Wheel Horse Rearend Tester

I've had 3 peeps within a week wanting to buy 8 speed rearends so I needed to make something to quickly check them out before they are sold.  This project started as a Wheel Horse rearend tester but is turning into a little more.  What else is new, I just can't help myself once my mind gets going... 

I'll post a little of this at a time as things progress and I have time, it's busy season now so things are a little crazy around here.  

I had a heavy table here I made a long time ago that wasn't being used anymore so it was the best choice to make it useful again.  The rearend is one getting parted out that was already in here.  The frame is a 312-8 frame from the farm that was parted out lately.   The rest of the clutch parts on the frame now are from a 64 Lawn Ranger frame from the farm parted out a few weeks ago.  It's basically gonna be a frame with most everything on it Wheel Horse parts just needed to test a rearend.  I really want it to be like a Wheel Horse official tester for Wheel Horse rearends with the tester having as many Wheel Horse parts as possible.  I just think that will be pretty cool.  

I could have just bolted an electric motor on the front of it with a plug, added an idler pulley + belt and been done, but as everyone knows that's not my style lol. 

I started staring at the rest of the frame and thought it would be a waste not to use it too.  It won't take up much more space if it was mounted to the table under the rearend tester.  If it had a Tach-a-Matic mounted to it I could use it for a lot of other things as well.  I could also slide a temporary pin in from the front and mount a front end on it to work on. 

So in the end it's turned out to be not only a rearend tester, but a multi function tester, work bench, and place to design things piece of equipment.  The time spent building it will save me a ton of time getting things done in the future so it's well worth it to me. 

 

I had a minute for an update and will try to give another one later today.  

I had a small tower from a 1970 Commando V8 in a tower pile here.  If everything works out it would make a good control center for the rearend tester part.  Since it will be running off of an electric motor I need somewhere to mount electrical, speed controls, wiring, the start capacitor for the motor, and things like that.  It will also be a good place to conceal all of the things just mentioned and add to the coolness factor lol. 

The front part of the frame has been blasted and will sit under the rear part of the frame.  The front part will be mounted to the table, then the top part will be mounted to the lower part.  If it ever gets expanded and needs a bigger table it will be easy to move by just removing 4 bolts.  

Next up will be getting the motor mounted on it. 

Yesterday was busier than expected and the yard had to be mowed again before the next rain came in this morning.  Rain, rain go away...  

I did manage to get the front part of the frame mounted to the table, and the rear part of the frame mounted to it.  Only 1 hole had to be drilled on the front part of the frame, the other 3 already in the frame worked out good.  I used 4 - 1/4" x 3" self cutters with rubber sealing washers to make sure it doesn't move and help with any vibration.  I made 4 mounts to mount the rear part of the frame to the front part.  Grade 9 bolts went in the factory tower holes, then the front frame was center punched for 4 - 1/4" x 3/4" self cutters to mount the frames together.  I love the fences I made when I got the iron worker, just mark and center punch for 1 hole, bring the punch down till it hits the center punch spot, bring in the fences, then spend 6 seconds per hole punching them with no marking or center punching them.  The mounts were just flipped to do the other end so all 8 of them are perfect.  The pic shows 2-5/16 bolts in the 5/16 holes and the alignments are perfect.  If it's one thing I wish I'd bought sooner it's the iron worker. 

Now I can move on to mounting the electric motor. 

 

Actually this was done last Sat, making a spot for the motor.  You may have noticed the frame was already notched when the frames were mounted a few days ago.   Sorry but not enough hours in a day to do what I need to do, or what I want to do... 

I had already talked to my friend Kevin who runs several HVAC crews for a company and had decided to use a 1/2HP motor out of a blower unit.  They are all universal now, the same size, same shaft, same wiring, etc, and if it ever had to be replaced it would be real easy.  Since I wanted to keep going he told me to take the one out of my home made fan and use it for now.  He's bringing me 2 more motors tomorrow when he comes up and putting my fan back together so I can keep doing what I need to do around here.  He's the best. 

