how about the salzer swithch in the joystick.
Mine has died ,however I might just go the same way as you.
Switch is entirely rebuildable. After reviewing the pros and cons, I've decided to keep the transmission. Basically, it gives you a 4:1 range of output shaft speeds, through which you have full motor power available. The lowest shaft rpm is about 400. If you use a VFD to reduce a 1725 rpm motor to 400 rpm, you can only draw one-fourth of its horsepower output. Of course, you can use smaller drive sheaves, so that you maybe need to get down to 800 rpm, but you're still limited to half of motor power, in the rpm range where you might most need the most available power. Also, if you use smaller drive sheaves, you limit the top spindle rpms.
For those who aren't well versed with VFDs, motor torque stays approximately constant as you reduce RPMs, but power is the product of speed X torque, so it has to go down.
I may still consider the transmissionless VFD conversion, but I think I'd want to use a 5 hp motor, so that I'd still have 1.25 hp at 15 Hz. Since the transmission losses would be eliminated, the net hp would come close to that available from the transmission system with a 2 hp motor.