Pinwheel locked up

[Toby]

I was chasing the other night and a pinwheel locked up. I yanked it loose and periodically stopped the back-end to add grease to the ring tube, but the next night it locked up again. I haven't done any maintenance to an elevator wheel before. All I know is they weigh about as much as my car. Does the ring tube ride on bearings? How do I access them to replace them? I'm on my way to the center right now to get the manual, but I don't recall it contained this procedure. Thanks, guys.

Toby

[keeth]

Toby the pinwheel rides 4 bearings they are the four plates bolted to the back of the machine you can change the bottom 2 with NO issue at all.The top 2 you could prop up tha pinwheel and change 1 at a time

[Toby]

Okay, I seem to remember reading about this here on the board. You can put a jack under the wheel and kind of balance it, and take the top bearings out one at a time? I'm guessing the top bearings are the ones that wear out first and cause problems, right?

Toby

[Grit]

yes and no. stahl's makes a bracket that gets tension from a spring to the bottom of the pinwheel cover. the point of that is to make sure the lower bearings contact the ringtube since they usually dont.

The way I do it is:
1*. Remove the distributor and unbolt everything on the pinwheel cover (the handrail, the distributor post bracket, the rudder arm support brackets, the step, and whatever the strap to the pinwheel belt tensioner is called) and pull the whole thing down.
2. take a 7/16 deep socket and undo the carriage bolts holding the ringtube, pinwheel and guard together. (I think there are 12 of them)
3. clean it all up and make sure the ring tube isn't messed up
4. grind the spots where the 1/4 bolts for the hand rail go into the guard and drill a 3/8 hole and weld 3/8-16 nuts in their place.
5. change the pin wheel belt
6*. put it all back together and put it back up.

* two people for this step.
The reason for upsizing the nuts its I think floppy hand rails are unsafe. The reason for pulling it all down and apart is that I had a ringtube that was about .001" from eating through the guard and it needed to be deburred so it didn't chew up the new bearings.

[70/70]

The top 2 can be changed 1 at a time. I use blocks and a lever ( 2 x 4's or whatever) to take rhe weight off of the bearing. Just be sure to check (down on hands and knees) the ring tube carefully for damage. The tube can break and the "ears" can break off. I don't have problems changing a tube by myself. PM if you need help with that.

[Never_to_old]

Check the bolt length on the support rollers , if 2 long and there is wear on the ring tube and rollers, ,the pin-wheel sits lower thus causing other problems with the distributor , had it where bolts that were a shade to long were catching now and again on the ring-tube brackets

[bowlmac3900]

i have also seen that happen with a bad ring tube or with the new ring tube are put together differently than the old ones and the bolt will hit and lock up have at to put a spacers on the bolt to pull it back a lil to get clearance to not hit the bracket on the ring tube weldment

[Tablejam]

Toby,

You can change the upper rollers this way...

1. Remove two of the three bolts holding the P.E. bearing that you want to replace

2. Get a prybar and gently put it into the hole where the wick and reservoir are, put it under the ringtube and lift it up

3. While holding the ringtube up remove the 1 bolt holding the bearing plate in place and take it out of the machine

4. Install in opposite manner

As long as you don't ram the hell out of the ringtube with the prybar then nothing will happen to it, you just want to pull on it only enough that it is lifted out of your way.

I used to use wood blocks under the pinwheel with a prybar that I stood on to lift the wheel up but it was a PITA, this is much easier to do. And for extra clearance for the uppers, you could always remove the lowers first, this would allow you to raise the wheel up higher to get the uppers out, I've only had to do that once. Almost always you can just get the uppers out by the above procedure, which was taught to me at the AMF school. It sounds insane but that's how we were taught, and it works.

[rivmike]

I lift mine with a small floor jack.

[pinfeed]

Get the bottom bolt started. Lift the pinwheel with left hand and right foot. Start the top bolt...10 seconds, maybe...I guess I'm not seeing what's so hard about it.

[Toby]

I used the scissor jack from my car to take a little weight off the rollers and was able to pull the roller and replace it without a problem. I only weigh 130 pounds, so unless my lever is six feet long, I'll just do chin-ups on it all day long. Thanks, guys!

Toby

[Tablejam]

Im only 5'-3-1/2" tall and I don't need a jack using the prybar method...but the important thing is you got it changed.

[rivmike]

Im only 5'-3-1/2" tall and I don't need a jack using the prybar method...but the important thing is you got it changed.

How do you reach the top rollers? lol

[Tablejam]

That's funny!

[Pin_Head]

How do you reach the top rollers? lol

Now that's the part when he uses the trolley jack..... for himself NOT the pinwheel lol...


Just kiddin!!!!!