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MG TD TF 1500 - New angle drive

I have a new design angle drive gearbox almost ready for testing. It is a modular bevel angular gearbox that is fitted to the car gearbox and not the speedo as my other gearboxes. I will be able to do them with Ford inputs and outputs or XPAG inputs and outputs or a combination. I have attached a photo of the prototype with the lid removed. It's going in my mate's midget on Friday.
It runs like a Swiss watch!
The bevel gears run in roller bearings seated in bearing caps and the bevel stage is always the same regardless of the input or output configuration.
I will next build the version with the integrated speedo corrector stage. It will be slightly larger but only by 10mm.
The advantage is that it comes out of the gearbox at 90° parallel to the gearbox and has no nasty bend in the cable. With a FORD input and an XPAG output you can still use the original cable.
Regards
Declan




Declan Burns

Here's a drawing showing the possibilities.
Regards
Declan


Declan Burns

Terrific job, as always, Declan.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Nice...Pity I have already got one of your Speedo ones :)
Rod Jones

Declan,
would not the bevel layout reverse the output direction or have I missed something.
The drawings show input/output unchanged.
Having seen a Beetle with 4 reverse and 1 forward gear (Transporter box in saloon) It made me think twice.
Ray TF 2884
Ray Lee

It a darn confusing thing, but Ithink you are right and the bevel should drive the other side to maintain rotation direction.
Dave H
Dave Hill

The bevel does or does not change the direction of rotation depending on which end of the long shaft you connect to.
I have connected the input and output on the wrong side!
That will give me something to do tomorrow.

Regards
Declan
Declan Burns

Very nice. Do you fill the little box with the gears (I guess we call that a gearbox!) with grease?
John Quilter (TD8986)

John,
I normally use a 50 50 mixture of lithium grease and diff oil.
Regards
Declan
Declan Burns

Hi Declan,

Have you considered using a friction drive rather than gears? Colchester Chipmaster lathes use a Kopp Variator where a friction disk on the output shaft rides on a plate on the input shaft. By moving the disk further away from the centre of the plate the ratio can be varied. This would allow fine tuning of the ratio and would be easier to make if no gear cutting was needed.

Cheers

Jan
J Targosz

Jan,
I buy in the gears but am limited by the size and no. of teeth available.
I corrected the input and output configuration this afternoon-now it is correct.
I have also made a 3D drawing of the housing and my mate has ordered a 3D printer so we are going to see what the housing turns out like.

Regards
Declan


Declan Burns

Hi Declan,

I had real problems fitting the speedo cable into the Ford box in my TF. The output from the box is very close to the floor support angle iron and I had to twist this an notch the floor board. I had a hybrid Ford / MG cable made up by Speedy Cables and this had a longish ferrule at the gear box end but maybe ones from other suppliers are shorter and this would be better. If your angle box allows the cable to exit in a more horizontal direction it will be a great help
J Targosz

Jan,
It looks like it should fit as the Ford speedo drive comes out at a slightly downwards angle. The next time I crawl under the car I will measure the clearance.
Here's a photo of mine which is the newer Hi-gear kit where you have to cut the gearbox crossmember.

Regards
Declan


Declan Burns

Hi Declan,

Hope you don't think I am being negative or critical but pondering mods to the TF help to keep my brain cells working.

I didn't use a kit when I fitted the Ford box. I bought a conversion bell housing from Andy King and made up all the brackets and fittings myself. I didn't cut the cross member so the rear of the box is higher than yours. I think it will be similar to the original HiGear kit. The cable exits the box close to the angle iron floor board. I can lift the car and take a photo for you but you may be better off with a pic of the earlier HiGear conversion.

The reason I suggested a friction drive rather than bevel gears is so the ratio can be adjusted. There are differing speedo output gears on Type 9 gearboxes and of course a lot of rear axle ratios have been changed. An adjustable drive would also allow fine tuning of the speedo.

I attach a very rough sketch of an adjustable speedo drive.

Have a good weekend

Jan



J Targosz

This thread was discussed between 11/10/2017 and 13/10/2017

MG TD TF 1500 index

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