WM Debarker Blues

[Gilman]

My debarker is working intermittently.  The debarker motor is running fine, it's the in-out motor.  What happens is it won't feed in or out.  I wiggle it and it will work for one or two motions.  After that, it's back to manually pushing it and giving it another try.  It's bad enough now that I won't use it.

Anybody have any ideas?

I have a call into WM, but I'd like to get it working this weekend before I need to use it Monday morning.

Gilman

[WH_Conley]

Took mine to the local alt/gen shop. 30 minutes and $12.00 later, back in business

[customsawyer]

I've had the same problem with mine. Where the pivit shaft goes in to the block on the tounge side of the mill, you have to take it out and clean it up, then lube every thing really good, put it all back together and grease the fitting a little more and that should fix you up. You might also check the belt that drives it in and out make sure that it is snug. Hope this helps.

[wscott]

i have the same thing on my WM debarker. got it working one afternoon and the next morning same problem. have not worked on it since.have to take the swing arm  out and clean everything thank

[Gilman]

Thanks,
I'll run over there right now and check the belt.  I don't think it's a grease problem unless I'm using too thick of a grease?

[gmmills]

   If your in and out motor is running,check the belt tension. If the motor runs intermittently, or has quit completely, with the switch activated it's one of two things. First take the rubber boot off the top of the motor and check for a broken wire at the insulating grommet on the motor end cap. The wires are aluminum and they do break right at the grommet. Our mills have three of these motors. I've had 2 out the three break a wire at the grommet. I repaired them both by taking the motors apart and replacing the 2 aluminum wires with new copper wire leads. It took only about 20 mins per motor .

  The second thing to check, if the wires are intact at the grommet, are the motor brushes . They can also be replaced .  

   My money is on a broken wire at  the motor grommet.

[Gilman]

GM Mills,
You might be onto something.  I went and ran it back and forth yesterday afternoon and it quit working on the second cycle.  Wiggled it and the screamed, "DanG, DanG, Dang." Then it worked fine.  Cycled it about twenty times and it worked fine.  I'm sure Monday morning it will quit on the first log.  Once fixed, I'll post what the problem was.

Thanks all for the input and help.  Where else can you get tech support at 9:00 PM on a Saturday?  The FF baby!
 :D

[Gilman]

Thanks again for the input,

It turns out it was a stuck brush.  The brass housing that holds the brush needed to be bent out a little bit. Works great now.

[customsawyer]

Glad you got her fixed. Thanks for posting what you did to fix her I'm sure it will help someone else down the road maybe even me.

[big_sid]

I sure have had the debarker blues the past couple of days. the belt on the in & out motor was shot,so off to get a new one. got one as close to the same size, no it ain't a  goodyear, got it on but it won't grip enough to work, plenty of tension what's the deal. help :'(

[beenthere]

I'd suspect the belt doesn't match the pulley's. The "V" of the belt and the "V" of the pulley's are maybe different.

[VA-Sawyer]

What width of belt did you get. I can't remember ig that belt has an 'A' or a 'B' cross section. Pulleys can also wear on their sides. If you look close in the groove you can see a step where it has worn. Hope this info helps
VA-Sawyer

[pigman]

On my WM I thought the belt was slipping., but it was the pulley slipping on the motor shaft. The  shaft is is only gripped by a small set screw.

[big_sid]

Thanks for the inputs guys, I had to deliver lumber today, but will start working on it tomorrow,maybe the belt don't match the pully enough to grip,used some belt dressing on it don't know if thats good or bad, don't think the pully is slipping, but will make sure tomorrow.

[Gilman]

This is kind of on topic. Well, good enough for me.

My alternator died last week.  WM was great at helping me diagnose the problem and sending out a new one next day air (I paid the next day shipping), they would of covered normal ground shipping since it was still under warranty.

Here's my 2 cents.  If you get a new alternator spend the $1-$2 more and buy yourself the little adapter collar.  The alternators come with a stock pulley on it that you have to remove and replace with a larger diameter pulley.  This larger pulley is aligned and spaced on the shaft with this little collar.  A little bit of rust & dirt and you have a heck of a time getting it off.

[big_sid]

As I was trying to say last nite before the puter locked up :-\  the belt didn't fit the pulley. the old belt only had a couple of flat spots in it so turned it around put the spots in the big pulley, works for now. till I can get one that fits. thanks for the help.