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Haas Gear Box Shifting Problem

jimmyfab

Plastic
Joined
Jan 15, 2014
Location
Quakertown, PA
Hi Everyone.....Ive been battling a shifting issue in our 2002 VF2 for some time now. I have replaced the solenoids, rebuilt the gear box, installed a new plunger assembly, etc.....pretty much everything I could think of and I still cannot get it to shift from low to high.....high to low is no problem because of gravity. I gave up awhile back and just manually popped it into high gear and disabled gear changing. I ran it like that for about 6 months but just recently the spindle motor bearings started to go bad so I just pulled the motor out and sent it off to a local shop to have new bearings installed. I figured while the motor was out I would take another stab at this gear box issue.

I guess my main question is for anyone with experience tearing down these gearboxes, do you know if the gear change shaft should be able to move up and down freely by hand without a burst of air? I can easily move it from high gear to low gear by hand because gravity is on its side but when trying to push it up from low gear to high gear I cannot do it by hand...I have to take a mallet or something and use a little force. This leads me to believe the shaft might be slightly bent or might have burrs or something. Any input is appreciated. Ill see if I can post a video or something.
 
Had some shifting issues with my 2002 vf3 also. Jiggling the sensor wires accessed through the side mount did the trick for me. Lol true story.
A few times a harsh morning tool change caused the issues to come back. No trouble in months.....
 
Had problem with my 2011 vf3 shifting, only did it every now and again on startup. I clean solenoids and valve orifice as recommended. HAAS recommend I cycle the air valve on the machine to create a surging while it was trying to shift. They were thinking it was a sticky valve. I since turned up the air pressure a little and have never had an issue again.
 
Ive had issues like this since about a year after I bought it. Its a 2011 vf3. Ive replaced the solenoid 3 times and the gear box once. This is currently the best its been running, going strong for like 3 months now. Im never buying another one
 
Thanks for the input everyone. It turned out to be an issue with the bearing shaft that actually moved the gear up and down. I removed the shaft from the gear box and noticed it was a little marked up and certain areas and a bit dirty. I cleaned everything and polished that shaft to a mirror finish and once installed I was able to easily move it up and down by hand. Everything is now back together and shifts like a champ! Ive attached a picture of the entire setup showing the gearset that should move up and down freely for those who have never taken the gearbox apart.20150109_150447.jpg
 
I had a slow shifting problem on our VF3, the tech enlarged the small orfice and the problem was gone

That would have been great if our problem was that simple. I did try all the basic stuff at first and even upgraded the entire shift solenoid which does not have any orifice....just a straight through design and still no go. Thats when I figured it had to be something internally with the gear box. I replaced all the bearings and upgraded the shifting plunger while I had it apart. Should be good for many years to come.
 
My '99 VF7 just gave me the 117 alarm, and won't switch from high to low gear. Haas recommended that I buy a new solenoid, but I'm wondering if I should try cleaning mine first?
 
My '99 VF7 just gave me the 117 alarm, and won't switch from high to low gear. Haas recommended that I buy a new solenoid, but I'm wondering if I should try cleaning mine first?

High to low is usually the easier shift because its shifting the gearset down and gravity is on its side. Low to high is usually where mine would get hung up at. Start with the basic things like drilling out the orifices on the shifting solenoid. The new solenoid assembly from Haas is around $400 I believe.
 
I was told by a tech at the HFO to check the two orifices, and also blowing air down the copper pipes with a light spray of WD40. I tried this along with doing a lot of cleaning of the solenoid (they were covered in junk).

I then noticed the small switches on the two solenoids. I pressed the button on the small one and that activated the tool draw bar release. I tried pressing the two buttons on the larger solenoid, but nothing happens, so I have a feeling that might be the culprit. Doesn`t look like they are replaceable on their own tho. The brand is Norgren, but I think these are made specially for Haas.
 
I was told by a tech at the HFO to check the two orifices, and also blowing air down the copper pipes with a light spray of WD40. I tried this along with doing a lot of cleaning of the solenoid (they were covered in junk).

