EP-HC-68 Degree Angle Gearbox – 30HP 68° Shaft Angle, 1:1 Ratio PTO Drive

EP-68° · 30HP · 1:1 Ratio · 68° shaft angle · 13.2 kg

Scenario 1 — Inclined Implement Frame

Many mower decks, conveyor feeds, and loading platforms are designed with a deliberate forward or rearward tilt angle of 15–25° to direct crop flow, improve ground following, or achieve the correct blade contact angle with the cutting surface. When the PTO approaches horizontally and the implement drive shaft is inclined, the angle between them is (90° − tilt angle), typically 65–75°. The EP-68° matches this geometry directly, eliminating the U-joint adapter and shaft angle compromises a 90° unit would require.

Scenario 2 — Compact Rear-Mount Clearance

On compact tractors with short rear overhangs and low-clearance 3-point hitch geometry, the vertical drop from the PTO shaft centreline to the implement mounting face is often insufficient for a 90° gearbox output shaft to clear the lower hitch arms and stabiliser chains. A 68° angle reduces the vertical drop required by the cosine of the angle difference (cos22° ≈ 0.93), giving approximately 7% more clearance — a small number in absolute terms but critical in tight-geometry installations where the margin is already at its minimum.

Scenario 3 — Oblique Drive Shaft Path

In some implement designs — particularly side-mounted or offset-mounted attachments — the most direct mechanical path between the PTO output and the implement drive input is not perpendicular. Forcing a 90° gearbox into an oblique path requires two Cardan joints, an intermediate shaft, and careful joint-angle balancing to avoid the velocity variation that causes vibration and bearing wear. A single EP-68° gearbox placed at the natural junction point of the oblique path eliminates the intermediate shaft entirely, reducing component count, weight, and assembly complexity.

Purpose-Designed Bevel Gear Pair

The 19/19-tooth bevel gear pair is designed and cut specifically for the 68° intersection angle. The pitch cone angles, dedendum angles, and face cone geometry are all calculated for this angle — the tooth contact pattern was verified under load at 68°, not assumed from a 90° equivalent. This is not a standard gear set pressed into a non-standard housing; it is a custom gear calculation result manufactured to that specification.

Carburised & Hardened to HRC 58–62

Both bevel gears are carburised to 0.8–1.2mm case depth and quench-hardened to HRC 58–62, identical to the specification used across the cast-iron HC series. At 1:1 ratio, both shafts carry equal torque, which means both gear faces experience equal contact stress — the symmetric hardening is important here because neither gear can be allowed to wear faster than the other without changing the contact geometry over time.

GGG50 Nodular Iron Housing

The housing geometry is asymmetric — it must be, because the two shaft bores are not perpendicular. Achieving this asymmetric geometry in a material that maintains dimensional stability under the bending moments imposed by the off-angle gear mesh requires a material with controlled elasticity. GGG50 ductile iron, with its defined Young's modulus and yield strength, provides this stability. A fabricated steel housing or an aluminum casting would require significantly greater wall thickness to achieve the same dimensional stability under load.

Asymmetric Bearing Pre-Load Setting

In a 90° bevel gearbox, the axial thrust loads on the two shafts are equal in magnitude and perpendicular. At 68°, the thrust load components differ between the two shafts because of the asymmetric pitch cone geometry. The bearing pre-load settings for the EP-68° are set specifically for this load distribution — not copied from the equivalent 90° unit — which is why the EP-68° carries an independent specification in the product datasheet rather than sharing a housing design with a standard 90° model.

Oil Fill Orientation

Because the EP-68° housing is asymmetric and may be installed at non-standard orientations relative to gravity (depending on the implement frame angle), the oil fill and drain plug positions are designed to maintain adequate oil coverage of both gear faces across a range of installation orientations. Before first use, verify that the oil fill is at the position that maintains the oil level at the gear mesh contact zone — contact Korea Ever-Power for installation orientation guidance specific to your application if uncertain.

