Now what to do with them?

[Stormin 4,458]

 I've got some Wheel Horse parts and some Husqvarna bits.

 

 

  Now what shall I do with them?

  The transmission is 6 speed if I remember right. And though I'm not sure, I think you can change gear on the move. Someone may know better. Also I can't remember which is the front or back.

[Wristpin 400]

I don'tthink that you can shift on the move with that box. That said there was at least one ride-on manufacturer who used a manual box with an in-line shift pattern but moving the lever sideways disengaged the drive to the box allowing a sort of shift on the move.  Before the advent of lower-priced hydrostatic boxes, Ariens and Snapper used a stepless variable speed transmission consisting of a friction wheel running at right angles to a drive disc. When the friction wheel was running further from the centre it was in high ratio and closer into the centre, low. When it crossed the centre the drive was reversed. Sounds a bit Heath Robinson but actually worked well on walk-behinds and lighter ride-ons. MTD, used and may still use, a similar system on self-propelled vacuums and snow blowers.

[Stormin 4,458]

Thanks for that info, Angus.

[meadowfield 1,900]

those peerless boxes will generally allow shift on the go if the are the ones with a spring loaded key that runs through the gears. They are usually 5+reverse all in constant mesh and packed with sticky bentonite grease.

 

 

[Stormin 4,458]

 It says Spicer on the case.

[Wristpin 400]

2 hours ago, meadowfield said:

those peerless boxes will generally allow shift on the go if the are the ones with a spring loaded key that runs through the gears. They are usually 5+reverse all in constant mesh and packed with sticky bentonite grease.

 

 

Don't want to start a controversy but the Peerless box referred to will not put up with that sort of treatment for long. All Peerless literature makes the point that the machine must be stationary for gear selection. In my 30 years of running a garden machinery business, most as a Peerless agent, we rebuilt dozens of their MSTs (Manual Shift Transmissions), nearly always as the result of such abuse. If the owner was lucky it was just new selector keys but often also the replacement of the most frequently used gear wheels where the engagement dogs had become rounded as well as the keys.  

Yes, they were filled with Bentonite grease but this tended to be thrown outward to the inner walls of the casing and dry out there, away from where it was needed. We always used to add a cupful of semi-fluid grease to help fill the voids.

Spicer boxes were quite a rarity in the UK and were a product of Dana Spicer the big US transmission manufacturer - more often associated with trucks and off-highway equipment. We very rarely saw a Spicer transaxle but something at the back of my mind says that Hayter was the source of parts etc for their horticultural boxes.

http://www.dana.com/aftermarket/brands/brands/spicer-drivetrain

   

[meadowfield 1,900]

I wasn't out to cause controversy and agree that none are shift on the go. I've replaced the selector on on one and can see it was never designed to be pulled through the middle under load, it's just not berry enough!

agree on the grease too, I'd rather have something that splashes around rather than is thrown to the extremities! 

Btw never seen a spicer one, always been foote or peerless... 

[Wristpin 400]

I now realise why the Hayter connection came to mind. Spicers were used in Murrays and  Hayter were the distributors both for red  Murrays and similar machines in Hayter green. We used to see Foote boxes in Ariens YT models but I believe that Foote had a disasterous fire at their factory and never got back into production,  but the designs were bought by Husqvarna.

[Stormin 4,458]

 Some useful info there, lads.  This particular Spicer box came off a Husqvarna. Had a play with it today and it seems to have 6 forward and reverse. I'll have to see where I can add liquid grease now.

 

[nigel 1,877]

1 hour ago, Stormin said:

 Some useful info there, lads.  This particular Spicer box came off a Husqvarna. Had a play with it today and it seems to have 6 forward and reverse. I'll have to see where I can add liquid grease now.

 

Just had one of them didn’t have reverse when I opened it up the chain that drives reverse had snapped so I would check that Norm it might be a weak point

[Stormin 4,458]

Reverse works, Nigel. If I lose it some time in the future  I'll have a look.

[Wristpin 400]

Exercise caution if you split the box, they are usually held together with steel taptite self-threading screws. Steel into alloy, plus moisture and the passage of time equals seized screws and a possibility of sheared screws; at which point the law od Dr Sodt takes over.  

[Stormin 4,458]

 Got quite a bit done today. Took the wheels up to the farm and burnt out the centres. Back home and into the lathe to clean them up. Then it was the turn of the hubs. They had to be bored out from 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 bore.

 

The eagle eyed will have noticed a chunk out of that hub. Not my doing. Like that when I got it. Honest Guv!

 

 

 

The sleeves, as they now are, were inserted into the hubs.

 

 

 The sleeves were dimpled through the hub securing bolt holes and the bolts fitted. Next I drilled through hub and sleeve, tapping out 3/8 UNC to take a couple of grub screws. New keys were then made and then the assemblies fitted the drive shafts.

 

 

I was going to fit two grub screws in each hub, but two was all I could find.

 

So a good day in the workshop and that part of whatever is going to evolve finished.

 

 

 Next thing I think will be a chassis.

 

 

 

[the showman 4,074]

Nice bit of engineering.