The motor was gonna be pretty snug in the little tower so the frame was notched so it could drop down to make more room and a better pulley alignment.  It worked out really well for a cradle that will take care of the bottom support. 

 

Got the tower mounted last week.  Everything seems to have to go a little the hard way, oh well.  

At least the hole for the motor shaft was easy.  After the motor mount is on the tower later it will be designed to where the tower can just be lifted off easily in case the motor ever needs to be changed.  The tower holes were going to hit right in the largest part of the frame angle iron so they had to be moved in a little.  Because they had to be moved in the tower holes had to be slotted over a little.  It may not be easy but at least it's all done right. 

 

Like the post above, this one is from last week as well.  Still not enough hours in a day... 

In keeping with trying to use all the Wheel Horse parts as possible I decided to use a brake band to hold the motor down in the cradle.  The tower was mounted, then the brake band put over the motor and bent outward and marked so it could be cut off and fastened to the tower.  A thicker piece of metal was made to hold it in place like the brake bands usually have.  Then the 2 pieces were drilled and self cutters were used to mount it.  A longer rod used on the lift arm for the tractors was used to tighten it down.  The pics are pretty self explanatory.

To remove the motor just loosen the j bolt, remove the washer + hairpin cotter, slip it out of the steering shaft hole, remove the tower bolts and it all comes off together.  Nothing else holds the motor so it's loose and ready to come out.  

The brake band and parts of the frame that the motor hits on the bottom will be lined with self adhesive rubber after everything is painted.

 

Did a lot of blasting today and found another use for the rearend tester, which should be renamed the WH multi-function tester. 

Like in the pics I can use the 3/4 rods to check the fit on anything that mounts on or gets mounted with a 3/4" rod. Everything from pedals and stirrups to slot hitches.  It will be very handy not having to go get a separate piece of 3/4" rod to check things every time.   

A transmission drive belt pulley I blasted today has 5 part numbers on it, never seen that before.  It will be the one used on the tester from now on so there will always be cross references for that pulley right on the tester. 

 

The first 2 pics are from Sat before last with it all together and to a point where it would run the rearend.  It worked great other than the motor turned in the wrong direction and it wasn't a reversible motor. 

My friend Kevin is coming up this Sat and has a reversible motor for me.  That will be the last step in getting the transmission tester part going, minus some fancy controls I started on today. 

The parts in the pic are going on the control tower.  There's a variable speed fan and controller to keep the motor cool, it used to rely on the air flow from the fan mounted to it in the blower unit to cool it.  I got 2 latching push button switches that are going where the regulator mount holes were, and some control LED's to let me know what's going on.  One switch is for the motor, and one for the cooling fan setup.  They sure made the lips on the switch and LED fronts small, the holes will have to be pretty precise.  Anything for them to save a dollar I guess... 

I had some time late today and got a start on the tower controls. 

 

My friend Kevin was here last Sat and we worked on the tester a lot of the day.  He brought a brand new reversible motor so now we're covered.  He made a nice plate to hold the cap and molex connector while I worked on other things for it, and by end of day it was running.  It took awhile for him to make the plate to fit everything right but it came out really nice.  Now the tower can just be unplugged and pulled off without any problem.  It still needs some clean up and wiring rearranging but it works great. 

Monday I was cutting grass and trimming when the weed eater ran out of string.  I discovered the shafts on it make a good place to help reload the weed eater too lol.  

 

I've been trying to use up lighter steel sitting around the shop and put them to use on this project.  Most of the remaining panels will be made from the sides of an old computer case, they've been sitting around here for many years.  Everything gets recycled or used for something eventually around here...   

Since the HVAC blower unit motors rely on the squirrel cage fan to cool it an external fan had to be added.  With the tower enclosed and open at the bottom this fan will be more than enough.  The controller is variable speed and coverts AC to DC for the fan.  It will run off of the right switch in the tower, the left switch runs the motor.  The fan controller will be mounted below the switches where the outline is in the pic below.

The wiring on the motor is cleaned up and now everything just unplugs and comes apart in just a few minutes.