The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-11-26

l
 often fitted under the frame. and when kept free from mud these old
 radiators. did their work we'll. GEAR BOX NEEDS ATTENTION.
 There is no question that one of the
 most neglected parts of cars which
 are otherwise well slooked after is the
 gear box. As matter of fact it re- Quires very little attention but as 8 rule it receives even less than it re-: | quires.- Practically eVerS 1nufactu-s Ter who issues an instFuc took ad- vises that after a new : pas been delivered and has run tSvp or three
 hundred miles, the gear box should be emptfed, of its 1ubficanf, carefully | cleaned and ref1lled. @- Some makers recommend washing out with gasoline and others with kerosene. lon the whole the last named is preferable, though it does not attack the grease so readily as gasoline, but so long. as a good stiff brush is used to scratch away alTfthe grease in the corners, it will serve it's purpose well. z. These instruction books also recon mend that every two. thousand miles the gear box should be emptied out,
 cleaned again, and! reflled;1 yet, as rule, the average owner, even though he may take every care of his scarain other respects, never does anything
 more to the gear box than to open it. pertodieaIfys put in some more oil or grease,- ors some of each, as the case
 may be, and shut it up again This course of treatment may be continued for two or three years.
 N Recently, upon examining a gear box which, so far as the owner knew,
 had never had it's lubricant emptied
 for two years, though from time to- time new. lubricant had been added but that was all. The examination would not have been made but for thet fac af 7a I1O dT-ixy
 the car noticed that the box had be- come unduly hot after a ffty-miIe
 run, and so he opened it. First of
 all he found that a tire lever stuck into the mess would stand upright
 There was plenty of good@ oil and
 grease in the mixture, but also plenty
 of dirt; indeed, there was dirt from
 half Europe, as the car had made a long continental tour the previous year over very heavy roads.
 The box was enptied, and in every corner away from the gear wheels there was an incrustation Of an inch
 or more int thickness, consisting 8of. a
 hard mixture of grease, oil and dirt. Kerosene had little or no effect on it. though after a good soaking it could
 be scraped out of the corners with a
 knife and a stiff wire scratch-brush
 No one was more surprised than the owner, who was particularly shocked to notice that the compound of grease, oil and dirt was so. hot that it burnt a finger of the man
 brave enough to touch it. There was something more than the dirt in
 the box, i. e., a good number of steel particles which, in theAcourse of thou sands of miles of running, had been clipped off the gears. The gears themselves were really in extraordin- ariiy good condition considering the lubricant they had had, but the bear ings were badly worn, might well
 be expected when it is considered that a considerable portion of their lubri- cant consisted of steel clippings and grit.
 The owner was so impressed by the occurrence, that he inquired of several
 of his acquaintances as to when they last emptied the gear box, and in the
 majority of eases he found that the
 universalz treatment has not seemed
 to include any enptying, but merely
 a keeping-up. of the lubricant level.
 As it is evident that this is a point
 which has been missed, we have dweIt
 upon it at some length, as the con-
 dition of the gear box referred to is
 apparently only typical of that of l many others.