Hey Wayne; Thanks for helping me out trying to get this chucker to operate at its best potential. Yes, I welded a bracket that secures the other hub from turning,I bolted it to the trailer floor. There is one lever on the pumpkin that switches from low to high, or nuetral in between. If I do have to weld this is there any suggestions on how and what to weld? I know what the spiders are but also know these are hardened steel and can be weakened and broken if done improperly. All help is appreciated. Dan
Hello Danny,
It was fairly easy to lock the differential on my wood chucker . Take note of any moving part that moves on another that allows the spiders gears to function and weld them .
Mine is a single speed and very easy to get to the spiders . Yours being a two speed might be harder.
You will have to double your input speed to maintain your current chunking speed . If you are using a 180 pound flywheel on the input shaft I doubt you will stall it but may be more likely to bend or break something.
A little trick you can do when feeding in 4 inch diameter hardwood. It is hard on the equipment to make a perpendicular cut but much easier if angled in like a beaver would take down a tree.
Thanks Wayne; Your info is understood and well received. I watched a couple of video’s and now know what you and Chris are talking about. I believe I will be attempting to make this modification. Will post when completed. It is very kind of you and Chris to share your extensive knowledge. Dan
“Around the corner”
Hi there!
Maybe I am a little late for the discussion on the working principle of the differential, but I am sharing this link anyway, because I think it is worth the 10 minutes it takes to watch.
IMO, one of the best explanatory videos I have found on the internet. It is oldfashioned, but that’s what I like best about it. Step by step, just the way it should be…
Don’t be fooled by the beginning - just enjoy!
Best regards,
Sam
PS: Maybe some of you know this one already…?
Hi Sam; That’s the exact video I watched that helped me to understand what Wayne and Chris were telling me about speeds and torque. The video explains it in a way that even a dummy like me can understand. Maybe that’s why Wayne’s looked like it was cutting much easier than mine. I will be doing some spider welding. Thanks for pointing out the video. Dan
Hello Sam,
Thanks for the video!! I will have my son watch it.
Just a couple of days ago son was asking if both wheels pull? I said yes until you get stuck in the mud and need both.
He was asking me to explain the differentials actions . I told him we would talk about it later.
Have you ever been driving a wood burner in traffic, pulling a 24 foot cattle trailer loaded with cows and explaining the action and functions of a truck differential ? !!
Wayne, to be honest,
I haven’t hauled cattle in decades - but two weeks before Easter I helped loading two cows at my parents place - I’m wondering if that counts, too… although, the driving a woodburner makes me loose anyway…
I wish I had had access to a video like this when I was young and asked how a differential works… My dad, also had a hard time explaining it (no woodburners involved!). And my older brother wasn’t helpful either, although he had just started apprenticeship as a mechanic especially for farm equipment and tractors - he just knew how to fix it… but didn’t care how it works “exactly”. And I always wanted to know (still do), how things “exactly” worked (reason I joined DOW) - well, I ended up in engineering…
A little anecdote from my very first machine design lecture as a student: Our professor (probably the worst I ever had - except for one at Waterloo, Ont.) asked us, if we knew how a differential works. Close to 50 % raised their hands (EDIT: That was 50% out of 450 students) Then he tried to explain it off-the-cuff. It was so bad, that after he was done, I bet, if he had asked the same question not a single one would have raised his hand!
I can try to show a model of a differential (see below) in the next hangout - It is right next to my desk; I found it on Ebay, it was used in a German Driving School.
Best regards,
Sam
O.K. Instead of approaching this as how a differntial works look at it as why have one in the first place. In auto tech schools they had us learn this classroom with little fixed and loose wheeled axles. Some got it - most did not. Easier to go out on soft dirt, sand, gravel, mud or snow and go in circle. Then you can show that the outside wheel must travel a greater distance than the inside wheel. Well to do this you must drive it faster than the inner of the turn wheel. Gonna take more power at a higher speed to do this versus the less distance traveling inside of the turn wheel. Gravel road traveling on sharp uphill turns it is the rear outer wheel that does the full power hopping/spinning. Inner wheel is like a marching band line-up on the inside of a pivot “wheel” turn having to slow way down and stomp on place while the outer line end marches longer strides at the l-o-n-g-e-r distance traveling outer swing end of the “wheel” turn.
