New to me 1986 LT40 Manual...

[octam1]

Hey Guys, Im new to the FF, have been reading here as a guest for a while but just purchased an older mill and figured it was time to join FF instead of just reading... I have been looking for a WM for a while, but I guess was waiting to find an older one that was a little cheaper... Well I came across a 1986 LT40 Manual, w/20 hp onan, struck a deal with the owner and now it mine... This being a manual mill, I know sawing will be more work, but I am ok with that... The mill is seems to be in good shape, Iv'e checked most of the things that wear and that I have read around here to check and have some parts on order to be changed when they come in...

But I bo have a few questions for you guys...

The frame is not the same as the newer mills, I would like to add a winch log turner to it, but the cross bracing is in the way and was wondering if anyone has any pictures of something they might have done to put the manual log turner on an older frame like this? I have looked at the pics from guy's like Pineywoods that have added some hyd turners, but im just going to stick with the manual for now...

The hyd tensioner, I have one in my posession that I could retro onto the mill, WM says id have to change and I am ok spending the $ and doing the work to mount it all up, but, I am just going to be milling wood for myself and building materials for myself at my properties, so my next question is, if I spend the $ to upgrade to the hyd tensioner will it be worth it? will it really cut better? blades last longer? Just asking to try and figure out if I want to do the upgrade or not...

I trying to learn about this WM and clean it up while I'm waiting for parts that need to be replaced and I am hopeing to be able to cut some wood in the next week or two and try it out... Just have to see how it goes tho...

Any advise, help, pics, or words of wizdom are welcome... From readin other threads here, there seems to be alot of good people on here so I thought I would join and say hello to everyone & start my journey into the milling world... lol

[woodmills1]

welcome to the Woodmizer zone


for turning get one of those nice blue Logs are right turners with extra length

look in your onan carb for junk and particles

have fun.........sharp blades are needed

[Bill Gaiche]

octam1 welcome. Your going to enjoy sawing. Those innovative things that make your mill easier on the operator will come to you as time goes by and you can make the changes on down the road. Have fun and good luck. bg

[MartyParsons]

Hello,
There is a Log Deck package available for 1986 LT40. Here is the note for the turner. Alternate hardware supplied with LT-A kit for various styles of sawmill frame tubes. You would also need to drill the holes on the bed rails for the toe boards. There may be more info needed. Revision etc.
We put a hydraulic up grade for the blade tensioner on my fathers LT40 mill and he increased speed and the blade life increased.
NOTE: Before installing the hydraulic blade tensioner, determine which style of idle-side blade
wheel you have. If you have the original style supplied between 11/96 and 9/89, the wheel retaining
bolts need to be upgraded with hardened bolts before the hydraulic blade tensioner is
installed and used. See the figure below to identify this style of blade wheel. Check the bolt head
markings to insure the proper bolts are used. To upgrade the retaining bolts, order Part No. A09933.

Check the blade wheels they are a V  and the V will widen on these old mills. You can replace with a new wheel and they have a bottom to the V so it is not a V. Or you can grind off the top of the pulley so the wheel belt will be exposed. About 1/8"

There are some information specific to the older mills you may want to call WM or ask me direct questions and I would be glad to help. Jennifer at California Wood-Mizer is great to work with also.
Hope this helps.

Marty

[pineywoods]

Welcome octam1 and congrats on the new to you mill. A comment on the log turner. I am familiar with both the winch type and the Pineywoods hydraulic. If you are staying fixed location where you have electric power, the hydraulic will most likely be simpler to fabricate and definitely works better, you have both a log turner and a 2 plane clamp. For portable sawing, the winch type would be more practical, however it will most likely involve some welding to the mill frame. Unless you are an expert welder, be careful there, it's easy to warp the frame. The pineywoods stuff all bolts on.

[thecfarm]

octam1,welcome to the forum. first time around a mill? What's all the lumber going to be used for?

[Chuck White]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum octam1

Congratulations on your new mill.

Just curious, how many hours on your mill?

That would give others an idea what would most likely need replacement at this time.

Again, Welcome.

[octam1]

Thanks for the welcomes guys, seems like a pretty good group of people around here, thats pretty cool. Some forums arent like that...

