Can someone enlighten me on what causes these GD Trilobe blowers to fail?

[BIG WOOD]

Matt, you say that machine was a demo. That means they probably ran it for an hour then parked it for weeks at a time. Condensation does get inside and causes corrosion which tightens the tolerances up. Probably why it's always been an issue. My butler will bog down too if I don't keep it cleaned and lubricated. I always notice better airflow too after and tge belts last longer. Part of why ibfeel so strongly about this. Get a can of liquid wrench lubricant and squirt the heck out of it. It runs cooler too. It helps break the rust and carbon off. I've watched it come out of the exhaust. It's a performance issue.

Does the blower on your Butler have grease ports for you to grease the bearings or is it similar to mine?

And your comment on it being a demo. I think this model was put out in 2016 and I purchased it in 2019. And since it was a demo it did sit for 3 years during the 30hr usage. Your explanation of the corrosion building up makes the most sense. I"ll dig for some more info on this later. Thanks for mentioning this

 

[Nomad74]

Too many apples

I love these apples.

 

[Dwain Ray]

Nice "apples"

 

[steve_64]

Does the blower on your Butler have grease ports for you to grease the bearings or is it similar to mine?

And your comment on it being a demo. I think this model was put out in 2016 and I purchased it in 2019. And since it was a demo it did sit for 3 years during the 30hr usage. Your explanation of the corrosion building up makes the most sense. I"ll dig for some more info on this later. Thanks for mentioning this

No grease ports. It's not the bearings. When the blower heats up the tolerances tighten up. It's why it's important to keep it clean.
Get it hot then hit it with water for ten minutes then let it heat back up about ten minutes then hit it with lube. It helps break the carbon and rust off restoring the original clearance.
Sometimes this is why belts get eaten up. Too much resistance in the blower.
Don't be afraid to use lubricant in your new blower or you may eventually have the same problem.

 

[Trip Moses]

I love these apples.

View attachment 120560

Definitely built for speed

 

[steve_64]

Too many apples

Apples got rid of my low back pain, have a cist on my kidney.
Too much water though.

 

[Trip Moses]

Got the blower out. Can’t remove the bottom pipe, so I’m having a new one made Monday.

Here’s a couple pics of the lobes. I hear a mild grind when I turn the shaft. I tried moving the shaft side by side and it didn’t have any play this time. Weird

View attachment 120539 View attachment 120540 View attachment 120541

Is there somewhere to send it to be refurbished? The new one is going to drive your quirky A crazy too. You’d love to have to have two blowers to swap out and compare on a multi point chart

 

[BIG WOOD]

Is there somewhere to send it to be refurbished? The new one is going to drive your quirky A crazy too. You’d love to have to have two blowers to swap out and compare on a multi point chart

Yeah, there is one close to atlanta and in memphis that can refurbish it. They first do an inspection and will tell me if it's refurbished or not($300charge). Maybe a year from now, I"ll take it down there

 

[Trip Moses]

Yeah, there is one close to atlanta and in memphis that can refurbish it. They first do an inspection and will tell me if it's refurbished or not($300charge). Maybe a year from now, I"ll take it down there

I rebuilt a roots blower once. Took it all apart. Cleaned it new bearings in it. Put it back together. Didn’t use any fancy gauges. Just eyeballed it. I used it for a year or so. It was working when I sold it.

 

[BIG WOOD]

I rebuilt a roots blower once. Took it all apart. Cleaned it new bearings in it. Put it back together. Didn’t use any fancy gauges. Just eyeballed it. I used it for a year or so. It was working when I sold it.

I read something about the timing on these Triflow gardner denvers. Did your roots have anything like that, that needed adjustment

 

[Trip Moses]

I read something about the timing on these Triflow gardner denvers. Did your roots have anything like that, that needed adjustment

Timing is the lobes operating freely of each other. Most blowers lobes will knock when you rock the pulley. But they only operate in one direction. That is what you have to focus on. They really only assemble one way being designed with a low tolerance. The trickiest part is stabilizing the lobes while tightening the bearing collars.

 

[Trip Moses]

I would like to take apart one of the helical blowers. That would be very interesting.

 

[bob vawter]

No grease ports. It's not the bearings. When the blower heats up the tolerances tighten up. It's why it's important to keep it clean.
Get it hot then hit it with water for ten minutes then let it heat back up about ten minutes then hit it with lube. It helps break the carbon and rust off restoring the original clearance.
Sometimes this is why belts get eaten up. Too much resistance in the blower.
Don't be afraid to use lubricant in your new blower or you may eventually have the same problem.

Look at SteveO wit the big brain....AND he is right IF he uses the correct lubrication

 

[Luky]

I'm a just a bit stressed at the moment. Beginning of last week my TI-410 blower was starting to lock up, causing my engine to bog down real bad, stretching the belts, making them smoke. I had 2 mechanics check the engine just to rule that out, and it's fine.

History of the blower for the previous 2700hrs:
-It loved eating the belts every 300-500hrs, not normal. I see that now. I kept changing them out, thinking it was something I was doing wrong, or thinking it might've not liked the Gates belts.
-Last Summer, the oil seal blew
- I was religious at changing the oil and preventative maintenance.

History of the TM:
-I bought it "new". I'm the only owner, except it being a "demo" with 30hrs on it.

I suspect this blower has had a defective bearing from the manufacturer with the headache of going through belts. Warranty is out and JD isn't giving any support. Matter of fact, when I discussed possibly setting up an appt, the service dept told me to make certain the COUPLER is lined up perfectly if I do it. IT'S BELT DRIVEN! From the last BIG MISTAKE they made at the 2k hr service last year, they lost my business.

