Bandwheel bearing problem...need advise

[Nomad]

I spoke with Will Johnson (president of TimberKing) and he is personally seeing to it that an entire new drive-side wheel assembly (not just the bandwheel) is being shipped to me at no charge. 8)   Will told me that even though my mill is out of warranty he realizes I should not be having this sort of an issue and TK wants to make it right.  FYI, he also said that they have re-designed the wheel hub since my mill was built to prevent this problem from occurring. 

I can't ask for better service than that from a company.  Thanks Will! smiley_clapping

     He just guaranteed a loyal customer in you, and impressed a whole lot of other people reading this.  For good reason!  Good for TK!!!  Service don't get much better than that. 8)

[xlogger]

I got my mill used and TK has been great with me also, they sent me a few things to help without charge!! Anyone looking a mill should look at TK real hard. Ricky

[bandmiller2]

GMM,its a moot point now as your getting a new wheel,If the pulley bore was prick punched evenly all around and ether a good epoxy[like cat] or locktite stud&bearing mount was spread around chances are you'd get much more service out of it as its just compression load on the compound.Frank C.

[Woodkiller]

I guess you don't need that measurement now.  8) 8) Good customer service would be a HUGE understatement!

[oklalogdog]

Stick with Timberking.  I had an "Orange Sawmill" once and finally parked it in the fence row.  My wife made a flower bed out of it.

[beenthere]

oklalogdog
Let's see a pic of that WM as a flower bed. If ya have one.

[GDinMaine]

While it was a pain for Ga Mtn Man to deal with this problem it started an interesting technical discussion.  I feel like I learned something, thanks for posting it.  It is very fortunate that TK's Will Johnson saw the thread and decided to put himself out there. 

[oklalogdog]

"Let's see a pic of that WM as a flower bed. If ya have one."

BeenThere - So you've got one you need to make a flower bed out of too huh?

[Ga Mtn Man]

Friday I received the new wheel assembly along with a retainer ring and new B56 belt for the idle side.  Got it installed over the weekend with no problems:


 

Did a small 6-hour saw job yesterday and the TK 2000 was running like a new mill.



 


 


 

And no broken blades! 8)

My thanks to Will Johnson and everyone at TimberKing for going the extra mile to help me out with this issue. 

[roghair]

Wow, that's good service! Congratulations  ;)

[Magicman]

Good for you and TK.   

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Orange you glad your milling again. Good job Paul and TK too! 

[Ga Mtn Man]

Orange you glad your milling again. Good job Paul and TK too! 

Been racking my brain for half an hour trying to come up with a clever word play on "coral red".  I got nothin' >:(.  Can someone help me out here?

[Magicman]

 :D  I did, but decided to keep it for myself for when I need it.     Choose your battles wisely and only fight those that you expect to win.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

:D  I did, but decided to keep it for myself for when I need it.     Choose your battles wisely and only fight those that you expect to win.

Get him Magic.....sic'em boy.

[Magicman]

Oh no, I am holding him off of you so that you can run.   :D

[Ga Mtn Man]

 

[grweldon]

I'm a little late to this discussion, but of course I'm going to interject with my opinion.  First off, being the "whole-heartedy enthused" owner of a TK mill, I'm am very happy to hear how Will Johnson stepped up and did the right thing.  They have also been very fair to me in all my dealings with them.

Mechanically, for a slip-in bearing, the most accepted method of manufacturing a bore that a bearing will seat in is to design a shoulder for one side of the bearings outer race to seat against and design a groove on the other side of the bearing to accept a C-clip and prevent the bearing from moving.  The bearing bore tolerance is usually about + or - .0004".  An optional "press-fit" design would have the bearing bore sized under the size of the outer race of the bearing, up to .001" for bearings up to about 3-4", more for larger bearings.  A C-clip would be optional in that scenario, but if large design loads were expected, could also be used for extra security.

In 30 years of manfacturing design and production I have yet to see a bearing held in place on a through-bore with plates on either side as shown in some of the pictures in this thread.  I suppose there isn't anything wrong with it.  It's cheap and quick and assuming there is plenty of room for the extra thickness I guess it works fine.  Usually, space is at a premium and this design would not be satisfactory.

And I am just really curious if the "Orange" mill would use a method like this!   ;)

[ladylake]

  Having worked on lots of machines over the years I think the engineers were asleep half of the time, a lot of room for improvement on most.  If anyone finds the perfect mill with no faults let me know.    Steve

[Larry]

I was checking wheel belts this morning when I thought I noticed the drive side bearing spinning in the wheel when I turned it. I took one nut off and looked at the backside of the retaining washer. Sure enough I saw a track where the bearing spun.



 

Removed the other 5 nuts and pulled the wheel off. It was still snug, but a slip fit. I think it should be a press fit. Locktite 609 bearing retainer is something I always have on hand as it has saved my butt a couple of times. Cleaned up the bearing race and wheel hub with lacquer thinner. Wire brushed the spacer rings. Reassembled everything with a liberal application of Locktite.

I dropped by the local nut and bolt place to pick up some new washers and nylocs. They had high grade alloy machinery washers almost twice as thick as the OEM washers. I figured they would work just as well as the new TK retaining ring. 8 cents each is cheap insurance.



 

 

This repair won't improve anything as I sawed last week with perfect results. Hard to improve on perfection. It should keep me sawing.....I hate surprise breakdowns.

Thanks to Paul for the original post as this is something I probably never would have noticed without his warning.

[Ga Mtn Man]

Glad I could finally pay you back for showing me the ropes way back then.  That was a fun trip ...six years ago! 

[Larry]

Its what the forum is about.  People helping people, and sometimes goats. :D