100% Load Test at 68° Operating Angle

Every EP-68° unit is bench-tested at full 30HP rated load with the housing oriented at 68° operating angle before dispatch. This verifies that the contact pattern holds under load at the actual installation angle — not at the neutral horizontal position that might be used for a simpler test. Gear noise, bearing temperature, and oil seal integrity are all checked before packing.

Step 1.Measure the actual shaft angle in your installation using a bevel protractor or digital angle gauge placed on the input and output shaft centrelines in the mounted position. Confirm this angle is within ±2° of 68° before ordering.

Step 2.Confirm the optic-axis input coupling — the EP-68° uses a plain round (optic axis) input shaft. Ensure your PTO drive shaft or input coupling is configured for plain bore connection to this shaft diameter. Coupling dimensions are available from Korea Ever-Power on request.

Step 3.Plan the oil fill orientation — because the gearbox may be installed with the housing at a tilted orientation, identify which port will be the fill/level point and which the drain point in your specific mounting position. Fill to the level port before first use.

Step 4.Verify mounting face perpendicularity — the housing mounting face must be seated on a flat, square surface to prevent the asymmetric housing from being forced into a twist that would change the actual shaft intersection angle under operating loads.

Step 5.Run briefly at low load before full-load operation. Listen for any unusual noise — a correctly installed EP-68° running at proper oil level should be quiet. Any grinding or cyclic knock indicates either incorrect oil level, a shaft coupling issue, or an installation angle error.

CNC bevel gear hobbing — custom-angle gear geometry capability

Bae Jeong-soo Custom Implement Engineering Workshop · Andong, North Gyeongsang, South Korea · 2024

We design and build custom orchard implements for apple growers in the Andong and Uiseong areas — specifically slope-following mower decks for the terraced orchards common in this region. We've been using the EP-68° for the blade drive on our inclined-deck mowers for about 18 months. Before we found it, we were using a 90° gearbox with a double-jointed PTO shaft to compensate for the angle mismatch — but the joints were failing at about 200 hours because of the steep operating angle. The EP-68° eliminated the double-joint entirely. Clean installation, no vibration, and no shaft failures in 18 months of customer operation. It's now our standard specification for this deck type.

Matsuda Hiroshi Agricultural Machinery Designer · Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan · 2024

I design compact implements for tea and mandarin growers in Shizuoka — a region where terraced hillside farming creates geometry problems that flat-land implement designs simply ignore. I specified the EP-68° for a custom conveyor feed drive on a hillside harvesting assist machine where the PTO input and the conveyor inclination produced a 68° shaft angle requirement. Korea Ever-Power supplied a technical drawing and confirmed the gear contact pattern specification before I committed to the design. The unit has been running on a prototype machine for six months without issues. The response from the Korea Ever-Power technical team was the key factor — I needed engineering data, not just a catalogue page.

Kim Sung-jin Farm Machinery Parts Supplier · Jinju, South Gyeongsang, South Korea · 2025

I stock replacement parts for agricultural workshops across South Gyeongsang. The EP-68° is a slow-moving item — I might sell two or three per year — but when a customer needs it, there is no substitute. I stocked one unit after a workshop customer came to me with a broken angle gearbox from an Italian-built mower and couldn't find a direct replacement part through any Korean distributor. The EP-68° was a close enough match dimensionally and the customer confirmed fit after measuring the shaft angle at 67.5°. Fast delivery from Korea Ever-Power when I placed the order — three days.

Nguyen Van Long Processing Equipment Engineer · Da Lat, Lam Dong, Vietnam · early 2025

I design small-scale coffee cherry processing systems for highland farms in Lam Dong. One of my designs uses a short inclined conveyor fed by a PTO-driven gearbox — the angle between the power source and the conveyor belt drive works out to about 68° in the compact frame I'm using. I tried to adapt a 90° gearbox first and the geometry was simply wrong — the output shaft pointed in the wrong direction for the belt drive. The EP-68° solved it immediately. I ordered two units for prototype and production, delivered to Da Lat in six days. The fit was exact and the units have been running reliably in a humid highland environment for four months with no issues.

How do I confirm whether my application requires the EP-68° or a standard 90° gearbox?

