Staying Fixed

[Magicman]

While sawing the Goodwill job for dablack in Texas in December I had a power feed problem that came close to making me convert the LT40 Super to a manual sawmill.  A bearing failed that I had replaced in April, 2010.  LINK  No way would I have ever imagined that I would have power feed problems this soon, but bearing failures happen.

It warmed up enough today for me to tackle the problem which first required removing the power feed motor and feed assembly.


 
Not much left of that bearing. 


 
Thankfully a new bearing was available locally.


 
And now my power feed is happy again.   

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Sawing to much Sweet Gum. 

[Bill Gaiche]

Glad it lasted thru the job in Tx. bg

[Magicman]

Bill, I was thinking about you while I was working on it.  You squirted it plenty of times with ATF.  I don't think that it did any good, but it made us feel better.   ;D

[drobertson]

You are right, bearings will fail,  and there are replacements ready.  Warm weather, or weather close enough to warm is is good enough to work through.  It seems there is never a perfect season, just  a perfect time, the present.   david

[WDH]

Yes, stay away from the sweetgum, hackberry, and pecan ( ).

[mesquite buckeye]

Oh yeah!  ;D Up and running again. 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

You squirted it plenty of times with ATF.  I don't think that it did any good, but it made us feel better.   ;D

If I thought ATF was the cure all.....I'd be using it for everything. 

[backwoods sawyer]

How many trips have you taken up and down the rail over that time?
I just shortened the feed chain by two pairs of links and was looking into replacing the chain and sprokets as they are showing wear as well. May well be time to replace bearings as well. Thanks for the post.

[Bill Gaiche]

You may be right. If no oil got into the bearing at all then it was a waste of time. But it did make me feel better and was hoping it would last in which it did. From the looks of the old one it didn't have many more trips back and forth. Glad you have it repaired. bg

[LeeB]

Good thing I read the rest of the thread. When I first read the subject, I had to wonder why a man so well seasoned as yourself would need to worry about getting 'fixed'.  :D

[SwampDonkey]

Actually, my thoughts were that MM was now stationary and no more sawing marathons in far off lands. Look out sweetgum, there is now a come up'ins in store. ;D

[goose63]

Can I ask is hackberry hard on a band mill ? :new_year:

[WDH]

I find that it saws fine.  Just doesn't want to dry straight.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I find that it saws fine. 

How do you know?........Jake saws it.  ;D

[Magicman]

Bill, in the first picture you can see that there were no rollers in the cage and that the end of the outer race was broken out.

Harvey, yes, the saw head makes many trips back and forth during a day's sawing.  Also the reverse "stopping" is harsh on the entire assembly.  When you release the drum switch a shunt is placed across the powerfeed motor providing instant electromagnetic braking.   

[pineywoods]

Glad it didn't bugger up the shaft. Usually does when that bearing fails. I have 2 of them in my shop that came off LeroyC's super. I build the shaft back up with a wire welder and the turn back to correct size on a lathe.

[Magicman]

In Reply #13 in the LINK you will see where the original shaft was cut down big time.  The problem was that the sprocket was also gone so my best option was a replacement from WM.  As I mentioned above, this area gets MUCH use as well as abuse.

[Andy White]

Lynn
I hope that repair will last another 991 thousand board feet of cutting. It will be cool to know a double million bd ft. sawyer!!! Great fix on the mill.     Andy

[GAB]

Magicman:
Thanks for the heads up.  I do not have a super, however am I right in thinking that the regular LT40 has the same design.  Gerald

[dablack]

Looks like a good repair to me!

NOTE:  No sweetgum was sawn on my property.  Not that Lynn woudn't have if I would have asked. 

Bill hitting that old bearing with ATF did muffle the grinding noise a little.

[Magicman]

This repair means that my excuse for taking an extended holiday vacation is no longer valid. 

There are 30 names on the list so this is shaping up to be a busy year because there is already one "whole house" on the list.  It might be noted that some folks call that for whatever reason, don't call back.  Money is tight so if a specific building need is not there, they may choose to just let the logs rot.  The list seldom gets below about 15 names.

[wwsjr]

Very glad it held until we finished out in TX. I have never had to replace that bearing on any of my four WM mills. I had about 3500 hrs on the Super that burned. All others has less hrs.

[Jim_Rogers]

Well beside pushing the saw through the log, it's moving the operator as well. This could put more drain on the system then mills where people walk both ways.

And with all the sawing he's doing there are a lot of back and forth moving going on.

Jim Rogers

[Ga Mtn Man]

...When you release the drum switch a shunt is placed across the powerfeed motor providing instant electromagnetic braking.

My LT40 does not do that.  It just coasts to a stop in both directions.  Maybe something wrong?