LT28 drive problems

[Qweaver]

More drive motor problems with the lt28.  I had to peck on the motor again today and got the carriage half way down the track and it would not backup.  I could not even pull the the carriage back and I have always been able to manually move the carriage up and down the track.   I'll pull it apart tomorrow but I have to many logs in the fire already to waste time working on the saw.   >:(  What could lock the carriage like this?

[T Welsh]

Misalignment of the drive sprocket and idler sprocket can cause binding. My drive sprocket on my LT-40 loosens up sometimes and rides out of alignment!Tim

[John_Haylow]

Any chance a piece of bark got wedged in around the sprocket or chain. I've had that happen before.

John

[sdunston]

Try cleaning the drum switch...

sam

[Magicman]

In this case, you will just have to start disassembling until you find a seized bearing or whatever it is that is binding.  Sharing your fix will help others.

[jcbrotz]

Does the LT28 Have the felt pad like LT40's? If so and you haven't lubed it or haven't lately then you should and check the rollers the carriage rides on they may have bark or other foreign objects in there. The motor could be bound up.

[Qweaver]

Well, another four hours wasted.  I pulled the drive unit off and the gear box is toast.  This is the lightly used drive that I bought from WM.  I pulled the brush end plate off of my old unit and the brushes were fine but there was a lot of dirt and corrosion in there.  I was going to put a new brush kit on but the new brush kit did not have the push connectors on it and I did not have any on hand. So I just cleaned everything up, lightly sanded the armature  and it ran fine.  Another 2 hours to switch out the drive units and I'm back in business...but for how long?  I've said it many times before...but I'm sick of fixing equipment.

It is asking a lot of this little motor to pull the carriage up and down the track.  If the saw needs more motor and gearbox,  then let me buy it!  I'd rather pay more and not have problems.

I sure hope that WM is going to replace this bad drive unit.  I don't expect a new parts warranty but it was too expensive to just saw 4 logs.

I'm seriously considering building my last few projects and selling all of my equipment next summer.

[drobertson]

My advice is to fix it back new, and hold on, went through a few issues with the electronics and gear box, now going good, no reason to throw the hands up, what else can make boards and cash? Patience is critical, frustration is understandable,  hope all goes well for you,  david

[Qweaver]

I sawed several logs with my old cleaned up drive unit today and it ran great.  More power than it's had for awhile it seems.  I wonder if just the light sanding of the armature was the main fix.  There was a fair amount of "dust" in there also. 
I have not called WM about the gear box failure  yet. 
I was given 2 large trailer loads of pine today.  Just OK stuff but I have very little market for it.  Spent half of the day waiting to get it loaded so I do have something in it.