Huskee Speeco 22 lovejoy spider assembled wrong?

[Highbeam]

So I'm getting excited to split some wood and was checking the condition of the lovejoy on my 2010 splitter. I split about 6 cords per year so this thing has some time on it.

I remember loosening the pump mount bolts when I bought the splitter and verifying/fixing the alignment of the coupler. It's straight.

What I noticed this weekend was that as I pull the start cord of the engine slowly it spins clockwise when looking down on the engine. The lovejoy uses a three tooth rubber spider and each coupler half has three teeth. Meaning, the rubber spider is either in front of or behind the engine side drive teeth. My lovejoy was assembled so that the drive teeth push metal to metal against the pump's driven teeth. The spider is doing NOTHING since it is not in the right place. Easy assembly mistake right?

Is this how your Huskee 22 is assembled? I think I need to fix it so my next question is whether I drop the whole pump out or whether I can slide the lovejoy coupler down the pump shaft far enough to put the spider where it belongs. How is the spider replaced?

 

[maple1]

I'm having a hard time picturing this. Any lovejoys I've worked with could only go together one way, you couldn't put the rubber piece in so metal was against metal if you tried. I don't think?

Got a pic?

 

[Highbeam]

I'm having a hard time picturing this. Any lovejoys I've worked with could only go together one way, you couldn't put the rubber piece in so metal was against metal if you tried. I don't think?

Got a pic?

Let me take a pic and also check that I'm not totally crazy. Seems the spider on my lovejoy only has three rubber fingers which makes sense since you only really need three but then you have to make sure that you place the rubber fingers in the right place. You've seen old spiders where only every other finger is worn out? That's because only every other finger is being used. The more traditional six finger spiders can actually be rotated to get fresh fingers.

Of course, I may be totally crazy. My huskee has the vertical shaft engine so this coupler is below deck.

 

[maple1]

Ah OK - I was only directly familiar with working with 6 finger ones. Now I'm curious what's on my splitter that I haven't touched since I got it. Or studied. Maybe it's in the same boat and I just don't know it yet.

About your main question, only thing I can think to do is try it just sliding the couplers up (down?) the shaft & see if you can make room. It would likely come down to how close the shafts are to each other.

Somebody on here must have Speeco & Lovejoy experience? Anybody who's taken off a pump or motor would.

EDIT: Couldn't resist. Had to run out in the back yard & look at mine. It's 6 fingers (not a Speeco though).

 

[Highbeam]

I'll count the rubber fingers to be sure. I don't think it would be bad to only have a three runner finger version but it seems extremely important that those three rubber fingers are in position to absorb engine load between the driven coupler and the pump coupler and not on the trailing side.

 

[Jags]

I believe I understand your configuration but have never seen one made like that. I am betting that you are missing 3 fingers. I have a spider that looks just like that and allowed the metal to metal contact of the lovejoy to totally screw up the intire coupler.
Maybe look to see if you can find a parts breakdown for your splitter on the web?

 

[Highbeam]

I believe I understand your configuration but have never seen one made like that. I am betting that you are missing 3 fingers. I have a spider that looks just like that and allowed the metal to metal contact of the lovejoy to totally screw up the intire coupler.
Maybe look to see if you can find a parts breakdown for your splitter on the web?

I found the manual for the current version and the photo shows 6 fingers on the spider. Hmmm, maybe I lost three fingers. Will look tonight.

 

[Highbeam]

Whoa, I HAD 6 fingers. Only upon prying the metal teeth apart could I see a sliver of remaining spider. You guys were right and I need a new spider. I took some photos, put them up tomorrow. Fortunately I caught this before damage. Folks, keep an eye on your spider!

 

[Jags]

Had one blow not too long ago, that is why I was pretty sure of your situation.

 

[Ashful]

Highbeam, note that your Speeco spider is not like all others. In order to minimize how far the pump hangs down, while keeping the motor mount low (no beam interference), they have the shafts of the pump and motor almost touching. So, a normal spider with a solid center won't work here. You need to find one with a hole in the center, to accommodate the 1/2" pump shaft sticking up thru it. There is a gap of maybe only 1/8" between the ends of the two shafts.

I bought a new Lovejoy assembly for my larger motor (larger shaft size), but had to use the old Speeco spider with it, since the new one did not have a clearance bore thru the spider.

 

[Highbeam]

So here are the photos. I had to pry apart the metal teeth with a screwdriver and deep down inside was the remnants of the original cushion fingers on 2 of the three locations, one was completely gone. Before opening the jaws, I could see no fingers so it is really close to being metal to metal. Wow!

Highbeam, note that your Speeco spider is not like all others. In order to minimize how far the pump hangs down, while keeping the motor mount low (no beam interference), they have the shafts of the pump and motor almost touching. So, a normal spider with a solid center won't work here. You need to find one with a hole in the center, to accommodate the 1/2" pump shaft sticking up thru it. There is a gap of maybe only 1/8" between the ends of the two shafts.

I bought a new Lovejoy assembly for my larger motor (larger shaft size), but had to use the old Speeco spider with it, since the new one did not have a clearance bore thru the spider.

So it sounds like I have no choice but to actually drop the pump out the bottom to replace or to rotate the spider. I do believe that I can get another 6 years on this spider by using the remaining 3 spider legs but it might not be worth the trouble. So my new question...

Where do I get a new spider for this application? Are there sizes? I see I need a hole in the middle but the SPEECO parts diagram calls out the whole coupling and not just the rubber. I see there are different materials available for the spider that might last longer. I bought the splitter at a farm store like TSC, maybe I should go there and see if they have them?

The oil on the pump mount plate is from actually changing the oil. I do that, I'm weird and the drain plug for this engine dumps the oil all over underneath.

 

[Highbeam]

Here we go.....

(broken link removed)

Still, drop the pump out? If the shafts almost touch then sliding the coupler half up the engine shaft won't give me room to remove the coupling but I could rotate it that way.

According to lovejoy, if the finger has worn more than 25% then it must be replaced.

Also, according to lovejoy, at gas engine RPM the coupler must be solid centered! Not the hollow ones that Huskee used. Oh well.

 

[maple1]

Would it be any easier to raise the engine up rather than let the pump down?

That would be an on-site as-you-go call likely.

 

[Highbeam]

Would it be any easier to raise the engine up rather than let the pump down?

That would be an on-site as-you-go call likely.

It looks like the pump would be easier to drop since the bolts are all nut/bolt combinations on the pump and some of the engine bolts are those hokey self tapping ones that I would rather not disturb. Also, the smaller bolt holes on the pump side will make realignment easier I think. I do not plan to remove the hoses to the pump so the pump will only be able to drop a few inches anyway.

Going to TSC tonight! See what they say. My local TSC's website says they have the spider in stock. I have no wood to split and plenty of other jobs to do (in the middle of mud and taping sheetrock in a closet) but I want this fixed.

 

[Ashful]

It's easy to just back out the mounting bolts on the pump, and drop it down enough to swap the spider. Raising the engine creates the scenario where it's tough to get it all aligned again, as the new spider will be quite tight.

You will be cursing Speeco by the end of the evening, but the accessibility (or lack thereof) of those pump bolts is not their fault. They all use the same standard mounting casting.