lizard Posted September 8 Report Share Posted September 8 Hi all, I took apart my wheel yesterday in anticipation of probably needing a belt replacement. The wheel has been pulsing/surging - it was having an issue maintaining speed at both high and low settings, along with the motor really groaning while centering. When I removed the bottom plate, the belt seemed totally fine (tension is good, not worn out). The only issue I can spot is leakage from the wheel head/shaft area. Has anyone had experience with this? I’ve attached a picture of where there is evidence of slip having leaked through somehow. It seems like it made a hole in the plate that holds the wheel head to the table? Is that even possible? I removed the set screws and can’t get the wheel head to budge at all, so I’m assuming I’m going to be dealing with some kind of rust situation at the very least. Thank you for any help you can offer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted September 8 Report Share Posted September 8 (edited) Hmm, couple thoughts here - hard to tell from the picture, almost seems like a manufacturing error when welding the assembly to the mounting plate. Your manual (if you don’t already have it) here: https://www.axner.com/pdf/laguna/Pacifica_Manual_2015.pdf Reading through, definitely gets greased so I would assume you will likely find corrosion when you get it disassembled so cleanup, re greasing, bearing replacement may be necessary when you get it all apart. Holding the drive pulley and rotating the wheel head back and forth, heating the aluminum wheel head a bit may help break this free so it can be manipulated off the shaft. Anyway - just bumping the thread, hopefully you will have some Gt 400 owners weigh in here. A call to Laguna also a possibility. Edited September 8 by Bill Kielb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizard Posted September 8 Author Report Share Posted September 8 Thanks so much, Bill! Yes, I was wondering if it was a thin/missed spot of welding l too. I’m admittedly a bit of a slob in my own studio space, but I generally don’t leave a ton of slip in the splash pan - especially not to the point of it being able to bore down through a solid plate. I’ve had my wheel for about 7 years and never had to do any maintenance though, so for all I know it could’ve just been rusting for most of that time. Going to give removing the head another try now with your tips. I tried calling Laguna on Friday but didn’t manage to reach anyone, so I’ll probably try that again tomorrow too. : ) Bill Kielb 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizard Posted September 9 Author Report Share Posted September 9 Well, I got the head off…and now I have no idea what I’m looking at except for a lot of debris. Nothing looks to be easily disassemble-able at this point, so my fingers are crossed that the tech call can walk me through it. I did take a quick video too, in case that’s helpful - linked here: https://imgur.com/a/b4zmV17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted September 9 Report Share Posted September 9 (edited) Is the bearing a bit rough - don’t see any traces of grease, my guess is it is a bit rough to turn. It should be very smooth to turn and have little to no movement horizontally as well as vertically. My guess is the collar is blocking view of the inner race of the bearing, you could (If it feels rough) temporarily add some penetrating oil to this and make note if it improves. If yes, pull the bearing and if not double shielded (ball bearings visible on the bottom) you could re grease from the back side. It is the only point of rotation and I don’t see any adjacent wear marks so I think a good chance the bearing is rusted / worn. Turn it by hand without the belt and feel for any rough spots / wobble. @lizard Just an add : finally turned the sound on in the video, very likely need a new bearing. I believe you will need to remove the collar and the drive pulley to get the bearing out of the retainer. Hopefully open enough on the backside to take an appropriate sized socket and drive the bearing out. To install new after thorough cleanup / light sanding, light oil a socket big enough to drive on the outer race of the bearing might be handy to set it fully in the retainer. Edited September 11 by Bill Kielb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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