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Sealed bearings or greasable bearings on blade guides

Started by fathead, September 27, 2012, 06:11:13 PM

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fathead

I am using 19 inch bandwheels with 1 1/4 blades does  any of the forum members have a preference between sealed bearings or greaseable bearing on the guide rollers? thanks Fathead.

york

Hey Bob,go for the grease-able guides and get a good grease gun,too.
albert
Albert

tcsmpsi

Never had sealed bearings for that application.  I can naught conceive of not being able add grease to the roller bearings regularly.  They take a lot hard use and heat.
\\\"In the end, it is a moral question as to whether man applies what he has learned or not.\\\" - C. Jung

petefrom bearswamp

Sealed bearings on my LT40shdd51 have 500 hrs no problems so far.
Pete
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

ladylake


Greasable is way better, might get by with sealed if using diesel for lube.  Steve
Timberking B20  18000  hours +  Case75xt grapple + forks+8" snow bucket + dirt bucket   770 Oliver   Lots(too many) of chainsaws, Like the Echo saws and the Stihl and Husky     W5  Case loader   1  trailers  Wright sharpener     Suffolk  setter Volvo MCT125c skid loader

SAWMILL BUDDY

I got 1150 hours on my lt40 before the first guide bearing went out. I squirt some ATF on the back side of each guide bearing each day. Don't know if it helps or not but it can't hurt.

Jim H

I always had greasable bearings until I got this mill and I fully expected that I would change them out for greasable ones at the first sign of trouble, but I got 2500hrs out of the moveable side and the fixed side is still good at 2650 so far. That's at least twice as long as I thought they would last, and they change out in 5-10 min. They do get hard use but they never got hot to the touch until the first set went out. So I'd say use which ever you want, but I like the sealed ones.
2008 LT40HDG28, autoclutch, debarker, stihl 026, 046, ms460 bow, 066, JD 2350 4wd w/245 loader, sawing since '94 fulltime since '98

Bibbyman

We've worn out more than a few sets of blade guide rollers on our LT40 that have had sealed bearings.   The bearings have been in good shape.  In the "old days" when they had zerks,  it was common to for the bearing to go before the guide was worn out.



 

The old guide was 1/10" smaller in diameter than the new.  Bearings still good.

Make mine without zerts.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

Chuck White

I changed my blade guide rollers last winter when the mill was parked in the garage.
I now have the sealed bearings and they seem to be doing good.  I'm still not used to the fact they don't get greased!  :-\  I'd give the old ones 1 shot of grease every 4 hours, and they were still tight as new when I sold them.

I was a little skeptical about the sealed bearings at first, but I'm getting over it. ;)
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

drobertson

Sealed bearings on my lt 40 spr. I have to change the moveable side about every three to four months. hours very, I shut down probably more through the day than most might.  I am at 3/4millon bd/ft with 2150 hrs.  This has been mostly a one man operation. the days I have had off bearers the footage goes up. This being said, I have thought about going to the greasable one too.  At least the moveable side, lots of coolant going on.
A local distributor has the R8 2RS bearing for 4.15 each, I keep a small supply on hand. It is a 20 minute fix for me.
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

Peter Drouin

Me too ,I where them out before the bearing gos out, all sealed bearings :D I buy them from WM by the box full :D :D :D
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

WH_Conley

Started out greasable. Went sealed and haven't looked back.
Bill

pineywoods

I have used both, but the advantage goes to the sealed bearings. Pumping grease into the bearing blows out the seal, the water from the lube finishes them off. Plus, regular old grease don't work very well in a high-speed bearing. Ever calculate the rpm those rollers turn ??
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Ga Mtn Man

Quote from: Peter Drouin on September 27, 2012, 08:06:43 PM
Me too ,I where them out before the bearing gos out, all sealed bearings :D I buy them from WM by the box full :D :D :D

Bearings or guide rollers by the box full?  ???
"If the women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy." - Red Green


