Quote Originally Posted by jere View Post
with the taper in the gear i was assuming that in was put there to retain the gear as there is not a set screw just the keyway. what would have kept the gear on just the keyway? It's a pretty weird design either way, I can see why designs have changed since the time this machine was made

great suggestions about the shoulder I will have to see what kind of round stock I could make it from. with the last version I just used a piece of plumbing scrap pipe.
yup, old stuff is a marvel and a head scratcher sometimes. I've not run into a tapered shaft with a gear like you have. After I posted that dawned on me, how did that thing stay on? It must have to do with the gear being helical cut and it thrusts itself into the taper while under load. dunno. Ingenious but far more work IMHO than set screws.

But you need a shoulder in order to do set screws so is there enough clearance in the oil box? Hate for you to go to all that trouble and get stumped by clearance. And what are you going to do about sealing the shaft? You might get away with a big dished (towards the gear) washer spaced away from the gear on the shaft as an old oil slinger. Worked ok on the front of crank in my old aircooled VW engines as long as the PCV wasn't plugged or it didn't have too much blow by. That way you wouldn't need to come up with some kind of rubber shaft seal. Details, details.