When it comes to dirt track racing, land speed racing, and even old school drag racing, quick change rear axles have been a thing for many, many years. The ability to make simple, efficient, and effective rear axle ratio changes on the fly has helped many great racers win events with the proper setup.
There have been several notable brands over the years but the Frankland brand is one of the most storied and old school of the genre. That makes this video event cooler as we get to see a vintage Frankland axle assembled from scratch. The axle is headed into the vintage race car that the Hagerty guys have been chipping at the restoration of.
The genesis of these units were the truck rear axles of many decades. Those big axles were strong enough to handle the rigors of racing at that time and the only real downside to them was the typically steep ratio that they were packed with. Enter a guy from Florida named Jim Frankland who was constantly fixing racers’ Ford 3/4-ton truck rear ends. He decided that there was a better way and the Frankland company was born.
Jim’s no longer around but his work and basic design sure are!
Cool, I’ve got a couple of early Frankland QCs and one needs work.