Fellows with good farm tractors and boys can show them how to brake lock the inside rear wheel to allow the outside wheel to overspeed and drive the tractor around a tighter turn. Ha! Ha! Then, lock the differential on them and tell them to try and turn!! Goes straight sliding the front wheels! No “fun” fourwheeler drive wheel “slipping” cheating possible on a big wheeled tractor.
Now HOW a differential splits the power, speeds and torques is a whole 'nother story. "Sam"F’s info here.
DannyC it is this cababilty you do not need anymore and want to disable.
Regards
Steve Unruh
Best way to save on gas! put a seat on it then all you have to do is turn the crank!
nvm
O.k. guys, now what do I do? Opened axle up and don’t know if there is spider gears or not and is it because of two speed axle.Maybe I should just put it back together and use as is. What say you? 2 photos if it helps. Two speed selector on other side on left of photo. Dan
Hello Dan,
Looks like you will have to open it to get to the spider gears . Also if you want to keep it a two speed you should use caution around the planetary gears and not get any weld on them. Are you aware the axles have to slid out 3-4 inches on each side to remove the chunk.
Hey Wayne, Don’t know what I will do, what a pain! Thanks, will think on it. Dan
Hey Danny,
are you sure your lever is two speed and not just a differential lock? The left side almost looks like it could be… can’t tell for sure, though. Maybe you can post another picture of the the two-speed shifting lever and how it is connected to the axle? Or another picture from the front?
If it was a diff lock, you’d be done on the spot; it would lock the left side axle to the revolving housing, thus locking the spider gears as well and engaging the right side to the left side. Have you used that 2 speed shifting already? If you have, and it worked, forget about this comment.
If not, try this:
If your one side is still bolted to the frame and the chunker is not hooked up to a tractor, you can turn your free chunker side by hand (carefully), can’t you? If you now “shift” your 2-speed-lever, can you still turn it by hand? If not, loosen up the other end and see if you can do it then. If yes, you are done! (By locking you would have converted your differential to a simple bevel gear…)
Best regards,
Sam
EDIT: Have been thinking about this all morning at the back of my mind (we have almost noon now here in Germany). The longer I think about it, the more I think the left side is a differential lock. If I was to put a two-speed gearbox in my driveline, I would put it right where the driveshaft meets the rear axle (before it meets the big crown wheel we see in the picture), because there I have the higher rpm of the driveshaft compared to the axles (hence less torque for the same amount of power to be transmitted - I can use smaller gears, so I save space, weight and $$).
Putting some sort of planetary gear on the axle or the differential would at least be heavier, more expensive and more complicated, me thinks. Therefore, I would not do it that way, but again:
If you know for sure the left side is a two-speed gear step, forget this comment and never mind…
Hi Sam, Danny.
I was thinking the same thing… Here’s hoping its a locking diff.
If it’s not… Perhaps with the make and model an exploded diagram could be found online.
All the Best
TerryL
Hi Sam and Terry; Unfortunatly, it is two speed. If you move the lever it changes the ratio on the revolutions.Also it had an electric shifter that I removed that stated something about two speed shifter. Nice try guys, it would have been great. And the shifter is in the front next to the pinion. Thanks Dan
Hi Danny,
what a bummer!
So, the shifter at the front end is connected to that lump on the left side?
Best regards,
Sam
Yes, you are correct Sam.Try to post pic. later if I remember. Dan
Hey Danny ,
I went out and checked a two speed chunk ( differential ) this morning that I have stored away… It appears to be the same as yours.
I bought it to change the single speed rear end in my log truck to the two speed and was planning on doing it just as soon as I got time. That was 24 years ago !!.
I gave it a few spins and it still seems to spin free!!
Hey Wayne; I started taking mine apart tonight and I seriously doubt it will ever work again. What a freakin mess! I will have to loosen and move the pinion as it is in the way of removing the guts. I have no idea what I am doing and may end up with scrap metal. But if that happens, I still have a fine 13hp Honda engine and a trailer to start over. If that happens, no more two speed axles! Or I may just say to heck with the axle and build one of those Rojek type type cutters. I am one of those people that can build almost anything as long as it interest me, but if it annoys me enough I will move on. Hope for the best! Whatever you do, don’t take the two speed apart cuz it will probably p__s you off. Dan