2012 LT40HDG29 with "Superized" hydraulics,  2 LogRite cant hooks, home-built log arch.

bandmiller2

Good sealed bearings will last,hong kong harry brand mayby.basically your belt tensioner on your truck uses the same bearings and many will do over 100,000 miles.For the few bucks the bearings cost I'll stick with sealed. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

customsawyer

Sealed. They last longer and require less maintenance.
Two LT70s, Nyle L200 kiln, 4 head Pinheiro planer, 30" double surface Cantek planer, Lucas dedicated slabber, Slabmizer, and enough rolling stock and chainsaws to keep it all running.
www.thecustomsawyer.com

thecfarm

Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

isawlogs

 Mine where greasable when I bought my mill. I changed that over to sealed as soon as they wore out. Then a few years after they where being sold with the sealed bearings.  :)
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

fathead

Very interesting, I would have thought the greaseable ones would have wore a lot longer.Keeping the contaminates out most play a big part in the life of them. It is great to be able to pull on the experience of you guys. I am making a lot of progress on my mill I am going to ask my boy to help me post some pics thanks for all the advice.s

drobertson

This is almost making me rething, I have redressed my rollers only once, the moveable side had close to .030 wear front to back, the fixed side inside .010 but worn on the flange side.  I have changed the fixed side twice, and the moveable side 4 times mostly just the front bearing.  I know I need a new felt bob. This said it is cutting great, no sign of misalignment.  so how can some of you folks get 2500 hrs on one set of bearing?  just asking,
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

Bandmill Bandit

I havent replaced mine so far in just over 500 hrs. Mine are sealed at this point and I dont think I will swap over to zerks when they do go. Not exactly sure on this but those apear to be a 6204s (someone correct me if I am off a few numbers)

I know when I go to BC Bearing here in Alberta they want to know speed, temp and chemical/moisture environment for the bearing and I get the the hi temp hi speed ones for a few other apps that use that bearing The price is a fair bit higher for them but they do last a LOT longer in the high speed high temp, high thrust application bearings than the basic normal use idler type application.

There is a slighty wider "double race" high thrust high speed bearing in that size too. has almost 3 X as many rollers in 2 rows instead of one and has significantly better thrust and cooling specs.  Wonder how it would A) fit and B) wear? Think it is about 3/16 wider but I would have to measure to be sure.   
Skilled Master Sawyer. "Skilled labour don't come cheap. Cheap labour dont come skilled!
2018 F150 FX4, Husqvarna 340, 2 Logright 36 inch cant hooks and a bunch of stuff I built myself

Brucer

Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

Migal

Mine are greasable and just out of habit I grease, so far so good I have three bearing's that require grease every two hours I'm not a high production operation so I probably over grease if thats possible but it does keep me professional in front of customer's while greasing I also check the mill out, for this and that's and get a break!  8) http://www.ehow.com/facts_7766563_greasable-vs-sealed-bearings.html
Stihl learning and picked up my Log Master LM2 Cat 34hp 02 21 12! 230MF+ the toys that go with it! MS361 MS271 Stihl PB500 Echo 48" LogRite 16ft Bass Tracker Pro' Abua Garcia 5600 bait caster, Wood working equipment' Lake Lot never enough time! oh don't forget the fridge with ale! Loving Wife Rebeca

Al_Smith

Just some info .On high speed precision CNC type metal cutting machinery on a rebuild most use sealed bearing .They remove the bearing seals ,wash out every bit of lube then repack the bearing .Then blow every bit of it out with compressed air .Sounds stupid but here's the catch .That bearing will never pick up any more lubrication except that which clings to the balls in the bearing .

They then replace the seal and continue to rebuild the component .Now this type machinery will make millions of precision cuts to micron tolerances before it needs rebuilt again .For those who don't know a micron is 1/1000 of a millimeter .---bearing trivia ---

bandmiller2

Al brings up a good point the only usefull grease is whats in the bearing.Many folks pack grease everywhere and say the bearing will pull it in, not so.Really if bearings could run in light oil just dipping their feet in it their most happy.Grease is a default lubricant not as good as oil but will stay put and is better than nothing. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

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