Enco 1445 Quick change gearbox dial stuck

One thing that I see in your pic is your half nut lever is engaged, Disengage that and see if it helps.
 
I always apply only a small force to the shift lever and keep rotating, double clutching etc until it slides in. One of my cars I need to go in forward an inch or so before it will slip into reverse. There are some around the farm that think it just needs more force LOL. The older tractors are not syncro mesh so they like to be almost stopped. I am sure you will figure out your lathe likes.
 
Worked with it a bit this afternoon. No dice. I tried it with levers in all positions and holding force on the lever as I rotated the spindle a full 360. I can feel it's not even trying to mesh. Shaft moves back and forth just a couple degrees and that's it. I removed the threading pitch plate (or whatever it's called) and both upper levers and worked it again. Still no luck. Unfortunately, while doing so, I managed to lightly push the metric/imperial thread shaft (upper left of quick change gear box) in and now it just rotates about 120° without engaging anything. I would have thought there would be either a pin or snap ring or something to prevent this. But, it definitely appears I'll get the unfortunate opportunity to tear into this gearbox. My greatest fear is it unintentionally coming disassembled as I remove the front half and it leaking oil after I reassemble and seal.
 
It's possible this machine has had a crash and something is broke or a roll pin or key has sheared. It would probably pay you to remove the whole gearbox so when you take it apart with it facing up the shafts and gears will stay in place. Take pics with your phone so you can reference them later.
 
Harry Knutz said:
It's possible this machine has had a crash and something is broke or a roll pin or key has sheared. It would probably pay you to remove the whole gearbox so when you take it apart with it facing up the shafts and gears will stay in place. Take pics with your phone so you can reference them later.
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You could say it had a crash during the move. It rolled over onto its back. Whether that caused it or not, I don't know. When I tested it (before moving it), I put it through all paces EXCEPT for that lever.
 
May be a long shot but can you power it up and run at its lowest speed, forward and reverse while keeping a little force on the lever?
 
Greyhound said:
You could say it had a crash during the move. It rolled over onto its back. Whether that caused it or not, I don't know. When I tested it (before moving it), I put it through all paces EXCEPT for that lever.
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You'll get it going. The good thing is, I have seen a fair amount of this model Enco out there, Some of the places like Wheeler may have a parts lathe or you may find parts on ebay.
 
Harry Knutz said:
You'll get it going. The good thing is, I have seen a fair amount of this model Enco out there, Some of the places like Wheeler may have a parts lathe or you may find parts on ebay.
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Plan is to remove the gearbox this Saturday and tear into it to see what I find. Interestingly, there is a company that still imports this lathe (US Industrial). They do some in-house work so one option could be to send the GB to them if I can't repair it myself. Problem is, according to them, it may be months before they could get to it. Another option is to purchase a parts lathe as mentioned. I have found one, albeit a different brand but same lathe a couple states away. Owner claims the lathe is in great shape. Hopefully, that's not the option I'm forced to go with. I don't have storage space for another lathe and I'd hate to buy it just for the GB and part the rest of it out, or worse, scrap the rest of it.
 
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