- Joined
- Sep 3, 2011
- Messages
- 478
You have the 1944 version of the cutter-head. There's a seal behind the front bearing to keep oil from getting into the bearing while the head is vertical. The labyrinth seal holds grease in, but if too much grease is pumped into the bearing it will sling it out the front. There's no rear seals. Apparently the shape of the casting is sufficient to keep oil from getting into to the rear bearing and vise versa. Again, excess grease will escape around the spindle.... I added a few more pictures of the front and back of the spindle for you to look at, and I have a few questions...
Are there any gaskets at the front of the spindle, or is the grease and labyrinth rings supposed to hold the oil in? ...
Here's the parts diagram that goes with your cutter-head.
Part 12-754 is held on by a set screw. Remove it so that you can flush the bearings out. Stand the head on end and pour kerosene into the bearing, rotating the spindle until your satisfied that the old grease is gone. Make sure you remove the Zerk fitting and flush that passage as well.
You should not have taken the spindle pre-load nut (9731) off. You need to set the bearing preload before you put it back into service. I think I have a post somewhere about how to do that.
I don't know about checking torque, as such, but it can't hurt to make sure the bolts are snug and then install a new stainless steel safety wire.I noticed in other photos of the #12 head that the clamping bolts holding the bevel gear in place had safety wire running through the bolt heads which is absent on my unit. My bolts are drilled for such a wire. I think it would be prudent for me to check the torque on these bolts and add a wire through them. Do you agree?
Since the wire has been removed, someone may have messed with the ring gear since it left the factory. It might be a good idea to put high-spot compound on the pinion gear and see if its making correct contact with the ring gear before you wire it up. While I'm familiar with to concept, the details of exactly how to evaluate the marks on the ring gear and adjust it are beyond my expertise.
I use Mobilith SHC 100 grease; I don't know about the Polyrex, but it sounds like it's intended for permanently sealed bearings.And finally... how much grease should I pump into the bearings. After a fair amount of reading, I decided on Mobile Polyrex EM. I was hoping to push out any remaining old grease with the new grease and then wipe away the excess before putting the cover back on and filling the midsection. I've already used Mobile DTE Heavy Medium in the ram gearbox and it seems to run pretty quietly. Any advice would be appreciated.
Jeff
With the end caps off, Pump grease in via the Zerk fitting while turning the spindle. The bearing shouldn't be tightly packed; I think 60% fill is what's usually called for. Keep adding grease until you're getting new, clean grease out everywhere. When the bearings look well lubricated, wipe off any excess that's coming out the ends of the rollers and button her up; any excess grease will have space to escape into the cap. With modern grease there's no need to constantly grease the bearings. Once a year or so, take the end caps off, add grease, wipe off the excess, etc, and you're good for another year.
Cal