Measure the angle between the two shaft centrelines in your installation using a bevel protractor or digital angle gauge. If the angle is between 65° and 71°, the EP-68° is the correct specification. If the angle is between 88° and 92°, a standard 90° unit is correct. If the angle falls outside these ranges, contact Korea Ever-Power with the measured angle for guidance on which product applies or whether a custom specification is required. Do not assume the EP-68° will work at significantly different angles — the gear tooth geometry and bearing preloads are set for 68°, not as an approximation.

Why is the module value 4.23 instead of a standard series value like 4.0 or 4.5?

Module 4.23 is the result of calculating the optimal bevel gear tooth geometry for the 68° pitch cone angle. At 90°, standard module values (4.0, 4.5) produce tooth profiles that mesh correctly because the pitch cones are symmetric. At 68°, the asymmetric pitch cones require a recalculated tooth profile that does not land on a standard module value. Using a standard 4.0 or 4.5 module on a 68° gear set would produce incorrect tooth contact and premature wear. The 4.23 value is not a manufacturing tolerance variation — it is the intended specification result of the 68° gear design calculation.

Can the EP-68° be used as a speed reducer — can I get a ratio other than 1:1?

No. The EP-68° is produced with 19/19 symmetric gearing for 1:1 ratio only. Producing a non-1:1 ratio at 68° shaft angle requires a different gear tooth count and a different pitch cone angle calculation, which changes the housing geometry. A 68° gearbox with a 1:1.5 ratio is a fundamentally different design from the EP-68°. If you need both angle change and speed reduction, the combination is typically achieved with the EP-68° for the angle change followed by a separate inline speed reducer — or by specifying a custom two-stage unit for volume OEM requirements.

What oil does the EP-68° use, and is the fill procedure different from a standard 90° gearbox?

SAE 90 GL-4 gear oil — the same specification as other HC series cast-iron units. The fill volume is approximately 200–250ml, but the fill procedure requires attention to the gearbox's actual installed orientation because the housing is asymmetric. In a standard 90° gearbox, the oil level is always referenced to a horizontal plane. In the EP-68°, the installed orientation may tilt the housing, changing which port functions as the oil level reference. Fill to the level indicated by the oil port that sits at the highest position in your specific installation, and confirm the oil covers the gear mesh contact zone before first use. Contact Korea Ever-Power if you need installation-orientation-specific oil fill guidance.

My required angle is 70° — is the EP-68° close enough, or do I need a custom unit?

A 2° deviation from the design angle (68° vs 70°) can typically be accommodated by shimming the housing mounting face to achieve the correct installation angle, provided the mounting structure allows this adjustment. The gear contact pattern at ±2° from design will shift slightly toward one edge of the tooth face but will remain within acceptable contact zone limits at 30HP loading. We recommend contacting Korea Ever-Power before attempting this approach, as we can confirm whether the specific application load and duty cycle make the 2° tolerance acceptable or whether a custom unit is warranted.

Does Korea Ever-Power design custom bevel gearboxes at other non-standard angles for volume OEM orders?

Yes, for sufficient volume. Korea Ever-Power's CNC gear hobbing capability and bevel gear geometry calculation tools support custom shaft-angle designs for OEM customers with annual volumes of 50+ units. The design process involves: customer-supplied shaft angle and power requirements, our gear geometry calculation and housing design, a first-article sample for the customer's approval, and then production. Lead time from initial enquiry to first-article sample is typically 30–45 days. Contact our technical sales team with your angle, power rating, ratio requirement, and annual volume estimate to initiate a custom enquiry.

What warranty applies and what are the shipping options?

12-month warranty from dispatch against manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship — covering housing defects, gear tooth failure within the rated 30HP, bearing failure not caused by contamination or oil starvation, and seal defects present at delivery. Not covered: damage from installation at an angle significantly different from 68° (altering the gear contact pattern), oil fill errors, or operation above 540RPM rated input. Shipping: DHL or FedEx courier for 1–5 units, 3–5 days to Korea and Japan, 5–7 days to SEA. Full export documentation including Certificate of Origin available on request for customs clearance.