thwaites 1950s dumper

[boothsteve]

Hi, I am in the process of renovating my dumper, it is running but the gear box is noisy and sometimes the gearbox jams, the clutch will disengage to freewheel, but wont drive forward or reverse. Someone told me that if the bearings were shot, the gearbox alignment would be out and cause the gears to jam. Does this sound feasible or any other suggestions, Thanks for your help!

[shirtbox2003]

hi steve.take the box out and strip it down.very simple engineering.parts easy to get.no simple cure.put a new clutch in whilst your at it. regards,jack.

[boothsteve]

Hi Jack thanks for your reply, Dumper is now up and running, it has freed itself, and seems to be running ok! Clutch was replaced 2 yrs ago, but will take your advice if it reacurrs.

Regards. steve

[Julian]

Hi, I am in the process of renovating my dumper, it is running but the gear box is noisy and sometimes the gearbox jams, the clutch will disengage to freewheel, but wont drive forward or reverse. Someone told me that if the bearings were shot, the gearbox alignment would be out and cause the gears to jam. Does this sound feasible or any other suggestions, Thanks for your help!

Whoever told you that was basically spouting bollocks!

The noise will most probably be down to worn bearings, there's 4 in total on each end of the two shafts, you'll probably find the oil contaminated with water, hence the reason for the bearing wear. With luck you'll find the gears to be OK.

The jamming issues is caused by selecting two gears at once. If you remove the gear stick you'll find a metal 'gate' that separates the two selector rails, this plate wears and makes it occasionally possible to move both rails thus selecting two gears at once - obviously this jams the gearbox. The fix is easy, just build the plate back up with MIG, and grind/file it to get back the required profile.

Julian.