What year did they build the stronger WD?

I've been looking for a WD tractor and keep hearing that the gears were cut different and the drive train is stronger after a certain year.
 It's been mentioned on here a few times but I haven't been able to find a topic discussing it so I thought I'd ask.
 What year WD is the strongest?
Or what year did they make the change to a better drive train?
 Did they do this for both the WD and the WD45?
 Or is it just improved on the stronger WD45?


Edited by wide - 12 Jan 2019 at 11:24pm

The tapered gears are quieter, but not necessarily stronger. I've never heard of a WD having a gear failure anyway. I wouldn't say it's stronger. The WD-45 has more plates in the hand clutch, but that's to accommodate the extra horsepower.

I've always like the earlier transmissions better they way they are geared and never have seen one that will jump out of gear like the later model trans.

More than one tooth caries the load, but the entire tooth does not carry the load, only where the teeth are touching. As far as strength is concerned, it's probably a wash.

Possibly true, but I've never heard of gear failure on either transmission. The side forces on helical gears do contribute to transmissions popping out of gear.

Never seen it myself, but have heard of WD's (neighbors) that did a lot of 2nd gear plowing have tooth failures and were also very noisy when in that gear.

Our 1950 WD tranny is much noisier than our WD45 is because of the type of gears you are discussing. After listening to it for over 50 years now it is almost music to my ears! Ryan

Ryan Renko wrote: Our 1950 WD tranny is much noisier than our WD45 is because of the type of gears you are discussing. After listening to it for over 50 years now it is almost music to my ears! Ryan

I know the 2nd year in one of my WD’s is louder then heck as well. Should really tear it apart one of these days. 2nd or 3rd in my other one is a little noisy too.

WD45 and late WD helical gear tranny were hardened and ground. Straight spur WD were not hardened and ground. We had a 1950 WD we put a 4.5" stroke crank and D-17 kit. Tried to run heavier implements. 3rd gear got so noisy you didn't want to run it. Also in a standard WD your are actually shifting the gears. In a 45 they are a constant mesh trans and you are shifting a collar and not actually the gear.

There is no doubt on the helical gear designed transmissions that after they have been "ground into gear" thousands of times, they can start to jump out of gear going downhill with a push behind the tractor. One could call it wear on the transmission components. I'd prefer to call it operator abuse. Why is it usually 3rd gear?? Why is it seldom low gear??  Pretty simple. Third gear gets used much more often than low gear and it is spinning much faster when it gets "ground" on.  The short shift lever D-17 is less known for third gear issues than the 170/175 and they are the same transmissions. The difference is the length of the lever that does the grinding. I've often times thought of replacing the rubber shift knob with a steel cocklebur. That should reduce gear grinding some at least !!

my great grampas 49 WD has a decent whine in 2nd and 3rd, and its very distinct I don't even have to turn around to tell what tractor it is being driven! it was the most used gear for plowing and cultivating, 4th never got used much didn't travel on the road much!

Great forum, thanks for all the info.
 So they made the front stronger.
  Looking for a wide front with 4 bolts in the front plate instead of 3.
  And a curved shifter handle.
 
 

...and there are loads of WD's and WD-45's with regular 3 bolt front ends that are perfect, especially if the tractor never had a loader on it. 

I saw a WD wide front  on craigslist, with a loader, and the front "axle"was bowed downward.
 Where are you folks saying the forth bolts should be,.. or even where the 3 bolts were?
Those bolts you see from the front, on the diamond-shaped piece?