SB9C Spindle Rear Gear

I just picked up a 9" South Bend lathe and am trying to figure out what's going on with the change gears. In looking at it, it appears to be a model 9C (change gears and basic apron), but the serial number (10013NAR8) seems to imply that at one point it had a quick change gearbox.

I've got the change gears, the banjo, and reverse selector, but I'm hoping for some help understanding the gear on the spindle. It's a smaller gear than what I had seen in my research, and it's not keyed to the spindle in any way. I'm not sure if I'm missing parts, or if I'm just clueless on how it should be set up.

Thanks for the help!

carsondarling said:

It's a smaller gear than what I had seen in my research, and it's not keyed to the spindle in any way. I'm not sure if I'm missing parts, or if I'm just clueless on how it should be set up.

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One the 9" lathes, the gear was cut into the spindle - it's not removable.

^^^ while this is true, the pics show some modifications...not the usual SB arrangement

Any suggestions on identifying the headstock? It's starting to look like I might have a frankenlathe. The belt cover is stamped with "2577K3", and has the 441-3 lubrication chart riveted on. So far, I haven't been able to find any photos of a 9" with that particular belt cover.

carsondarling said:

Any suggestions on identifying the headstock? It's starting to look like I might have a frankenlathe. The belt cover is stamped with "2577K3", and has the 441-3 lubrication chart riveted on. So far, I haven't been able to find any photos of a 9" with that particular belt cover.

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There were 9" SB lathes with that cover when they were ordered with the underneath motor drive.

def a frankenlathe.....appears to have Logan,Atlas,SB, and some modified parts

Out of curiosity, which parts do you recognize as not from SB? I'm new to the hobby and definitely don't mind a project, but any pointers would be super helpful.

On looking at it again, I believe the banjo is from an Atlas 12" lathe (L3-58m Ebay listing I found: https://www.ebay.com/p/1001381588). That leads me to believe that the guard and leadscrew support bushing are also not from SB. That makes sense when considering that the machining style is dramatically different.

I believe I have a South Bend reverse gear assembly (photo below), and the tag on the change gears that I have do say South Bend.

Because the spindle doesn't appear to be from a SB9 as SLK001 pointed out, I'm wondering if the cone pulley is also mismatched. It looks like I have an extra spacer on the spindle (red arrow in photo), and the back gears don't fully line up. Does that kind of gear misalignment ever happen on SB9 lathes?

if it works just use it as is, i wouldnt put a thin dime in it

if not, try to sell the parts and get something else.

just my opinion, you may choose a different course....all good.

Following up on this, I was able to remove the spindle today. It was quite a bit easier than I had expected. I'm not sure where the spindle came from. It looks like it's got a similar profile to the South Bend 9" spindle, but it's clearly missing the machined gear at the end. It almost looks like someone modified the spindle and tried to braze a gear onto it.

For the step pulley, does anyone have the dimensions (pulley diameter & width, overall length) for the South Bend pulley? I'm tempted to purchase a replacement spindle and cone pulley to see what happens.

In other news, it finally dawned on me that the cross slide and compound are from an Atlas 12" lathe. I'm kind of amazed that they appear to fit well enough that it took me longer than it should have to notice.

iwananew10k: I appreciate the sentiment, and am fully aware that it's possible (if not likely) that any money I throw at this lathe is just putting good money behind bad money.