Love joy sheared on splitter

Yea but you probably needed it. All the local hydraulics shops hoses are rally expensive. Several hundred dollars for some of the hoses my loggers use, uven small ones. BUT, time is money is lost production. They can't afford to wait even overnight let alone 2 to 3 days. I would think you would be the same way. Now if you knew the hose was going out bUT the $32 or whatever was better spent to get back to work vs 2 or more days of down time .

 

I am not so bad as some as I am retired now and just fussing around in the woodlot to get the trees cut and a field made.

In a perfect world I would order from Surplus Supply all the hydraulic lines I need on my log loader so that if anyone blows, I have a replacement ready to go. As it was, I actually spent more money at NAPA because I had them cut, then put on a new fitting on the old hydraulic line, then bought a new replacement line. As I joked with the woman doing it, "now that I got two, I KNOW I'll never blow another line again". That is just how it goes, get some replacements and they never blow.

 

Some of my loggers, the really long hard to get out or common blow hoses, they cut and put a coupler on so that if it blows you only have to do half the hose. A bit cheaper.

 

To the OP. Love joy couplings require perfect alignment. IMO your machine has probably been tweeked from use. If alignment is not corrected it'll continue to have the same outcome.

 

Didn't someone a page back or say that they were used without perfect alignment? I'll have to go back and look?

 

SquareFile thanks good tip I'll make sure to do this

 

Well the spider didn't look so good either
How could every other leg get worn off so perfectly?

 

They can be used without perfect alignment, but the closer it is the longer things last...this one looks like it was way off...or something else is failing too. I've never seen fingers broke off like that either...I've seen them worn pretty good, not broke clean off though

 

That is the whole purpose of the Lovejoy Coupler, a means to connect components without requiring the accuracy of a millwright to do so.

I have seen a LoveJoy Coupler blow like that before. It was on an Extec Gravel Screen driving the tail conveyor. It just disintegrated all at once. The worst thing was it got loaded by the other components of the screen so I thought it was just overwhelmed, so I shoveled the whole thing off before realizing it was not overloaded, just not being driven. That sucked! I just ended up putting a new Lovejoy on it and it lasted another year at least until it was sold.

 

That is a good idea. I have a few tough ones on my bulldozer, but they are original hoses now so I would not say they were prone to breakage, but I do dread the day they do blow. I have broken my tilt fitting a few times only because it is in a very vulnerable spot. I should actually build my blade up so that it is better protected. Logs tend to roll over the blade and land on it busting it. I push a lot of brush and snow too so a higher blade just makes sense. I just got to buy the steel and do it.

 

ok all finished started engine and hydraulics worked
Everything seems lined up close
Problem was they did not sell any spiders with a 7/8 hole in center so
I could cut the engine shaft or drill out the spider
I drilled 3/4 and used a dremel with sander to slowly hog out the rest till it fit
I don't know if it was my imagination but the splitter seemed to run quieter

I checked out surplus center and they had the love joy fitting and they were the cheapest there, even including shipping! They look aftermarket but should hold up well.

Thanks for the good advice everyone!

 

Pallet Pete just one of those mysteries
shafts were perfect just rusty before I cleaned them up
everything works fine now!

 

I disagree. Love joys are a shock absorber that do require perfect alignment. CV shafts are used when alignment or tweaking is a issues. Probably why manufactures have switched to belt drive IMO.

 

Absolutely.

The hose shops we have are usually pretty busy. We'll make then on the spot if need be.

 

FWIW, directly from Love Joy's site

Brief Tutorial on Misalignment
The function of a coupling is to connect driving and driven equipment. In addition, a coupling serves to protect costly equipment from the effects of misalignment, shock loads, vibration and shaft end float. Of these factors, the most common is misalignment and end float (also known as axial misalignment).
Misalignment is a condition created by two shafts whose axes are not in the same straight line. There are three forms of misalignment: parallel, angular, or the combination of the two. End float is the relative motion of two shaft ends.

Parallel misalignment occurs when the axes of the connected shafts are parallel, but not in the same straight line.


Angular misalignment occurs when the axes of the shafts intersect at the center point of the coupling.



End float (and Axial Misalignment) occurs when one shaft moves along it’s axis relative to the other shaft.



Misalignment can result from a combination of manufacturing tolerances, poor installation practices, thermal growth or shrinkage, foundation movement, and/or component wear. The combination of angular and parallel misalignment within a system may be more detrimental to the coupling and equipment than either of the individual misalignment.



Axial misalignment- result of either thrust loads, reaction loads, or heat generated movement - compounds the problem. Understanding the amount of misalignment that the coupling must handle or installing a coupling where it exceeds a maximum rated misalignment can result in premature coupling failure and/or significant equipment damage.

Misalignment and Coupling Failure
The life expectancy of a coupling is affected by the degree of misalignment. The larger the misalignment, the shorter the life of the coupling. Misalignment may cause heat generation, fatigue, and an increase in wear in bearings of the drive and driven components

http://www.lovejoy-inc.com/products/engineering-data.aspx

 

Horkn very interesting info. When I put the splitter back together. I first put the lovejoy and spider on the hydraulic pump. The engine is vertical shaft and was off. When I lowered the engine with lovejoy down into the spider it kind of self centered and was pretty tight. Then I put the engine bolts in and last tightened the engine shaft lovejoy.
I guess time will tell how good a job I did. We'll see how long it lasts.have already split a couple of cords.

 

I have never seen a spider with a hole in the middle (I'm familiar with and use Martin brand couplings)? Sounds as if the pump mount is "too close" to the engine? Or perhaps this is commonplace and I've just never encountered.

 

RCBS that's the way speeco made the splitter. I heard they just make things out of whatever parts they can get and cob it together. Kind of like what jeep did in the 70's. buy a Ford carb modify it and slap it on.

The local distributor called love joy to get one with whole but they only had 1/2" hole and I needed a 7/8" one.
I got a solid one and had 3 choices
cut 1/2 in shaft of hydraulic pump
Cut 7/8 shaft of motor
Drill out spider
I drilled spider. Was afraid of heat from 41/2" grinder with cutoff wheel screwing up pump or engine
If spider doesn't hold up next time I'll cut 7/8 engine shaft.