HG 2:1 Trans. Speed Reducer

[Mike Anderson]

Here it finally is.  I've been slowly getting my HG back together, and these photos are of the 2:1 reducer I built between the bell housing and transmission.

It just needs paint, but is all there.  The rest of the tractor is a little ways from being back together, but it should be running soon.

This is an experiment at this stage.....no telling how well it may work.  The biggest disadvantage over a secondary transmission that I know about will be that it will be slow in reverse, and of course not as many selections.  This was realtively simple to do and would make it easy to restore to original appearance with little work.

I'll keep you informed of progress and success or failure when it's running.

Mike

[Mike Anderson]

This photo shows the cover and battery tray mounting bracket.

Mike

[Blake Malkamaki]

Beautiful job Mike!;)

[ggibby]

Mike nice work.
Fantastic safety cover.
Good Job.
Regards,
George Gibby:)

[DaveInMI]

Beautiful work!  I hope other people post what they have made for their crawlers.

[ozzy]

Excellent job. Cant wait to hear how it works. Someday  I would like to do something on this order. Again EXCELLENT.    OZZY

[Harvey Havens]

Very profesonal work Mike if it works i want one if it dont back to the drawing board for a revamp it is still exellent craftmanship good luck H H

[pvcarey]

Yor work looks real good, I have one concern, will it put to much side thrust on the bearings?
Ron

[Glen]

Mike, looks very solid if it works good, I'm ready for one. Glen

[thecatskinner]

First class craftsmanship Mike--super job:D:D:D

[jdemaris]

Looks good.  I put a 3 speed aux. trans in my HG.  Where did you get the sprockets that would fit the oddball 1 3/16" X 6 splines on the clutch-housing shaft and the input shaft into the Clark transaxle?

[Mike Anderson]

Last weekend I took out the chain reduction unit I had built for the HG and went back to the original drive shaft.  The chain reduction had three problems.

First, the reduction was too great.  I found I was using 2nd gear most of the time with the engine barely off idle and still with enough power to spin the tracks.

Second, I could never get the unit to be quiet.  I tried the tension on the chains  too tight, too loose and everywhere in between with no success.   My suspicion is that the connection  was just too short to allow any give which would be present in a drive with longer chains.  (This was suggested as a possibility by the drive people where I bought the sprockets and chain....they weren't sure though.)

Third, reversing was annoyingly slow.  This would be helped by a lesser reduction, of course.

The fresh engine has plenty of power with the original setup, but the engine needs to be run a little faster.  This was the reason I tried this in the first place,  the thing really moves!  Too fast for tight work or good control.

Question for those with the auxilliary transmissions:  Do you find that you need to change both transmissions when you are working forward and reverse?  (Pushing and then backing up to get another bite.)  Or can you find a gear that works well for both?  Is there a "favorite" gear selection that seems to give you enough power without moving too fast?

I'm not through experimenting, even though this didn't work as planned.  

Where did I get the sprockets with the splines?  I took an old set of universal joints with the proper splines on them to make the sprockets for the chain drive.  I removed the bearing "ears" on the u-joint , then turned the u-joint to fit the bore of the sprocket, pressed them together , then welded them.

I'm thinking of trying a planetary gear set from an overdrive transmission next, so will be interested to hear about gear selection from the folks with the auxilliary transmissions.

Mike

[jdemaris]

My speed aux. works great; exceeds my expectations.  But . . . I live in the mountains and
rarely find myself working on flat ground.  Before the changeover, I had the same
complaint as other HG or OC3 owners in this area.  Too fast in forward and reverse and
third gear is useless. I hear people mention that they can already spin the tracks so why
install an aux?  Well I never ran one of these crawlers that would spin tracks at low
r.p.m.; only revved up.  So you often find yourself either lugging the engine at low speed,
or slipping the clutch.  Maybe if the crawler is particularly light and has worn grousers
the tracks spin more easily, but what good is that?  I have a hydraulic angle blade and a
steel canopy, so my machine has some extra weight.  I tend to run my crawler with the
aux. in 2nd gear and reverse is just right.  If I need to pull something slow and steady, I
put the aux. and main trans. in 1st gear.  After using the crawler like this, I can't imagine
using it without it.  I NEVER find occasion to run the aux. in third - which would put it
back to normal.  This summer I was at friendââ,¬â,,¢s house with my trailer, to delivery a heavy
piece of equipment that had to be towed/dragged off my trailer.  He tried to do it with his
perfect running HG.  He was hitched just right for optimum traction.  Every time he tried
to pull at low engine speed, his engine would stall.  So, he rev. it up high and then he'd
just be jerking the chain.  Finally found an almost "happy' medium by revving the engine
and slipping the clutch to a point where it smelled like someone's burning underwear.  He
just barely was able to pull the load.  This isn't good for the engine or the clutch.  My
crawler with the aux. could have done the same job with the engine almost at idle speed.
I'm not a machinist so my aux. installation is not "picture perfect" but functionally, I
couldn't ask for more.  In addition, the Trasco option that Oliver used required
modification of the Ford input shaft and  also resulted in a driveshaft that was not
removable (without pulling the engine or transaxle).  My installation requires no such
trans. modification, I use a standard $35 Model A clutch disk, my driveshaft is easily
removed in 10 minutes, and so is the transmission.  The job also tolerates some of the
engine movement/shucking that most HGs and OC3s experience when being worked
hard.  I have no vibrations and the Ford transmission shift very nicely.  I initially had
concerns about using 90W gear oil in the trans. that was designed for 600W but Iââ,¬â,,¢ve had
no problems.  I did, however, install oil seals on the input and output. The following is a
list of ground speeds:
With the Ford Model A 3 speed transmission installed as an auxiliary unit, ground speeds
at full throttle are as follows (I also included specs. on a John Deere 420 that has a good
low 1st gear and an OC4):

Original (no aux.): 1st - 2.01 m.p.h., 2nd - 3.19 m.p.h., 3rd - 5.24 m.p.h., Rev. - 2.33
m.p.h.

Aux in Range 1:  1st - .64 m.p.h., 2nd - 1.02 m.p.h., 3rd - 1.68 m.p.h., Rev. - .74 m.p.h.

Aux in Range 2: 1st - 1.08 m.p.h., 2nd - 1.72 m.p.h., 3rd - 2.83 m.p.h., Rev. - 1.26 m.p.h.

Aux in Range 3: 1st - 2.01 m.p.h., 2nd - 3.19 m.p.h., 3rd - 5.24 m.p.h., Rev. - 2.33 m.p.h.

Aux in Rev.: 1st - .53 rev. m.p.h., 2nd - .85 rev. m.p.h., 3rd - 1.4 rev. m.p.h., Rev. - .62
forward m.p.h.

Compared to a John Deere 420 crawler:
1st - 7/8, 2nd - 2 1/4, 3rd - 3, 4th - 5 1/4

OC-4 (with hi/lo in high range) 1st - 1.5 m.p.h. 2nd - 2.4 m.p.h. 3rd - 3.3
m.p.h. 4th - 5.2
m.p.h. rev. 1.8 m.p.h.
OC-4(with hi/lo in low range) 1st - .8 m.p.h. 2nd - 1.2 m.p.h. 3rd - 1.7
m.p.h. 4th - 52.7
m.p.h. rev.-.9 m.p.h.