I then noticed the small switches on the two solenoids. I pressed the button on the small one and that activated the tool draw bar release. I tried pressing the two buttons on the larger solenoid, but nothing happens, so I have a feeling that might be the culprit. Doesn`t look like they are replaceable on their own tho. The brand is Norgren, but I think these are made specially for Haas.

Yea I also tried to source the Norgren solenoids by themselves but could not find an exact replacement. I ended up buying the entire assembly from Haas which is like $460...kind of sucks to put out that money when you dont know for sure if that will fix the problem but at least you wont need to replace those parts for a long time.

Here is what I needed....not sure if your '97 is the same or not.

Part Details | HaasParts.com
 
So I did some more troubleshooting.

Currently in high gear. I press M41 to force a change. The spindle spins half a turn back and forth a few times. If I press one of the buttons on the solenoid, it switches to low gear fine.

M42 switches back to high gear fine. Press M41 and it jams again. I have to press M41, then go and press the button on the solenoid while it's 'trying' to change gear.

If I don't press M41, and I try pressing the buttons on the solenoid, nothing happens. If i disconnect the power cable to the solenoid and press the button, it changes fine.
 
If I don't press M41, and I try pressing the buttons on the solenoid, nothing happens. If i disconnect the power cable to the solenoid and press the button, it changes fine.

This is because the machine is still telling the solenoid to energize the high side.

You have a 2 sided solenoid. The machine is always trying to energize one side or the other (high or low gear) while under power; there is no neutral. If you try to push the manual putton for the low gear side immediately after commanding the High gear, then the machine is tring to do both. Hope that makes sense.

Sounds like you found your problem though.
Good luck!
 
I took the solenoid out again and took a look at it. It is a double ended solenoid, and I unscrewed the top and bottom. The top side slides of fine, but the bottom took some effort.

The sides of the one end are expanded out, so it looks like the one end is burnt out. I'm just trying to find a replacement solenoid now. Norgren doesn't stock it anymore, and my HFO wants me to replacement everything at $650.

If anyone has one of these old solenoids that they replaced and wouldn't mind selling theirs (in working condition obviously) I would be stoked. It's going to cost me almost $1k to have my HFO install it for me. The Part number off the Solenoid is V096511R-B300A.

norgen-solenoid-04.jpg
 
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Hi Everyone.....Ive been battling a shifting issue in our 2002 VF2 for some time now. I have replaced the solenoids, rebuilt the gear box, installed a new plunger assembly, etc.....pretty much everything I could think of and I still cannot get it to shift from low to high.....high to low is no problem because of gravity. I gave up awhile back and just manually popped it into high gear and disabled gear changing. I ran it like that for about 6 months but just recently the spindle motor bearings started to go bad so I just pulled the motor out and sent it off to a local shop to have new bearings installed. I figured while the motor was out I would take another stab at this gear box issue.

I guess my main question is for anyone with experience tearing down these gearboxes, do you know if the gear change shaft should be able to move up and down freely by hand without a burst of air? I can easily move it from high gear to low gear by hand because gravity is on its side but when trying to push it up from low gear to high gear I cannot do it by hand...I have to take a mallet or something and use a little force. This leads me to believe the shaft might be slightly bent or might have burrs or something. Any input is appreciated. Ill see if I can post a video or something.

I have a similar issue except now my gearbox is stuck in between high and low I have changed solenoid drilled orfice and we were getting it to shift by blasting air into the copper air lines for a while but now we are stuck. ANY SUGGESTIONS?
 
I have a similar issue except now my gearbox is stuck in between high and low I have changed solenoid drilled orfice and we were getting it to shift by blasting air into the copper air lines for a while but now we are stuck. ANY SUGGESTIONS?

Most likely the shaft that the gear set rides on is either gunked up or slightly bent. Ive dealt with both scenarios, first it was gunked up so I removed the gearbox, removed the shaft and cleaned/polished it. Shifted great after that. A year later the machine had a minor crash and had trouble shifting after that. Thats when we pulled the gearbox again and found the shaft to be bent. That gearbox finally ate itself a few months ago so I had a fresh one installed by Haas for almost $6k :( It lasted almost 15 years though. Hate to say it but you will probably need to pull the gear box out. Its really not a hard job.
 








 
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