# Rayco 1625A threw a cutter wheel bearing



## Dadatwins (Feb 14, 2005)

My grinder threw a cutter wheel bearing over the weekend. Outer seal let go. Grinder has less than 150 hours on it. I bought the unit new and I am 4 weeks past dealer 1 year parts and labor warranty on machine. Talked to the dealer and he said they would repair the unit but would have to send bad bearing to manufacturer to examine and determine cause of problem. IE: lack of grease or to much grease or other cause. Manufacturer exam would determine if they will extend warranty for this incident since the machine still has low hours. Dealer could not set a price for the work until the bearing was checked. Might be covered, maybe not. I requested that both be changed since I have always been told that bearings should be changed in pairs. Dealer said they would check other 'good' bearing and determine if it needs to be changed. I have maintained this unit as specified in the manual, used quality red & tacky high temp bearing grease before every grind. I have been praising this unit since I bought it and hope that I can continue to do so. Anyone else had any experience like this or suggestions? Thanks


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## a_lopa (Feb 14, 2005)

im not to sure but i only grease my bearings after there warmed up,mines done alot of work and the bearings are only just starting to show wear.same machine but older.


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## ROLLACOSTA (Feb 14, 2005)

Dadatwins..as you know i have a vermeer 252 it has 500 hours on it and so far the bearing's seem good still,now i have spoken to a lot of Rayco stumpcutter owners and lot's of them tell me that they often get bearing problem's like every 200 hours..your not in a minority going by the information i have received from other Rayco owners sorry to say


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## Stumper (Feb 14, 2005)

I'm not sure about the 1625a-is that a 1 3/16inch Pillowblock bearing? $30 or so for the part and a couple hours work changing it and resetting everything. The bearings usually go a long time with regular greasing but excessive belt tension and/or severe "vining" of material around the shaft can shorten life. The bearings are standard industrial bearings-IF you got a bad one it doesn't reflect anything about the machine's overall quality.


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## Dadatwins (Feb 14, 2005)

Not sure about the size but it is a standard pillow block bearing. I paid $100.00 from the dealer for a smaller set on my old 1620jr. and changed them myself. That machine had over 200 hours on it when I bought it and I put over 200 hours on that set before I sold the unit. I would change these out myself but I want the dealer to do it to make sure there are no other problems. As for the belt tension, the bearing on the belt side looks ok, the failure occured on the side without the belt. I guess I will be making a post about the 'hopefully' great customer service soon or be  
thanks


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## Stumper (Feb 14, 2005)

I understand about working with the dealer in this case. FWIW the bearings tend to cost about 30%-40% less from a bearing supply house compared to the dealers.


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## NeTree (Feb 15, 2005)

Ditto to Stumper. If you have to foot the cost of the bearings, get them from McMaster-Carr, or someplace similiar. No sense paying the dealer markup, too.

All bearings are not created equal; check the interchange and spring for the heaviest tapered-roller you can fit up.


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## Lumberjack (Feb 15, 2005)

We get our bearings from a ware house, for dealer cost (one of my groundies fathers is a salesman for them). That saves us a pretty good bit of money from buying from rayco. Especially for the RG85. We get about 400 hours per set of bearings, however we lost one a couple weeks ago, the retainer ring that holds the preload on the bearing and holds the guts in backed off. First time that has happened for us. We have had the bolts work loose and the bearing would cant out and that would toast the bearing, but thats only happened once that I can remember.


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## Stubmanden (Feb 17, 2005)

I have a Rayco 1625 and I also had problem with bearings, specially the lower bearings. The last 3 months I have greased the lower bearings after every 3 to 4 hous of operation, and the bearings tend to hold much longer time.


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## Dadatwins (Feb 17, 2005)

Stubmanden said:


> I have a Rayco 1625 and I also had problem with bearings, specially the lower bearings. The last 3 months I have greased the lower bearings after every 3 to 4 hous of operation, and the bearings tend to hold much longer time.



I also grease mine before every use, usually 1 -2 pumps of grease in each side. How many hours of use do you get from a set?


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## NeTree (Feb 17, 2005)

What's the number on those bearings? Now I'm curious...


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## Dadatwins (Feb 17, 2005)

Bearing are Sealmaster NP - 24. 1 1/2" shaft. Took machine to dealer today and he pulled the old ones. Both sides were shot, both looked to be greased enough, but mechanic said they would have to be sent to manufacturer to see what went wrong. Said they average 3-4 hundred hours per set with proper mantainence. These had less than 150 hours. Recomended warming up the bearings before greasing to make sure the grease would flow around the warm bearing and form a seal before hitting a stump.
On to the replacement, the factory was out of the sealmasters that came with machine so they sent another brand. Fit on the shaft but the collar was a smaller width and would have allowed for the cutter wheel to shift so no good. Would have worked by adding a bushing to each side that was not supplied, but the mechanic did not want to modify it and I agreed so a sealmaster set is on the way from another supplier. Factory said they could send the extra bushings, but I opted for the original replacement part. Will keep updated as to result.


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## Stumper (Feb 17, 2005)

Reportedly SealMaster are the best bearings out there. I have used them and had no problems but they didn't seem any more durable than the Peerless they replaced (and they cost 30% more). I've been running Browning bearings on my stumper with pleasing results.


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## NeTree (Feb 18, 2005)

Just looked up that number, and no wonder they aren't lasting you. 

Ditch the ball bearings and stuff in double-row tapered rollers, preferably Browning.

You'll never regret spending the extra $$.

Ball bearings aren't designed for the pounding radial loads that stumpers put on them. I don't know WTF the manufacturer was thinking spec'ing them.


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## Dadatwins (Feb 18, 2005)

Agree tapered rollers are much better suited for the application. This set will hopefully be covered but some sort of warantee so I am bound by what the dealer puts in. If this second set fails I will definitly research a different plan for this machine. Have to find a set that is exact same collar width as original. Dealer tried to put in a set of link - belt bearing at first and the collars were too narrow allowing for side play without spacers he did not have.


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## ROLLACOSTA (Feb 20, 2005)

NeTree said:


> Just looked up that number, and no wonder they aren't lasting you.
> 
> Ditch the ball bearings and stuff in double-row tapered rollers, preferably Browning.
> 
> ...



so is it highly likely this type of bearing will have been fitted to all the rayco stump cutter line ?? ..everyone i know who own's a rayco has regular problem's with bearing's


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