I noticed that my Grove RT crane kind of grovels when it turns around. It is like something is unhappy in the swing bearing. It is also not super easy to turn when heavily loaded, it still turns but I think that it was easier. How does the swing bearing work on it and is there something that I could either inspect or lubricate? Thanks
Have you greased the turntable bearing? Should be grease zerks on the front of the upper just above the bearing, or maybe on the side, that will put grease into the bearing. Add grease as you have someone else swing the crane so you put grease in all the way around. Should take around a tube for the inner and another for the outer (should be two zerks), or until you have it coming through the seal.
If what CO said doesn't work, be ready to sell a kidney for a new ring. Might have to sell your liver to cover the labor costs too. Though , you could get lucky and it be something in the swing planetary.
I’m not sure how the drive gear attaches to the swing motor but we have rigs that get noisy when the gear gets loose on the shaft. They’re held on with 2 or 3 bolts, they get loose and the gear slides down a touch and makes noise. Doesn’t sound luck much of a change but it’ll sure get noisy. I’m betting a good greasing will do it.
ichudov's crane is a late 60's early 70's grove rt. It wouldn't be worth the work to do a swing bearing. That and the very loosest one I ever ran, would clunk back and forth when loading and unloading the weight off the boom, and it was still "in spec" to grove's wear specs. It may also just be the swing brake dragging. Its all mounted on top of the swing gearbox, it will look like a disc brake on a car, one side will be the foot pedal brake, the other side will be the hand lock. Check that neither are dragging. The hand locks the cables get rusted up and don't work. the foot brake side can start leaking at the wheel cylinder part, and then they drag and you're steel on steel on the disc.
Thanks, I will check the swing brakes and also, will lubricate the swing bearing to oblivion. Will see how it goes. How do you check it for wear? Is that a ball or plain bearing, how does it work?
The easiest way to check for wear is with no boom out, bring the boom all the way to high boom angle. When all the way up, just "rock" the boom up/down. If its really shot, it will really "clunk" a long ways back and forth. The technical way is to do that with a dial indicator on the lower measuring the movement/ play in the bearing, by measuring how far the upper travels between the boom down flat, and when you go to high boom angle and it "rocks" back. There is a spec for the amount of play between the two numbers. There's no reason to over grease the turntable bearing, if its coming out on the seal, it will just make a mess everywhere. I also put a little grease on the teeth of the gear, it helps the swing drive roll on and off the big gear. The biggest mistake most guys make on the turntable bearing is not swinging the crane as they grease it. They just see a zerk and hit it with 5 pumps and go on. That only puts grease in one spot in the bearing, and it kind of runs it around as you're rotating, but its not the best, eventually they get a little dry. Hardly anyone replaces a turntable bearing, they just send them to auction. Generally the only way they get really damaged is no grease for a long time and heavy loads eating the steel on steel. Shock loading, or a powerline hit can also take them out. The powerline hits "weld" spots on the bearings and then they eat the halves, a really bad shock load can flat spot them/ crack portions.
OK, c.o., thanks a lot. How does that bearing work, is that a plain bearing? Or ball?
Pulled these pics off the net, the ad one shows a cutaway, the other is a cross section of what it probably looks like.
We use a lubri-plate product on ours called gear shield. Any tooth to tooth contact gets it plus the slides on the Watson rigs. It’s good stuff.
We use lubriplate on our ring fears as well. Stuff is sticky as all heck. A worn swing gearbox can definitely growl but it’s fairly easy to diagnose. Watch the gear coming out the box and have someone rock back and forth. If that gear pitches back and forth your gearbox needs new bearings. If you’ve never greased it while swinging the crane it definitely needs it. I always greased then the same way as crane op. As far as replacing the swing gear. It’s a ton of work. I did one a rt630c and it’s not fun. Not even a little bit.
I bought some lubriplate online, will use it on the swing motor and also on my fifth wheel slide. My fifth wheel slide always pushes out the grease.
My favorite lube for 5th wheel sliders was lots of cheap dish soap. when it got dirty a trip to the car wash reset everything without having to scrape grease out.
Anyone checked the oil in swing gear box?? Might even crack the drain plug and check for water.