Well, anyhow, my mill is new to me but is a vintage unit... lol... I work as a Engineer in the Solar field have lots of experience in the woods, with equipment, cabinetry & fine furniture and with fabrication... I dont have any large amounts of time spent working with these woodmizer mills and I suppose I am just getting started with the learning curve, but things should go good & we will get things all figured out as we spend more time with it... I plan to mill lumber with my dad & our lumber will be used for construction around the ranch & a couple of places we have in the woods & we have some hardwood trees piled up that we will eventually mill up to be used for the woodworking shop...

I like the "pineywoods" hyd add on and have thought of doing it and may eventually but I will be using the mill mostly in the hills and dont have the grid for power, thats why I was thinking of just adding a winch turner to it for now and see how it goes.... Right now we are just going thru the mill and bringing it up to snuff, ive went thru and checked all of the bearings, am changing the rail wipers, all of the plastic mast pads, all of the belts & hoses, the water tank, tension spring, fixing some of the wiring that needs replaced & just checking as much as I can & replacing parts I ordered for it as they come in... I will do an alignment on it after I get it all back together and up and running...

The mill does not have an hour meter on it, but I'm sure it has quite a few hours on it but for its age it seems to be in pretty good condition... I know the guy that I got it from had it running but never milled any logs with it, maybe he figured out how much work it would be having an all manual mill. It will probably take me a week or two to get it up and running again with the regular 9-5 so we are just working on it a little bit at a time for now... but after the holiday weekend I should have a bit more time to spend working on it...

I would like to say thank you all for welcoming me to the FF! I'm sure that I will have lots of questions for you all, not to mention all of the questions I have already gotten answers to just by reading thru some of the threads already here... and I am sure we will eventually step up to a newer mill packed with bells and whistles, but the way I look at it is you got to start somewhere... and this is the one im starting with...

so with all of that said, I look forward to talking with you guys more...

[paul case]

welcome octam1, sounds like you are getting set up to saw. good luck.   pc

[Buck]

Welcome!

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum octam1.   

[Full Circle]

Hello octam1.  I'd welcome you to the forum, but I'm newer here than you are....

My dad's '87 LT40 was new when purchased and I have complete manuals for it.  I'd be happy to look up anything for you if you can't figure it out.  I've been through the alignment process and it's pretty straightforward.  Others on the forum will be able to offer a lot more help with upgrades, etc.

Have fun with it!

-Roy

[octam1]

Thanks again everyone for welcoming me to the forum...

Roy, thanks for the offer on the help with info, its nice to see that there are others out there that have older machines as well, ours are very similar... It's not as fancy as the newer ones, but it's a start and i'm sure its not the last one I will ever have... I already cant wait to get my hands on a newer one with some more options & I know that day will come eventually... in the mean time we are going to give this one a workout... well we will probably be getting a heck of a workout too... lol...

I've been in contact with woodmizer and they have been very helpful so far, it's amazing that you can pick up a machine thats 25 yrs old and still get some first class customer service to go along with it & a company that is more than happy to help even though you dont have the latest and greatest unit...

[octam1]

Hey guy's, been working on the mill to try and get it up and running...

One of the things I ordered for it was a new middle throat bearing. The old one was locked up, the new one came in with the parts that I ordered but all I got was the bearing, the old one has what looks like a urathane wheel on it, the bearing comes out of it but the new bearing I recieved is smaller that the old one so it does not fit inside the urathane wheel...

Do I need the urathane wheel on there or did wm change the design to just use the bearing instead? If I am reading the manual right, the blade does not ride on this bearing all of the time, there should be 1/16" clearance... so I am assuming this bearing is in there to keep the blade from bouncing around during operation? Is that correct?

Just wondering if I need to source the right size bearing for the urathane wheel or if I can just put the bearing from wm in there... I am assuming it will work fine either way, but figured I would ask you guy's...

Thanks.

[Magicman]

Not trying to give you a short answer, but I would just call WM and ask them. 

[MartyParsons]

I have never seen anything but the bearing. I checked the parts manual and it just shows the bearing. A new mill just have a stud to prevent the blade from jumping around. The bearing should be a R-10. No urathane.
Some of the guys at Indy are out this week. I checked about the LDP for the 85 mill and could not get a answer. I will check on Monday and see what they say.
Marty