Do you think I'm correct on this being defective?

 

[Luky]

I'm a just a bit stressed at the moment. Beginning of last week my TI-410 blower was starting to lock up, causing my engine to bog down real bad, stretching the belts, making them smoke. I had 2 mechanics check the engine just to rule that out, and it's fine.

History of the blower for the previous 2700hrs:
-It loved eating the belts every 300-500hrs, not normal. I see that now. I kept changing them out, thinking it was something I was doing wrong, or thinking it might've not liked the Gates belts.
-Last Summer, the oil seal blew
- I was religious at changing the oil and preventative maintenance.

History of the TM:
-I bought it "new". I'm the only owner, except it being a "demo" with 30hrs on it.

I suspect this blower has had a defective bearing from the manufacturer with the headache of going through belts. Warranty is out and JD isn't giving any support. Matter of fact, when I discussed possibly setting up an appt, the service dept told me to make certain the COUPLER is lined up perfectly if I do it. IT'S BELT DRIVEN! From the last BIG MISTAKE they made at the 2k hr service last year, they lost my business.

Do you think I'm correct on this being defective?

Hello there, I did scroll through many answers, and you've got some sound advice. " Court has ruled on the defective blower." Before you accept that ruling, I want to point out that the positions of shafts (once set correctly) shouldn't be variable unless the blower is removed and set back. On my setup, I'm using TB Woods coupler -8J, and Accu- link belt( I searched history ), and there is no mention of it, so I thought I shared the info. Before starting to use this belt, I found out that this belt is used in many industries, and the foremost benefit is eliminating vibration and desired tension. You have to adjust it ( remove one link at a time) quite often, but after that, you are going strong for months. I have used five belts so far. The Reliabilt unit has 2800 hours. It has an actuary motor to move the Kohler engine ( 2") to replace the coupler, but that's the only occasion. One more thing I learn about my blower. Its favorite lubricant is Super Slick Stuff( it emits a pleasant citrusy scent); it's not dingy as other lubricants.
I hope you'll find this information useful.

 

[Dwain Ray]

So if im doing the math right you've gone thru 5 belts in 2800 hours?? you're getting on average 560 hours on a belt?? and you feel this is good??

 

[BIG WOOD]

So if im doing the math right you've gone thru 5 belts in 2800 hours?? you're getting on average 560 hours on a belt?? and you feel this is good??

I think it was about 5-6 pairs of belts.

 

[Dwain Ray]

I think I would look into clogged belts and stop changing belts with each oil changeon my blower but that's just me

 

[Dolly Llama]

how often does the manual suggest blower belt changes?

..L.T.A.

 

[FB19087]

 

[BIG WOOD]

how often does the manual suggest blower belt changes?

..L.T.A.

500hrs

 

[FB19087]

Worth remembering is that the tightness should be checked again 25 or so hours after replacement....odds are you will need to tighten

 

[Dwain Ray]

View attachment 120626

That's alot of belt changes, on my pto i change the Serpentine belt around 1000 - 1200 hours, blower belts whenever they fail or look bad during routine maintenance(easy to change 10 minutes tops with just a crescent wrench) they usually last 2¹/² - 3 years. pump belt about every 5 or so years

 

[FB19087]

That's alot of belt changes, on my pto i change the Serpentine belt around 1000 - 1200 hours, blower belts whenever they fail or look bad during routine maintenance(easy to change 10 minutes tops with just a crescent wrench) they usually last 2¹/² - 3 years. pump belt about every 5 or so years

but half your truckmount is up front

this is relatively compact design with a gas 4cyl with a layout that means the belts are going to be subjected to more heat

and it isn't like Matt hasn't went well beyond the suggested interval

another thing Matt may want to look at is that they suggest a specific belt model, BP40 predator, which according to gates is more well suited to the application than "whatever autozone has in stock"/standard B belt

 

[Dwain Ray]

Thats gotta be an expensive machine to keep in belts. Predator belts are bonded belts 2 or 3 or more belts connected side by side like a b belt version of a serpitine belt

 

[Dwain Ray]

Is their any way to maybe keep the belts cooler?perhaps retrofit a ducted bildge blower?

 

[FB19087]

Thats gotta be an expensive machine to keep in belts. Predator belts are bonded belts 2 or 3 or more belts connected side by side like a b belt version of a serpitine belt

They have individual belts also

 

[BIG WOOD]

I went through several bp40 belts

 

[BIG WOOD]

Well, it’s in

 

[BIG WOOD]

I just wasted $6k on a new blower that wasn't needed.

After installation of the new blower, took it to a job. Less than a hour in the job, the same symptoms came up of the bogging down on full throttle/load, and the belts smoking and stretched. F$%*!!!

Parked the truck and admitted defeat. This was the most expensive misdiagnosis I've ever done. Not a fun lesson in business to learn

Submitted myself back to JD and they checked it out and tested it. I was impressed by the technician that worked on it. I think they fired the JiffyLube tech that worked there last time I had it serviced. They found that there was a gap in the spark plugs too big that caused plugs to burn hot/lean from the way the plugs looked. The tech said that it made the engine work too hard, causing the bogging down, giving the reason it seemed like the blower was seizing. The vac release valve was sticking a few seconds before opening properly, enough to add to the problem.

The only good news is this wasn't my fault. Well, it was my fault falsely diagnosing and buying another blower, but the cause of all this wasn't. The plugs were falsely gapped and never checked before JD's tech installed them at the 2khr service I had them do 700hrs ago.

So...do you guys know anyone that might want to buy a blower with 2700hrs on it? I'm have no desire to store it in my building