ajmac Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 (edited) The company I work for has retained a couple of R&H tourers from the 1920s (we used to be R&H, now we are Siemens!), not so long ago the gearbox/diff failed and the old girl is dead in the water unless the small team that keep it running in their spare time can get it remanufactured. Does anyone have a recomendation? I have not seen the box of bits that was once the gearbox/diff but apparently the crown wheel lost part of a tooth and then spread metal throughout the oil and damaged the drive faces of just about every gear in the box. PS. The gearbox is also the diff, it is an odd all in one affair. A photo from wiki which surprisingly is the the actual vehicle with the dead box, sitting in the workshop next to my office! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RobinsonHole.jpg Edited December 30, 2012 by ajmac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.O.S. Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 Lovely car! There is a bespoke gearbox 'builder' next to Snetterton race circuit - obviously a race box specialist, but also used to one-offs, so someone like this with modern dedicated machining equipment could probably make up matched gear sets shafts etc at a sensible price. I'll be passing by today - I could call in and see if he is interested in looking at it. Be interesting to see his facilities! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike30841 Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 My son works for a company in Bradford called Bronte Precision Engineering - telephone 01274 698900. They have a specialist gear cutting department and may be able to help. They have rebuilt an exploded differential for an early Napier, among other things. My son, David Shackleton, says they would need to see the damaged gearbox to be able to quote for it, but would suggest that you speak to Steve Leach or Dave Bailey in the first instance. Hope this is some help, and the best of luck getting it sorted. Kind regards, Mike Shackleton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean N Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 Alastair, are you overcomplicating the issue? If budget is a problem, how good does the gearbox need to be - as new or just sound and usable? How bad are the gears - wrecked, or just marked but serviceable? It's not as if the vehicle's doing thousands of miles, presumably? Any photos? Reason I ask is because gearboxes are not complex things and I'll bet a '20s R&H gearbox is even less so. It'd be the sort of thing you could rebuild yourselves easily. I'll bet half the old trucks out there are running around with marked drive faces on all the gears. If the cost of replacing all the damaged gears is prohibitive and a fair proportion of them would go again that'd save a chunk of money. You can get new gears (e.g. crown wheel) cut to pattern by someone like HPC gears (Chesterfield) or the company Mike's son works for for quite sensible money, and things like bearings and seals can probably be got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 Hi Alastair. That all sounds rather unfortunate but I am sure that it can be brought back for much less than that. You guys looking after it will be able to do all the stripping, cleaning and fitting so that will remove the bulk of the cost. You could also machine the gear blanks yourselves and just get the teeth cut. I would guess that they are all straight-cut so that shouldn't be too difficult either. The company I would recommend is Charles Leek and Sons of Leek in Staffordshire. (http://www.leekgears.co.uk). They made a half shaft and propellor shaft for our Dennis lorry and their service, quality and prices were all excellent. They are a small outfit, delightful to deal with and very happy to do one-offs. Have a look at their website and give them a bell. Let us all know how you get on! Steve :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.O.S. Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 My lead came to a sad end - unfortunately the chap had a car accident and died a few years ago. He worked alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 Alastair, are you overcomplicating the issue? Sean is quite right. This is not a high performance high speed machine. If teeth are just marked, you could give them a polish with a needle file and emery and simply put them back. You probably won't even notice the noise! I would not put an old gear with a new one, however, as the new one will probably be spoiled fairly quickly. You could spend a lot of money on this job but you shouldn't really have to. I would think about what you are doing with the car too. If you are doing thousands of miles per year, then it is worth spending the money. A couple of hundred miles is a different game altogether. A nice challenge for you! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmac Posted July 6, 2012 Author Share Posted July 6, 2012 (edited) Thanks for all the contacts and advice chaps. I advised them to replace the broken gear and the just clean up the rough faces, that's what I would do if it were mine....having said that I haven't managed to see the box yet, apparently it is one of the teams' garage in bits. I am going to try and get it back to the workshop so we can find a way forward. A few years ago the block cracked and had to be stitched as no antifreeze had been added and its little garage got too cold. Both cars are now in a large workshop with a crane and heating. Update: Was told today that a team member has the box and has already given it to a gearbox company to rebuild and repair. Edited August 3, 2012 by ajmac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildman Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Many Thanks for the contributions: We have two cars a 1920 (dorman engine) and a 1923 (ruston engine). 1920 Car. The planet gears broke up and caused and lot of consequential damage. It aslo happened on a roundabout above the M3 during rush hour. Large crunch followed by lack of forward drive, it then started raining. Forwards no good so tried backwards. Success !! though the thought of trying to reverse up the M3 woud be difficult to explain to plod so decided after going backwards to try forwards again. Success !! at least as far as the nearby pub. Car collected on trailer after payment of local tariff of 5 1/2 pints bitter. Took car back to Lincoln and stripped axle, diff and gearbox out. The Dorman car has the gearbox mounted on the diff casing with a high speed (well sort of) prop shaft. The ruston car has a gearbox bolted on the back of the bell housing up front. The attched photo showed what had happened. The diff gears has broken up, crown and pinion also quite damaged but main gearbox only lightly damaged but quite worn. Took whole lot to a specialist and got quote to remake everything but struggled to get the funding for the high bill. After some debate we decided to get the diff gears remade and clean everything else up. When we got the quote for new diff gears, the prce was very reasonable so decide to get the crown and pinion remade as well. The service from Guest Gear Services has been great so far and very helpful on bevel gears both straight and spiral. As another member said the main gearbox is quite hefty and will clean up ok. Expect the new diff and crown/pinion soon. Will post pictures of the rebuild. 1923 car After many years engine is built up and nearly ready to install. Hope to get it mobile by the end of the year. Steve wildman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Thanks for the feedback, Steve. Glad to hear that you are making progress andlook forward to pictures of them out and about again! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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