LT40 Rescue

[Brob1969]

Hey everyone, 
I've been lurking here for a while now soaking up some knowledge from everyone while I was searching for my first sawmill.  2 days ago I brought home a 1990 Woodmizer LT40 and I wanted to share some of my excitement. 
I have been searching for a mill for at least a year now, and I have been on the lookout for a good used mill I could afford in addition to researching all the new manual mills.  With the market being what it is today, I had nearly given up hope on the used mill; it seems no one is letting them go!  I had just about decided to purchase a Range Road 5032 when a friend told me that a neighbor of his had an old mill sitting in the woods behind her house that had belonged to her father who had died some time ago.  I was very interested and kept gently goading my friend to find out more information.  Well, 6 weeks went by since learning about the mill in the woods and my friend hadn't gotten any information other than a picture of the sad mill sitting outside in the thicket.  I was nearly resigned to buying the Range Road when my wife and I decided to drive by our friend's place.  We found the address of the woman who had the sawmill, and a bit of internet sleuthing got us her name and number. 
I called her and set up an appointment to see the mill 2 days later.  It was hard to sleep those couple of nights, but Wednesday finally rolled around and I went to see the mill. 

Her father had purchased the mill new from Woodmizer in 1990 and had used it for awhile in Kentucky before he passed away.  His daughter brought it to Florida where her adult son ran it for a short while 10 years ago.  They covered it with tarps and parked it in the woods behind her house.   Well, a tarp doesn't last all that long outside in Florida, so by the time I got to it it was mostly exposed to the elements. 

After talking with the woman, she showed me the cant hook, blade sharpener, and tooth setter in her garage.  I told her I wanted to buy it and asked how much she was thinking.   She said she knew it had been deteriorating outside for some time and that she and her son had an idea of the value a decade ago, but now had no clue.  I offered her $1200 planning to negotiate from there; she refused my offer and said she wouldn't take more than $500!  I hardly knew what to say as I handed her the cash.  

I spent the next couple of hours jacking the mill up with a farm jack and packing the wheel bearings and putting on new wheels. Once I got the new wheels on and packed some dirt in the holes where it had been sitting, I hooked up to it and pulled it out of the woods!  I cleaned up all the rotten tarps and strapped them to the bed of the saw as I didn't want to leave a mess for her to clean up.  I went back to her garage and loaded up the accessories and thanked her again profusely. 

I towed it the 45 minutes home with no issues and pressure washed it just before dark.  I have sprayed everything down with PB Blaster and it's soaking now.  This weekend I hope to start to see what works and what's going to need repairs.  The 18HP Briggs was mostly still covered and still rotates.  All the electrical drive motors were exposed, so I imagine there'll be some work there.  All the grease zerks are rusty, I plan to replace them this weekend. 

All-in-all I am super excited to get this mill back in service.  I got a great deal so I have some room to work.

Thanks to everyone who contributes for all the great information I've gotten thus far! 

[Brob1969]

I'm going to have to figure out how to upload photos!  Couldn't get it to work. 

 

 

 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Good luck. Be sure to register the Viin with Woodmizer which will make ordering parts easier and also provides some protection if it were ever stolen and might help track it down if it showed up somewhere else and someone else tried to buy parts for it.

[Magicman]

Oh wow and Oh yes, you will be OK with that treasure.  Continue to share pictures of the restoration, and

Welcome to the Forestry Forum. 

[Andries]

I echo all of MagicMan's comments, and welcome to your new "non-lurker" status.  ;D 
I have and use a 1992 LT30 that has served me well for eight years on a log construction site. Our mills are very similar - my gallery has a number of photos re service and building extensions. Questions or comment? fire away.
BTW - that is a smoking' hot deal you got on your mill. I picked up mine for ten times what you did. Great rescue!

[Brob1969]

Thanks guys!  I did contact Woodmizer yesterday and spoke with Tyler.  He got me set up with all the manuals and literature on the mill, as well as registering the mill to my name.  I know I will be needing some parts to get this up and running, so the literature is most helpful. Andries, I will be checking out your gallery and I am sure I will have some questions for you! 

I will be working on it some this weekend and I will be sure to post some pictures of what I am getting into.   Unfortunately, my wife scheduled a project out of town Saturday, so I have to grin and bear it until Sunday! 

[Nebraska]

That is quite a find!

[pineywoods]

OH boy, congrats. I have rescued 2 older lt40's from the scrap heap, so been there. Don't try to remove the grease zerks, they are pressed in, no threads. Some of the parts may be un-available, BUT in most cases woodmizer will have later production pieces that will work. The 18 hp briggs on mine ran ok for around 5500 hours before I swapped it out for a 25 hp liquid cooled kawasaki. Not much you can do to an old lt40 that I haven't done. Mine is a 95 currently showing 8000+ hours and still in daily use. When you have questions, ask away, if I can't help, there will be someone on here who can and will. 
Also, I can show you how to upgrade that old setter dual tooth and convert the sharpener to take a cbn wheel.

[Chuck White]

Congratulations on that steal mill, and welcome to the Forestry Forum Brob1969!

[Bandmill Bandit]

Welcome to the forum and Congrats on the mill find. You will have that thing purring in short order I am sure. 

