Freewheeling

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I’m still putting my glacier together and haven’t driven it yet but I have a question on the Freewheeling. I have the “T” handle on the left side of the dash to operate the FW, it appears that when you push in the handle it goes into FW because I can turn the output shaft one direction but not the other. With the handle pulled out the output shaft is locked both directions(in gear). It doesn’t seem normal that you would do most of your town driving with the handle pulled out and being in the way getting in and out of the car plus hitting your knee on the handle.

I only see one way the FW bracket mounts to the firewall and it’s cable from there to the trans bracket. Is this how it’s supposed to be? It’s a 30 Mod B, according to an early service newsletter is was mentioned that some later 30s had the FW. Jim

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That Freewheeling ‘T’handle sounds like the handle on the ’33.

And I agree, Pierce must have thought that the cars would be driven in Freewheeling most of the

time, because the locked ‘out of freewheeling’ position is awkward at best.

You can pull your floorboards up, follow the freewheeling cable to the left side of the transmission.

The freewheeling lever from the trans can be disconnected from the cable, and a fixture made to

hold the lever in the forward position. Then the ‘T’ handle can be pushed forward to be out of the

way of your knees.

Greg Long

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Freewheeling does have the advantage of shifting ease and the pace of life was much slower in those times. I’m certain that Pierce viewed the freewheeling as the normal use mode.

I personally use freewheeling all the time on our 1933 1247. But we don’t live in a mountainous area and we have the advantage of the mighty Stewart-Warner Power Brake unit. On any other than a 1933-35 Pierce so equipped, I’d never ever use freewheeling.

On our 1936 1601 we adjusted the engage/disengage speed of the overdrive much lower than the original setup to minimize the time and speed in freewheeling when using the Overdrive. The vacuum booster on the 1936 brakes doesn’t compare at all to the Stewart-Warner power unit, so engine braking is essential and freewheeling is dangerous.

Dave

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