back together backwards. But this is not the case. Trying to revers the cams shows that this inner member is genuinely a mirror image of the correct inner member, and it had been manufactured that way.


Clearly this car could not be driven in “Free”, and in fact the free wheel parts are in an excellent unused condition (right)

Has anyone met anything like that before? Can anyone shed some light on it?

[P4tt]

Hi, just found this online & joined to ask if you know of where I could get some freewheel parts missing from a gearbox I have, someone has previously removed (& lost) the rollers ,springs & cam roller shoes (free) so looking for those parts.
Pat

[luli]

The most probable sources are Meteor Spares or Mike Evans, or the RSR stores. You can also try Neil Gilam . Look for them in the RSR web site.

[RobHomewood]

Now I know very little about the freewheel insides as I have never taken one apart so my commente are entirely speculative.
The possiblity that it was manufactured originally the reverse way round deliberately as a one-off doesnt really stand up, even if you had an engine which rotated the opposite direction. But again the option that it was made the wrong way by mistake by say a new apprentice, and then incorporated in a gerarbox without a supervisor noticing seems pretty remote but on top of that the fact that no one noticed in 70 years that the freewheel didnt work is even more fantastical.
That leaves a locally made replacement as an explanation but I can't see anyone actually going through with fitting it if they had made it wrong.
So my question is - how would it actually operate as it stands ? I dont know enough but would you lose drive when pulling and then get engagement on overrun ( assuming that fixed wheel will still work) ?
I hope you suss it out Luli

[P4tt]

Thanks for reply & suggestions, I can solve this puzzle for you, when rover took the freewheel to use on the Land Rover (the first ones were constant 4wd so needed a freewheel on the front prop for cornering ETC to prevent axle wind up), because the freewheel pointed forward on that installation it needed to have an opposite handed design.
Here is mine,

[luli]

Thank you very much!
This makes a lot of sense. The gearbox I had been overhauling was taken from what was left from "Shmuel's garage" in Tel Aviv. They served both Rover and Land Rover cars and could have mixed the spares.
http://wp.me/pXLKy-1J5

[P4tt]

Yes, if they got them mixed up & fitted the wrong one in a gearbox it would be quite a head scratcher at first wouldn't it, if you keep that 'odd' unit for prosperity but don't need the roller parts let me know...... shame the prize for solving this puzzle isn't to get the parts I need

[GOY189]

The parts are available new
The cam shoes are available from John Craddock (part no 55738 - common to land Rover and cars)
All 3 sizes of roller are available from Dunsfold parts 58397/58396/58395,
The Springs (55742) are also used on the Land Rover Series Aeroparts Capstan Winch Drive Shaft Plunger £3.99 for 2 from http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Land-Rove ... 1007541225

Regards

Mike