How To Make An 18 Automatic Into A 23 Automatique LSE

I love watching these come back to life. Super,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Glenn

"I noticed that the fenders did not cover the whole width of the 12" wheels / tires, so I took the pair from my tractor I was restoring and the pair from my parts tractor to a friend who does welding, and asked if he would trim off opposing edges
and weld the other pieces together to make 2 extra wide fenders."

I decided to have a go at adding duals onto the rear, 15" x 7" Ag's instead of the single 12"s. This modification meant either having to opt for the {between the rim} spacers or the two hubs, per extra long axle. I chose the later, This was due to more than just one consideration: A.) I just simply do not prefer the between the rim spacers, B.) It allows for greater flexibility in the type of metal that the axle shafts can be machined from, C.) This method also alleviates any pre-existing wear or stresses that the original shafts may have. I do realize this approach can prove to be quite a more costly endeavor; however, I read of a gentleman that was going to make a pair of axles to the original specs {except for the type of metal} in a post on another forum, and was able to purchase a pair from him in an extra long length to the specs I needed in order to accommodate the dual hubs, at what I considered to be far less than what they are worth {not to mention what they would have cost retail.} We selected 4140 turned, ground and polished for the metal type, and a Rockwell hardness of 54 or 60 via magnetic induction heat-treating. shafts turned out exceptionally nice with absolutely no issues. Not really an update so much as I just wanted to post the pics of the extra long duals axles. I placed the original length Wheel Horse axle next to the pair of new ones for comparison.

Thanks Geno, I'm glad I am not the only one that feels like the extra long axle / dual hubs approach is the best way to go. I am going to try to upload some more pics, but it may be awhile as I have too many projects going on right now.

Had a go at doing a mock-up of the transaxle assembled with the extra long axles for duals. I bolted a N.O.S. "T" - Brake disc to the inner hub. I also added a second axle spacer sleeve, between the two hubs. Just for looks a couple items to sort of bling it a bit, the chrome dipstick {316 stainless steel} and the N.O.S. rear hitch.

Nice....Mark you are awesome!!