Three speed with three bolt hubs?

[mikeeyre74 289]

It's not at my house yet, but my friend picked up some wheel horse parts for me yesterday... Said one of them is a transmission with three speeds forward and one reverse that looks like a unidrive, but only has three bolt hubs for the wheels and a really small input pulley. What is this thing? 

[Achto 27,820]

14 minutes ago, mikeeyre74 said:

It's not at my house yet, but my friend picked up some wheel horse parts for me yesterday... Said one of them is a transmission with three speeds forward and one reverse that looks like a unidrive, but only has three bolt hubs for the wheels and a really small input pulley. What is this thing? 

 

3 bolt hubs were common on early . Most were made to be used on a 5 bolt rim and only utilized 3 of the bolt holes. I think some Lawn Rangers used a 3 bolt only pattern. If you post some pictures it will make identification easier for us.  

Edited June 12, 2017 by Achto

[mikeeyre74 289]

Will do, once I have it in my hands. Hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday. 

[Racinbob 11,238]

I believe all of them under 8hp used 3 bolt hubs through 1964. The 854 used 5 bolt hubs and then they started using 5 bolt hubs on all of them in 1965. Depending on what a 'really small input pulley' is it's possible somebody stuck it on there to make it go faster.

[mikeeyre74 289]

Got the parts here finally. Here's some pictures:

 

 

 

 

This shifter itself comes right out of the socket and I'm not familiar enough with these to know why that is or what holds it in the right place otherwise, but it shifts through all the gears and works as it should otherwise, if you hold the shifter in place. Any idea what this is from now, with that 3900 code on the side?

[mikeeyre74 289]

Nothing? Rats...

[Molon_Labe 731]

Pretty sure the 1973 8hp no name used 10" rear wheels with that type hub. There is a dog point screw that holds the shifter. Here's a pic, you can see where the screw goes at the front of the shifter. The screw is laying on top of the transmission.

Edited June 16, 2017 by Molon_Labe
Pic

[Lane Ranger 10,992]

Those three bolt hubs are  off of a Lawn Ranger .    Those Lawn Ranger  3 speed transmissions are usually in very good shape as most Lawn Rangers did not get a lot of abuse, wear and tear.    That transmission will interchange with other Wheel Horse models with no problem.    I use to be able to buy these  for $50 or less and bought everyone I could as they  are great for other rebuilds.  Hubs can change with little problem also.

 

Edited June 18, 2017 by Lane Ranger

[mikeeyre74 289]

Since they were used on the lawn rangers in the lower horsepower engines, does that mean they are built less robustly as the other uni drive transmissions? 

[pfrederi 17,895]

Same as any other 3 speed with 1" axles used on a lot of horses.

[mikeeyre74 289]

That seems so weird that they'd use three bolt hubs? Was that a cost savings measure? You'd think making a whole other part would not have made that worthwhile...

[Racinbob 11,238]

The 1973 8hp 4 speed used 10" wheels but I don't know if they had 3 or 5 hole hugs. I would guess 5 because the 1972 Commando 800 had 10" wheels and 5 hole hubs. The 1973 8hp 8 speed had 12" wheels and 5 hole hubs. @Lane Ranger have you only seen those on Lawn Rangers? That's the first 3 hole full circle hub I've seen but I've never messed with Lawn Rangers. Here's the more common 3 hole hub I was referring to in post #4.

 

[pfrederi 17,895]

35 minutes ago, mikeeyre74 said:

That seems so weird that they'd use three bolt hubs? Was that a cost savings measure? You'd think making a whole other part would not have made that worthwhile...

Lawn Ranger rear wheels were 8"  Be hard to get a 5 hole hub as used on the 12 inch wheels in there.

[Racinbob 11,238]

The 3900 you asked about is the case part number. Before inserting the shifter make sure the rails are positioned like this.

 

 

When you run the dog point screw in to hold the shifter tighten it just enough until you feel resistance when you shift the gears then back it off a fuzz. Then, not shown, hold the setscrew and tighten the 1/4" lock nut.

[pfrederi 17,895]

Pics of my L107 hubs. The studs are not original. 

[mikeeyre74 289]

Ahhhh.... that makes a lot of sense, the smaller hub diameter in the smaller wheel. I didn't think about that. Thanks!

[stevasaurus 22,881]

There are some numbers & letters up by where the shifter goes in.  This is the casting date.  It may not be able to tell you what transmission you actually have, but it could tell you which ones you do not have.  Here is what you have at this point...5025, 5046,5048,5049 or a 5053.  These are all basically the same transmission.  These are all Section II in the transmission manual.  The casting date may help eliminate one or two of these...maybe...understand that these trannys are really all the same as far as parts. 

[mikeeyre74 289]

 I was sort of under the impression that the three bolt hubs made it "weaker" and for lower horsepower tractors than the C-Series stuff that I usually mess with.  But that doesn't seem to be the case?  Since I already have two of these  in eight speed configuration, I guess I probably don't need this one as a spare for anything.  Thanks for the input!  I thought I might have had something unique to a much older tractor that needed to go to a good home… But I guess that is not so.