Drive Wheel Bearing Replacement
My Grizzly 14" band saw has been making a clunking noise when running for a while now so while the shop is down I decided to take a look at it. With the blade removed, I could hear a "lump,lump, lump" noise when turning the bottom drive wheel and then I could feel vertical movement in it. That meant the bearing is shot!
I removed both screws in the front and real of the main shaft.
Then I made the mistake of removing the 3 screws to unfasten the pulley and put a puller on the front wheel to pull it off the shaft ( You don't have to remove the pulley to change the bearings!!!! )
Well, it was tight and I cracked a wheel spoke ( Harbor Freight epoxy held 'er back in place)
You can see from the above picture that there is a red residue around the front of the wheel. I called Grizzly to ask if they use Loctite on that shaft and they were not sure so I heated it with a propane torch while putting the pulley on the back of the pulley and it came off. I tapped the shaft out from the front and then knocked out the front bearing with a wood dowel. That is where I found the shaft to be worn where the bearing had locked up. The inside of the wheel was also full of white crystallized Locktite residue.
The front and rear bearings are the same ( 6204 2RS) 47mmOD, 20mm ID and 14mm thick
I found the best place to buy bearings is Fastenal. They were $2.50 each!!
I found you can get a new shaft for about $10 + shipping from Grizzly but I did not want to wait. I welded up the bad area and then turned it down to fit the bearing and put 'er all back together and it is real quiet …like new… again.
I did have to open up the shop to use the lathe for the repair.
I hope this helps someone who might be in a similar situation
Cheers, Jim
My Grizzly 14" band saw has been making a clunking noise when running for a while now so while the shop is down I decided to take a look at it. With the blade removed, I could hear a "lump,lump, lump" noise when turning the bottom drive wheel and then I could feel vertical movement in it. That meant the bearing is shot!
I removed both screws in the front and real of the main shaft.
Then I made the mistake of removing the 3 screws to unfasten the pulley and put a puller on the front wheel to pull it off the shaft ( You don't have to remove the pulley to change the bearings!!!! )
Well, it was tight and I cracked a wheel spoke ( Harbor Freight epoxy held 'er back in place)
You can see from the above picture that there is a red residue around the front of the wheel. I called Grizzly to ask if they use Loctite on that shaft and they were not sure so I heated it with a propane torch while putting the pulley on the back of the pulley and it came off. I tapped the shaft out from the front and then knocked out the front bearing with a wood dowel. That is where I found the shaft to be worn where the bearing had locked up. The inside of the wheel was also full of white crystallized Locktite residue.
The front and rear bearings are the same ( 6204 2RS) 47mmOD, 20mm ID and 14mm thick
I found the best place to buy bearings is Fastenal. They were $2.50 each!!
I found you can get a new shaft for about $10 + shipping from Grizzly but I did not want to wait. I welded up the bad area and then turned it down to fit the bearing and put 'er all back together and it is real quiet …like new… again.
I did have to open up the shop to use the lathe for the repair.
I hope this helps someone who might be in a similar situation
Cheers, Jim