A friend of mine has a 1988 (I think? 2nd year of woodmizer mills) that has a LOT of hours on it that he has 3 x 12' extensions on for doing long beams. He has pretty sizable sawmill operation that produces about 15,000BF per day with a Corley that is driven by 3 phase electric. He is the go to mill for long beams in this country and they are all cut on his Woodmizer.   

[Magicman]

Actually 1988 should be the 6th year:  Wood-Mizer

[Crossroads]

Congratulations

[711ac]

Yea! This is like finding the mythical old Corvette in a barn story. Very happy for you. 

[Brob1969]

Pineywoods, you are speaking my language!  I definitely will want to be modifying the sharpener before long!  

Thanks for the tip on the grease zerks!  I literally soaked them all this morning with the intent of trying to remove them this evening!  I'm glad I read this before I started wrenching on them!

I will be asking plenty of questions as I dive into this.   I'm super stoked to get this thing cutting again soon!

[Magicman]

Regarding greasing the zerks, remove the pin, bolt, or whatever is behind them and apply some heat to soften the hardened grease and hopefully you can push some grease through them.  In prefer to use a high pressure red grease.

[Brob1969]

Believe it or not, every one of the zerks took grease! 

I assume soaking in PB all day may have had something to do with it. I pushed on each ball before I put the grease gun to it.  They all took grease and everything is moving! 

I put PB Blaster in the cylinders of the engine as well.  I got new oil, filter, and plugs for it and I'll change all that in the AM.  When I took the air cleaner apart it was full of carpenter ants!  I'm guessing I'll be rebuilding the carburetor as soon as I get a kit!

The battery in the battery box looks brand new...except for the 2005 manufacture date!  I checked over all the wiring and all the insulation is intact.  The electric motors are all turning freely, hopefully with a battery I can check the operation. 

One issue I have found is the hydraulic tensioner isn't functioning.  There's a weep hole in the bottom of the block where hydraulic fluid comes out when I tighten the handle.  I'm assuming something inside the block has failed.   Does anyone know how these are filled?

 

 

[firefighter ontheside]

Well, this story looks familiar, like I just saw it on a FB page.  Lol.  You've come to a great place for info on your new to you mill and for information on milling when you get to that stage.

[Old Greenhorn]

WOw, you lucked out bigtime with a heck of a deal! I have bookmarked this thread and hope to see progress photos as you go along, This shouldn't take long before you are whacking out some nice stuff. I would give my left [body part] for that deal. Good for you man! Welcome to the forum, what took you so long? ;D

[Andries]

Brob; Haven't seen a weep hole on the hydraulic block on my mills.
If yours is the same style as my LT30 and 40, it's an L shaped block with a filler bung at the far end, on top. The bung is easier to see and work on with the blade covers off. Also, take the blade off.
The way to put ATF oil in is by tightening the crank handle in,as far as it will go. Once the rams are out as far as they will go, hold them with a cloth or leather covered (so that you don't marr the rams) vice grips, to keep them from retracting. Back the crank handle all the way back out, after you've removed the bung. This creates an air pocket in the hydraulic block that you fill with ATF. Tighten up the bung after filling, and take the vice grips off the ram.
You'll find that the additional oil should make the rams move much sooner when cranking the tensioner handle. I had to do this twice with my LT40 - it had been sitting for eleven years.
Now, if you have ATF leaking out of an hole that is designed to be there in the block, well, thats a whole other scenario that I wouldn't expect.
Checking the parts against your manual would be the place to start. My experience is based on a 1992 version of yours.
I'm curious as heck now - why would there be a weep hole there? Corrosion? Kids with small drills and a sense of mischief?  ;D
Let us know, hey?

[Brob1969]

The weep hole is definitely factory.  It is mentioned in the repair document to be sure to re-install the block with the weep hole facing downward. I didn't see it at first, it's smaller diameter than a pencil lead and the block is black, once I heard fluid gurgling I noticed it.

[donbj]

Awesome find! Enjoy fixing it up. Once you have it ship shape you'll know what you got. There may be an o ring gone in your hydraulic tensioner.

[Magicman]

Yup, put a tensioner repair kit on your list of items to get from Wood-Mizer.  I would make a list so that you can save on shipping.

Mine is probably different from yours but my "O" rings are flat.  LINK

[pineywoods]

The weep hole serves no purpose unless the seal leaks. WM sells a complete rebuild kit real cheap. Only 2 seals but not O rings. That tensioner is a real piece of design genius. Probably take 2 tries to get it full of atf. Be sure to check the atf level in the drive side bearing. Might be a good idea to drain it and refill with fresh atf. You do NOT want to have to replace drive side bearings. Idle side is a piece of cake. Don't forget the up-down gearbox.

[Jim_Rogers]

The drive side bearing that he's talking about adding ATF to may not have a vent on top. If not you need to get a vent plug. What happened to me is mine (a 1994) did not have a vent plug, and when the oil gets hot from use it will not be able to expand and will push out through the seals. And you won't know or have enough oil in there and that will cause the bearing to wear out.
I installed a vent plug and I updated my bearing with a sight tube like the new mills have:


 

Below is mine


 
Here is a picture of the top fittings and tube connections


 

Good luck
Jim Rogers

[pineywoods]

I learned about the drive wheel bearings the hard way. Replaced them TWICE on the same mill (not my mill). definitely add the sight tube if it's not there. I run 90 weight gear oil in mine, but I live in the deep south, stick with atf in the glaciated north....