GSX Sweep Gear Broke

[jday]

Last night we had a sweep gear # 47-071219-003 break on 7 pin side where the welded part meets the idler arm to the sweep arms. Broke at the weld. machine is 12 yrs old, 844000 frames. Unfortunately re welding not an option. This is a pretty beefy part. Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem. I have pics, but can't figger how to download them here.

[sbrooks]

Had the table shaft gear break but not the sweep, hope this is not something to look forward to. Would love to see picks when you get loaded.

[jday]

I can probably email, but not post them.

[jday]

Email me at [email protected]

[jackle]

http://www.bowltech.com/forums/album.php?albumid=62

my machines are also 12 years old ive had two brake just like that, i have wielded both, you just have to make sure you get a full penetrating wield, i tack the arm in place after making any adjustments to the brake if needed, tack it really good cause u need to be able to cut a U grove half way through the crack on both sides but one at a time and u want to be able to do the other side right after doing the first side to keep it straight, you wield one side its going to pull the arm so you wield the other side right after to pull the arm back where u had it when you tacked it

[jackle]

weld lol dont know why i put an i in weld oof

[jday]

A new shaft was only $85, and I have limited welding available here. If I took it out to be welded, it would cost $75 easily, so I bought new.

I also bought the spacer (47-071171-004) that goes on the shaft, before you install the bearing. The old spacer is 12.5mm thick, but the new (metal) spacer is 18.5mm thick. This misaligns the chain on the drive sprocket slightly. Does anyone know why this spacer has changed?

[jday]

I put the old spacer back in, the new one misaligns the chain too much. Brunswick is looking into why the spacer is wrong. Just as an aside, I found the bolts that hold the sweep brackets all very loose. These are the brackets on both sides of the machine where the big sweep shaft goes across. The holes were elongated, so I added fat washers, and tightened them down good, no more play.

I found that the spacer for the table, main shaft is very close in size to the one on the sweep shaft. They may be the same number some day. (47-073508-004)

[jday]

Guess what? Another one broke, only 5 weeks later. I hope this is not a trend now. 2 in 5 weeks, and none in 11 years. I used my spare, now need 2 more spares. Luckily, it is only a 1 hour job to change.

[Ted]

Really sounds like the welding might have weakened the shaft at the edge of the weld where the heating during the original weld dissapates into the cooler shaft. I'm not sure if it would be called 'fatique' there, but if the sweep wagon had some stiffness due to something bent, rollers bad, frequent balls hitting sweep due to tipper or triggering issues, etc I can maybe classifiy it as expected to happen 'sooner or later'.