Heavy ten gear adjustment

Anyone know how to adjust the drive gears on the heavy ten? I threw the tumble lever while the spindle was still turning, which caused a clickity clack noise around the tumbler gears. It only happens in one feed direction, feeding away from the spindle. I checked all the teeth for damage. The drive gears on the banjo bracket were not fully engaged so I nudged them a bit closer. Added some open gear lube. Still getting a clackity noise. Question is ... is there an adjustment on the tumbler gear engagement?

Do you mean axially or for clearance?

Appears to be the clearence

franketrozzo said:

Appears to be the clearence

Click to expand...

I just run a strip of 20lb bond paper between the gears and tighten them down with the paper in place. Maybe somebody has another (or better) a better way?.......pg

Oh, I love the paper trick.

“THAT WAS EASY !”
Don

I've been working on adjusting the gear train mesh on my 13". Being the kind of person who will obsess over adjustments like this, I've been doing a lot of adjusting.

I tried the paper trick and actually found it worked fine for the mesh between the gearbox input and the idler gear (the adjustable one on the banjo).

But between the idler and the stud gear I found it gave too little clearance for some reason. So I went back and loosened it a bit, trying to make the clearance look roughly the same as the clearance in the reversing gear assembly (whose mesh was fixed by the factory and is not adjustable). My logic is that South Bend did it "right", so if I emulate what they did, I'll be right.

So then my obsessive brain starts thinking, "what if you're too loose?" How would I even know? What exactly is "too loose"? What are the consequences of getting the mesh wrong (too close or too loose)?

Ryan

What would you guys do if the reverse tumbler gears, not adjustable, WERE the loud ones?? Ugh!

the worst part is it`s almost always the reverser assembly.

but fear not!

if the gears are worn just replace them.

if need be you can either contact Ted (SBLatheman) or Mike(finegrain)

Ted is the man for NOS parts and Mike is the man for replacement gears.

The gears in the reverse tumbler only wear in one direction, so if they worn just reverse their position. Gary P. Hansen

Hey Guys-

As clean as the lathe looked, and it is CLEAN- I decided to just disassemble the outside geartrain and see what was up.

Looking at it first, nothing looked out of whack. As a matter of fact, surprisingly clean as the rest of the machine. But it turns out, in every tooth, there was perfectly packed grime in EVERY tooth of the gears! Like for a little while they were run with grease, then let run dry, then sit unused for a few years. The grime was so perfectly packed in, I couldn't tell it was there until I soaked them in kerosene, and tried brushing the teeth with steel brush!

After having a hard time seeing ANY noticable wear anywhere, I took Gary's advice and reversed the gears positions, and also flipped them. I re-wicked the two gears and the center gear too- on the 1965 10L there are oil holes in the studs that hold the reverse tumblers, and wicks inside.

After the cleaning and flipping, they are quite a bit quieter with the spindle turning forward, and even quieter when the spindle is in reverse! Hah

Maybe one more flip of gears? Otherwise it is the main spindle gear warn more on the forward side.

Thanks for the help guys


Bernie

Just to update, the lathe is "purring" as well as a 10 L can I'd say.

I also added a few drops of "anti-sling", Lucas synthetic manual transmission gear oil stabilizer to the gears as well. You know, that sticky stuff they sell at auto parts stores. Added to the 75W gear oil, it Sounds great now.

Next modification is a GITS oiler on top of the spindle gear so I can add oil right to the top of the train without opening the door or removing the top cover. Hopefully tomorrow.

Bernie