Two speed axle troubleshooting

   / Two speed axle troubleshooting #1  

cockeyedMFer

Gold Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Messages
270
Tractor
1959 MF 35 deluxe, gas
Just picked up a '65 F600 to haul gravel and dirt for my driveway project and it has a factory 2 speed axle. Everything else on the old girl works great except the two speed selector.

There's power at the circuit breaker, the switch turns it on and off properly, there's power all the way into the motor, but nothing. I guess its seized from non-use, but isn't even rusty.

Checked the gear oil and its clean and fresh. Tried tapping it with no results.

The motor bolts to an adapter, which bolts to the axle housing. Are there any other tricks before I remove it? Is there anything that can fall into the housing if I unbolt the motor from the adapter?

IMG_0512.jpg
 
   / Two speed axle troubleshooting #2  
What motor does it have? I get to drive a F700 with a 491 with a 4 barrel. Not going to win any races but will do better than the other on the guy has. Its a GMC C60 with a 350/2 barrel. Its a pig.

Chris
 
   / Two speed axle troubleshooting #3  
Last one I pulled was very straight forward. Has a screw and limit switches has a u piece like shift linkage in transmission. Put a pan under it, pull the bolts and it should all come off as a unit.
 
   / Two speed axle troubleshooting #6  
I think I would try shifting it between high and low and manually rocking the truck back and forth in gear (engine off) using a tractor. You might be able to free it up without taking it apart.
I've driven a lot of the old 5 & 2 set up and always loved them! A lot of people never looked at the shift chart. The tricky part was you went from 4 lo to 5 lo then back to 4 hi then 5 hi. Also nice was not needing to use the clutch to shift the 2 speed!
 
   / Two speed axle troubleshooting #7  
If my memory is right I believe there is a switch inside that may be just short of making a complete switch bewteen ranges you can remove the front cover and roll the motor shaft with your fingers if it isn't to cold to make sure every thing is in the correct part of the cycle either hi or low ,no guarantee but a cheap easy thing to check out. Obviously the differential is in one range to drive ,those things are known to miss a shift then you have to manually get it in one range or other to be able to move .
 
   / Two speed axle troubleshooting
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to drop it as soon as I have a chance.

the truck has a 330 FE with 2bbl carb. Really surprised how capable it is, even without Lo. But I don't want to overwork it. Averaging 5+ ton loads of #57 stone on my Fridays off work. And I really enjoy hauling with an older truck.
 
 
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