This appears to be a loose change gear lathe, you MUST get a stack of 8
or 9 gears as part of the tooling that comes with the lathe.

I'm not a SB lathe user, not sure if this comes with babbit or ball
bearing headstock, looks like a babbit set up, someone else will need to
chime in. A ball bearing headstock will have the spindle sticking out of
a 4" or so diameter casting, a babbit version will be half that.

A worn babbit setup for a newbie is disaster. Nothing but grief. You
should be able to put a pry bar under the chuck and lift up, get no more
than .001" or so. Any more and either pass on it or plan on learning how
to repair things.

Around here a Logan or SB setup in moderate shape is low hundreds ($200
to $400) as a fair price. Figure almost double that by the time you
replace a headstock bearing, add in a nice toolpost, some boring bars
from Enco, and a nice collection of tool bits.

Jon Danniken wrote:
Jim Wilkins wrote:
I read what you wrote to mean that the seller has and will give you
all the change gears that the lathe needs.

That was why I asked him, but my read on his response was that he doesn't
believe it needs them. My homework made me think it does need change gears,
and I thank you for verifying that for me.

I would ask him again, but electronic communication seems to be very
difficult with him, so I might have to go and see it in person.

I did notice some change gears on Ebay; a quick look gives me that idea that
they seem to be about $100 for a set.

The transmission on a Model
A is the curved box with two levers and an instruction plate mounted
over the left-end base, the place where the drum switch is mounted in
the photo of the Model C.

This has the threading chart for the Model B and C.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/southbend9-inch/page6.html
The text lists the gear set sizes.

The "stud gear" is on the outer end of the stud that holds the
swinging plate which selects forward, reverse or off. The "screw gear"
is the gear attached to the end of the leadscrew.
When the chart shows 18 and 72 tooth gears on the same pivot they are
attached together and rotate at the same speed, making a 4:1
reduction.

Thanks Jim, I appreciate it. Just out of curiosity, how much would you
expect to pay for something like this, assuming it isn't too terribly worn,
but without any change gears? (assuming I'm not an Iggy or Gunner)

Jon