John S's Journal

My plan today was to put the OD gearbox on my transmission jack and clamp the motor to my WorkMate bench and try to mate the two together. The WorkMate has 2 working heights so I lowered it and then was able to crank the gearbox up. So far so good..Bought some 3/4”heater hose and some band clamps and set about joining the two. The input shaft is 7/8” and the motor shaft is 5/8 with a flat side where the pulley gets a set screw. I took the pulley off so that I could clamp the slightly oversized hose to the motor and the other end to the slightly larger input shaft. I bought 3/4” hose thinking I could work it onto the 7/8” shaft and clamp it and I was hoping to be able to pinch down enough on the motor shaft.

Epic fail on the first attempt. Just wouldn’t grab on the motor side. Spun around and cooked the rubber eventually.

Round two. Inserted a piece of copper tubing to avoid the hose twisting and this helped but still spun out.

Round three. Off to the hardware store in search of a piece of pipe or conduit to slip over the 5/8 shaft. Bought a short piece of 3/4” EMT and a couple of set screws. Drilled and tapped 4 holes to try and center the larger EMT on the shaft. A bit wonky and led to numerous attempts to spin the OD up. Managed to get it balanced somewhat for a couple runs where I could activate the solenoid and look for a change in revs.
Without a gauge, it’s a little bit of blind aeronautics. It seemed to change but I’m not claiming victory yet. Gauge kit due to arrive next week and after a family trip, I’ll try round 4.

Hoping to find a throwaway clutch disc so I can rig up a pulley system at some point. The plan is to see what kind of pressure is building and then drain, clean, change the service items, refill with the proper oil and get it ready to transplant later this year.