SAE 300 not square with machine frame ?

Date 03-23-2014 15:40

Does anyone have a solution or a fix to this? (See pictures)

My SAE machine when I bought new a few years ago the nose cone that protrudes out used to sit center of the cut out in the front face plate frame. Now at only 250 hours I noticed that the nose sits out of center and almost rubs the front face of the frame. I have noticed this has happened on many of my other friends SAE 300's. It's almost like the rubber vibration pads that mates it to the frame have either smooshed or prematurely worn out. I have seen and heard of these machines throwing main bearings and thinking this maybe why. Any help or advise on how to straighten out the machine with in the frame would be much appreciated.

Thanks

By TRC

Date 03-25-2014 15:25

Hey Stan, mine favors the bottom with a wopping 110 hrs and two months old.

By hillbilly delux (***)

Date 03-26-2014 02:45 Edited 03-26-2014 02:51

I fixed Mine!!! :grin:

.....Well I fixed it twice actually. Mine was sagging within a sixteenth of rubbing on the bottom. The fix you ask. Well I had bought a new air compressor and had some vibration dampners that I bought for when I install my compressor in the new shop. (Look up FS Curtis dampners) I pulled my machine yesterday and set it on some jack stands and took all the bolts from the four corners of the machine that hold it to the frame off. I then took two mini jacks and jacked up the motor and generator from the frame and pulled the old dampners. the FS Curtis dampners fit perfect in the back on the motor and have a wider foot print than the stock ones. The stock ones on front I took out and cut down the new dampners to size and had to shave them down abit to where with alittle soapy water and a mallet they squeaked in. I let the machine rest back on the frame and rubber mounts and it sit back to perfect in the frame. The not so old stock ones that I took out looked like they came out of a twenty year old machine. I have never had this problem on other previously owned machines including my 2011 SAE 300. The only thing that I can come up with is maybe Lincoln switched vendors or the rubber on the newer machines are not as dense as on earlier models. Well after day one and a few miles down oil field roads my nose cone was back to sagging but not as bad as it was so I pulled off the machine again this evening it looks like the back ones on the motor are going to hold up well but the front was to much for the rubber up front so I pulled them off and put the old ones back in and added a piece of 3/16" mud flap that I had laying around on top of the old ones. Now the machine sits slightly above center and I am thinking it will find it's final resting place somewhere close to center.

All that said I did talk to Lincoln directly today and they were talking about A derometer of 65 up front and 40 in the back and blah blah blah. Whatever the case they are gonna send me some new ones which probably won't be seeing my machine. I did call my LWS where I bought my machine and told him to find out if the rubber on three hundreds are different than the two hundreds and if so order me some back up ones for a 200D.

I will post some pics of the new rubber fix tomorrow. I have seen many of the new 300's doing this and have a feeling that there is some sort of connection to this and the main bearing going out as I have had a few guys I have worked with have had that problem. All of them 2012 and newer.

Anyways hope that points some one in the right direction

By hillbilly delux (***)

Date 03-26-2014 02:47

Ryan I always send them to my computer and resize them in windows paint I am not sure if that is the best way though.

What year is your machine out of curiosity?

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 03-26-2014 09:36

I use "Fastone photo resizer 3.2" to resize my pics and you can download it from Cnet.com as a free program application... It's a really good application and I have been using it for years now... Very user friendly also yet gives you more options than windows paint which doesn't mean that it's a bad app... It's just that with Fastone, one can do so much more with the many more option available in the application in comparison to paint... Nice rig btw! :smile:

Respectfully,
Henry

By FixaLinc (****)

Date 03-29-2014 17:45 Edited 04-01-2014 18:54

Good info here guys. Yes even though it's still solidly bolted to the engine any vibration letting it move around is bad deal. Every time you strike an arc again it's going to torque some and move. I learn about another thing Lincoln puts on them isn't worth a crap. Armatures are going bad because probably of bad cheap copper alloy from land far away always crap quality just the way it is now. Perkins engines with crank and bearing problems is nothing new it's been going on for 10 to 15 years. Caterpillar bought out Perkins in 1997. Those same Perkins engines or some tad bigger been ran here on farm irrigation pumps with problems & no one here uses them anymore or in oil fields as much because of all the warranty replacement problems. So CAT Perkins been making bad cranks long time in land of chinks is their problem no quality there. Perkins 104-44 or CAT 2.2L 4 cylinder or 4 cyld Kubota rebuilt by a reputable rebuilder can be made into a better longer lasting engine than those new 3 cyld engines in new welders. Notice the new SAE 300 HE has 4 cyld Kubota option. It's sad when you spend that for something new today it won't last and have to keep patching or fixing it yourself. Keep complaining to the company that built it calling them to chew on some main company people but they really don't care but I'd call them myself complain anyway over and over till they do better or hear you !!! :twisted: