Question for LT 35 owners

[taylorsmissbeehaven]

I cut 9  Poplar logs for a fella this past Saturday. Easy cutting, good people and generally a good day. About half way through the head began to feel as though it had bark caught up in the chain. It didnt want to roll freely. We took a break and I looked all around but could not find anything. After that break it seemed fine. As we got going again it started doing it again .( I assume its heat related?, bearing maybe??) On returns it stopped as soon as I let off of it and by the end it needed a little help to get started going forward. I have it home and set up under cover and hope to dig in this evening. Wondering if I could borrow some knowledge as to where to begin trouble shooting. We are slammed at work and any time savings would be huge. Thanks in advance, Brian

[Southside]

Cam follower bearing is gone, likely the bottom one as water and such makes its way into that one.  If you are going to tear into it replace them all at the same time.  Did them on my 35, same exact symptoms.  I was doubting myself as the bottom was the last one I did and the others all looked great - until I got to that one and yup - clearly she was gone.  Fixed the issue.  

You want to support the head when doing this as you will be removing the only means by which the head is held to the bed.  Overhead crane or solid blocking clear to the ground with a means to wiggle the head just a tad up and down (think bottle jack in addition to the blocking) as you will need to do so to get the bearing in and out. 

[taylorsmissbeehaven]

Thank you sir for the info. I was afraid that might be the case. I'm taking off early to do some head scratching and get all part numbers together so I can call WM tomorrow.  I've read a few post on the subject and will reread before I tackle to try and make it easy as possible. I am pretty sure Howard had a comprehensive post on this. Thanks again, Brian

[WV Sawmiller]

X2 on the blocking and securing the head! I dumped the head off mine replacing mine and it was very traumatic (and dangerous). Be sure to keep the head low to help keep the center of balance lower. 

[SawyerTed]

Check the brushes in the feed motor.  Mine did the same thing, I replaced cam follower bearings.  Turned out to be motor brushes.  

Put the head down on the travel pin when doing cam follower bearings and put a sling around the head to tractor/forklift forks.  I did mind without blocking and had no issues. 

[Chuck White]

A few years back, I had the same symptoms on my LT40.

Took quite a while to find the culprit!

Turned out, it was a piece of a knot that had fallen down and wedged between the back of the battery box and the main rail!

[taylorsmissbeehaven]

Thank you Howard I knew you had a time with it and shared you experience.  Thank you Ted I was afraid it was motor cause ive pushed through some that should have been whittled down a bit more. Chuck,thank you as well, that was my hope but I've just opened it up and blown everthing out with the compressor.i can hear a lot of noise out of one of them pushing by hand. You think you take care of your stuff and when you dig in that sawdust isn't just in my pockets!!! Gonna try and tackle this ASAP broken tool is just in the way.  Brian

[Southside]

Admittedly, Ted's method does sound better, but where is the fun in that? 

I mean to quote Rip Torn "If you can't dodge a wrench, then you can't dodge a ball".  :D

[taylorsmissbeehaven]

Ordered parts from Woodmizer NC on Wednesday. They shipped out of Indy to get everything in one delivery. Package came on Friday. I was out of town but my neighbor grabbed it and gave me a call to let me know. In these times of backordered everything and shipping delays I am thoroughly impressed. Thanks as always Woodmizer!! Brian