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ARB VF1, trans out of mill, now how does it come apart?

viper

Titanium
Joined
May 18, 2007
Location
nowhereville
ARB, I sent you a PM on this but I have the trans/motor assy out of the mill and need to open it up. How does it come apart? Anyone opened one? I do not think it is shelled out yet but I need to see what is going on in there. I am still pissy that they do not sell parts for this so I am hoping for a shaft bushing or something simple. just has too much backlash in the gear mesh.

Guess if I had to buy a new assy, I would put this one back in and run it until it pops for the price they want. SHESH, A couple new gears and I would probably be off like a prom dress. I think the "balanced as a set" is hype. How can you do that anyway? What do you do if it is out of balance and already assembled? Anyway, any help would be appreciated.
 
PM sent


You should be able to pop the motor off then remove the cover plate on the motor side of the box.

Can you post a picture?

ARB
 
The problem is it sure looks like there is 4 bolts securing the motor to the plate. Three are accessible and one I think is inside the trans. I have all three loose and that motor ain't movin. I also cannot pull the plate because there has to be bolts under the motor securing the plate so that motor has to come off first. WTF?? I talked with a guy with Haas who is helping and indicated also , NOT to remove that bottom pulley. Glad I asked because I was puller'd up and tensioned.

I agree, if I can just pop the motor off, the rest would be gold. Haas also indicated that the backlash is set with the motor and I cannot see that because the bolt holes have no room to move. Sure feels like if I can get some lash out, it might be ok. I can sure get pics in a bit if you would like. I will also buzz Haas again and see what he thinks. Thanks for the help.
 
Just an update. I got thing apart and all gears look great. The nut that keeps the shift fork bearing tight in the shaft was backing off and allowing some axial movement in the gears. I am hoping by replacing a few bearings and tightening that nut up, we should be good. I was very happy overall to find no major damage. I was also cussing the entire was tearing this thing down. NOT fun!!! I would have preferred to build the spindle than this.
 
Glad to hear you did not find any BAD things in there.


Did you get a new drive belt?

I would spank on a drive belt and an encoder belt while I was this far in.
Also look closely at the encoder sprockets. I had to replace them too. They were as smooth as a babies Ass.


Did you do a few air powered shifts on the bench to make sure everything was moving the way that it should?

Pretty simple trans really. Not much to go wrong.

When you fire it back up you may have to diddle with the motor to gearbox engagement to quiet things down.
 
Not sure what you mean by the motor to trans engagement. I would like to learn more on that. Belt tension? I was told I could adjust the backlash with the motor but that ain't so here because that motor falls into a recess on the top plate and is a tight fit. I would like to reduce an backlash problems if possible but do not see how it is possible.

I have not shifted the trans yet as I have not put it back together. I will be sure to check function before install.

I will give special attention to the belts while I am at it.
 
Not sure what you mean by the motor to trans engagement.

You have it with
I was told I could adjust the backlash with the motor but that ain't so here because that motor falls into a recess on the top plate and is a tight fit. I would like to reduce an backlash problems if possible but do not see how it is possible
.

There is a very small amount of slop there. You don't need much movement.
I just bolted mine down and went with it. It was quiet and did not make heat.

Belt tension?
Be careful not to get them too tight. They will tend to be loud if they are too tight. IIRC I used about 3/8" of deflection at the center of the belt.
 
Has the gearbox design changed much from this 1996 machine to a 2004? My VF-2 has about 30 'in cut' hours on it and has never cut in low gear. Despite that, there is a faint clanging / ringing noise coming from the transmission when running in low gear.

As far as I remember, it's always made that noise. I just figured it was normal. Haas techs, visiting for my TL-1 looked at the VF with puzzled stares when they heard it. "No, it isn't supposed to make that noise." Freakin' great. Another problem that cropped up during warranty that I didn't know about. :rolleyes:

So it's my problem now and I'm wondering if the same nut might have come loose inside.
 
My noises were heard on accel and decel and sound like something is just a little loose. I also have a bit too much gear backlash and hoping to suck that up today. What sucks it it is an "adventure" to get that trans out and apart. I would think if you have a repetitive, synchronous noise, only in one gear, I would think you have a gear problem. What we see a lot in offroads transmissions is something will get in the gear mesh and crack one of the teeth. This will cause a catch in the rotation of the gears. Might check that.
 
Since you're familiar with offroad transmissions, my VF-2 sounds like a transfer case in low range. It's that same gear whirring, ringing noise. That's why I just assumed it was normal.
 
I know of two right off that make that sound and have been doing it for years. That is generally a defective tooth, gear mesh, or minimal backlash. I would see if the trans heats up much when in use. If your machine is new, I would want it silent as a mouse. Guess we will see what mine does when I get it back in.
 
Yeah, well the machine is 'new' in that it doesn't have any time on it (30 in cut hours) but it's long out of warranty. :confused:

I don't do much steel. So far it's only cut aluminum and wood. Someday, I'll need that gearbox.

I'm going to fire it up in the next day or so and start running another batch of parts. I'm going to 'orient' the spindle and check the backlash.
 
Yep, I think we have most of the problems taken care of on the trans. The nut that retains the shift fork thrust bearing was loose allowing it to move axially while running. I have had to work with the ball screws on the machine so I just got that back together today. Should get to try and make parts this week.

Reballing the axis is not something everyone would condone but it DOES work if you have near the same backlash at the ends and middle of screw. We pulled the Y down from .0035 to .00029 and the X from .0007 to .0001. The Z is still not good enough for me but I gotta run it for now. I will order more balls later for the Z. I think the Z screw may need ground. Little louder than it should be. I also found a bunch of crap in that ball nut. The process of removing the nut, cleaning, and reinstalling takes about 30min per axis. WORTH IT!!
 
Hey, If possible can you guys be talked into posting a few pics when you get into these VMC overhauls? The new forum setup here is very easy to add the pics from your computer as attachments to your posts.

This seems similar to a situation of a hotrodder fixing his out of warrantee supercar instead of paying the dealer a fortune to do it for him.

I think a lot of members would find pics very educational, may be able to fix there own stuff too instead of getting bent by the machine builder. Thanks, Dave

I dont own a haas, but might one day.
 
Might be a bit late for pics on the subject as I have already reassembled the machine. I will probably take the Z apart again soon to rework it one more time to try and get more lash out so I will try to get some pics of that job.
 








 
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