Axeman Chatter/ groaning form Anthratube! Need ideas.

I can't seem to stop the deep low chatter from the anthratube. I oiled the crap out of it. I added a grease fitting and pump a high pressure grease. Took the bronze half rings off and cleaned them greased them and put them back. The three bearings are turning freely too. I am running out of ideas! None of these things seem to have made much of a differnce. Has anyone ever had this problem?

Have you looked in the doghouse. Could be a friction issue. Good place to start, anyway. What condition are the roller bearings in? As you know, they can get dried out, seize, etc. if you don't lube them. If the top contact area seems OK, then get out a 'stethoscope' I just replace the auger head on one of mine, and it was getting that low growl sound. Telegraphs somewhat, so I had to try a few things before I could determine exactly what is was. Good luck......keep us posted.

The big bronze ring at the top of the auger? Maybe remove the cap on top of the auger & oil it from inside? It seems to oil it from the outside is asking oil to go uphill. Do you have the little cup and wick oiler on the bottom of the brass ring? I make sure to keep oil in it. It needs filling about once a month. Even at that, once in a while mine will growl a but & I'll oil it from the outside on top. I guess the oil does go uphill.

The three support bearings are in good shape. Its definitely coming from the dog house. A while back it started making the noise. The oil cup was regularly filled be it seemed to get worse. So it replaced it with a grease fitting which cured it up until recently. Its coming from the lower half of the bronze ring. I found that squirting oil on the inside at the top of the diameter helped sometimes but not for more than a day or so. I was thinking about scuffing a wear mark on the ring to help stop it from setting up a resonant frequency. Not sure if that will help but I get hot under the collar when I hear it.

What are you using for grease/oil?

I wonder..... if it is the brass ring... can it be removed and turned around? Maybe "wear the other half"?

How many noise locations do you have? You said it was "definitely coming from the doghouse" and then later you say it is from the lower bronze ring. Is it from both? Do not overlook the fact that the noise could be traveling down (or up) the auger pipe. In that case the lower opening of the auger pipe may be rubbing against the opening of the doghouse and the noise traveling up the pipe. Look with a flashlight while the auger is turning and you may see it contacting the doghouse. Many pipes are not perfectly straight and it may be out of balance.

Also, be aware that the noise may be from one or more of the ash tray bearings. One could be seized up.

Forgot to ask; does the noise happen both when the AA is ashing and when it is not ashing. One time my boiler was making a squeking noise and it took me a while to locate the source. Turned out to be the ashing arm stop was rubbing against the ashing arm. You can see in the photo the wear mark on the ash arm stop. When in ash mode the short vertical arm with flat tab on top, kicks outward allowing the long horizontal arm to move up and down. The wear mark is in the upper left part of the pic. A little adjustment and drop of oil and it was gone.

Freddy,
I'm not sure if the holes are symetrical but i they are I'll get that a shot.
Also, I'm using a high pressure grease used for excavator wrist pins. I also have a high temp grease but its not as thick. btw, I meant to say transfer head not dog house. However, I will look down in the doghouse to see if there is rubbing going on in there. It's possible that the vibration could start there and resonate up the tube.

My AA260 has an occasional heavy 'rumble' when it's runing,, the 'rumble' and vibration seem to come from the transfer head, but at times it seems that it's coming from the support bearings, .
I took the two brass half moon bearings out an turned them over, and mounted them swapped top to bottom. with the oil hole on top, I made a small cup and keep gear oil in it..80w-90wt. just a few drops every now and then,
My auger is getting worn, so the slot for the brass bearing is worn and there are other reasons it can make noises..
Thankfully my AA is out in the shed in the back yard,, but noise and vibration is not good for machinery,, it is the machine crying for HELP11
So it's good to chase down the cause..

I have taken a rubber mallet and whacked the tranfer head and this usually stops the noise so I'm thinking its the combination of the worn brass bearings and the worn slot in the head of the auger tube.. allowing too much room..
The auger is pretty much balanced on the the support bearings, so anything to set up a vibrations will continue to vibrated..

Greg L

Looks like we got it! I pulled the insulationt out of the dog house in the coal bin looked down inside and saw that the end of the tube is rubbing on the edge of the hole slightly.
I took my oil can and squirted some oil down towards the end. 15-20 seconds later......silence! THANKS GUYS!
I was thinking that I wanted to redesign the support bearing set-up. I feel as though as the tube wears in it settles and throws off the alignment. If I could slide the bearings around a bit it could take the weight off the end which is causing the problem. The current set-up doesnt really allow for any adjustment. In fact, I might make a seprate support that bolts to the floor closer to the dog house. That way it wont cantilever out so far and it will allow for a new spot to wear. How does that sound?

Sweeeeeet! Good deal.

You might want to try some thinner synthetic grease instead of the thick stuff for heavy equipment. I found in some applications that grease is too thick, and doesn't lubricate as well as the thin, multipurpose stuff. Although since that tube doesn't move too fast, you may be better off with the thick stuff. You'd have to experiment ...