Gearbox help on Chester Coventry or Warco GH1330 Lathe

[R SteelsParticipant @rsteels81665]

Hi. I have recently acquired a second hand Chester Coventry Lathe (Same as the Warco GH1330 but in white) and the gears are not selecting and if they do they can jump out when using.

I am new to lathe ownership and never been faced with dealing with the gear box side of things. I'm guessing there must be a simple way to address the selecting issue and also a correct way of resolving this. If anyone can help me with this before I begin tackling it blind I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

Rich

[R SteelsParticipant @rsteels81665]

Not going into gear

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Not sure about your problem, as mine works fine, but you might find this manual helpful, from grizzly
https://cdn0.grizzly.com/manuals/g0782_m.pdf

Which gears; headstock power transmission gears to the main spindle, or the gearbox feed gears to the leadscrew?

It might be slightly different, as this was for the US market

Hello and welcome by the way; Where roughly are you in the world?
This may help others in assisting you with queries.

Bill

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

May be obvious but you often need to rock the chuck back and forth when changing gears to help them move and fully engage as there is no syncromesh. Also make sure the gearboxes have enough oil in them

Edited By JasonB on 01/09/2022 07:41:33

[R SteelsParticipant @rsteels81665]

Hi, thanks for your feedback and the manual Bill, it's a lot more helpful than the one I have.

The issue is with the transmission gears to the main spindle. I can set the lathe in gear, start turning then whilst turning the spindle will lose power and freewheel to a stop as the gear has jumped out. Some gears are worse than others which makes me think it's a selector issue.

Thanks Jason, plenty of oil and yes I do rock the chuck to set a gear

[Willem KotzeParticipant @willemkotze19252]

If the gear selectors where removed, detent springs and balls may have been lost. Check for the correct detent operation as a start. The detents are shown on the manual above.

Remove the top cover of the gearbox for visual inspection of the complete gearbox. Just use some "Gasket Maker" sparingly on reassembly. Whilst at it service the gearboxes' lubricants. Drain, CLEAN and refill. I removed some 1 liter of sediment/gunk on such a 25 year overdue service.

The threading gearbox was stuck on shifting operations. It turned out to be gumming on the shafts preventing the free shifting of gears. Cleaned, proved free shifting, reassembled and refilled with clean oil.

Regards to all.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Like Willem, I would check the detent balls and springs that hold the selectors. The springs may have corroded and weakened, or even been lost. Good luck. Noel.

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