Bearing Replacement On A Jet 14" Lathe

Re: Bearing Replacement On A Jet 14" Lathe

Dwight Rutherford

Here is the manual for the 1440. Page 25 lists the bearings as 6205zz and 6304vv. These are standard bearings you can buy at any bearing supply house cheaper than from Jet. I use http://www.vxb.com/default.asp

Re: Bearing Replacement On A Jet 14" Lathe

ben d.

Give thought to a precision bearing from the bearing supply house, they cost more but are a superior bearing and run a lot better. I changed mine out about 10 or 12 years ago and still runs fine. They can cross reference the bearing.

ben d.

Very Good Advice

How old is the lathe?

Dick Coers

I thought that machine was only 2-3 years old. You need new bearings already? What are the symptoms that indicate replacement is necessary? I ask because that is an incredibly short life for the bearings. Taking the reeves drive apart would scare me, don't put any load on that pulley!

Re: How old is the lathe?

Dick Hines

Take one of the bearings to a auto parts store. I hot a set for my PM from NAPA.

Re: How old is the lathe?

mikeee12345

I will 2nd the motion on purchasing a better/best quality bearing.

With the work that goes into replacing the bearings and putting the machine

back together correctly, when you are done you won't be looking forward to

doing that any time soon. You might also want to look at the reeves drive pulleys

to verify what kind of shape they are in. Not sure what metal Jet is making the pulleys

out of these days, if they use die cast instead of cast iron these pulleys can be very

fragile and the ID bore of the pulley can wear away from moving back and forth on

the spindle shaft. You don't want to put any pressure on these pulleys removing them

from the spindle shaft or you can break them. If you plan on using the lathe for a number

of years having a spare set of reeves pulleys on hand is wise.

How old is the lathe?

Tom Colligan

Dick, the lathe was bought from the Woodcraft store in 2003. When it's running it has a discordant sound and upon hitting the off switch it becomes even more pronounced.

I can't say for certain it's the bearings but I had disassembled the headstock and used a compressor to thoroughly clean the entire assembly. It had no effect on the sound.

I thought replacing a lathe's bearings every 6 or 7 years is a common maintenance chore for turners. Is this not so?

Thanks,

So maybe it's a 1442?

Dick Coers

Because what I've seen, the 1440 came out around 2014 if my Google skills are up to par. I can't say about the quality of Jet bearings and longevity. My Oneway 2436 is on it's original bearings, from 1998. I use it a lot with big stock, but that's a whole different ballgame! The reason I brought up the bearing noise, is because those reeves drive lathes are notoriously noisy, from the cheap material they use in the pulleys. Did you spin the shaft with the belt off? If you can hear much noise, you might feel some roughness in the bearings. Probably not though.

bearings

John K Jordan

>>>I thought replacing a lathe's bearings every 6 or 7 years is a common maintenance chore for turners. Is this not so?

I've never heard that. Maybe take a poll. I used my own Jet (1642) for maybe 12-14 years and the bearings are fine but that is just one point of anecdotal "evidence."

Some of the bearing issue may depend on how it is used and treated. Pounding a blank onto a drive center mounted in the headstock might be bad for the bearings. Turning heavy, out of balance blanks on a smaller lathe might stress the bearings more than a larger lathe with larger bearings, especially if cranking really hard with the tailstock. Most of my own use of the Jet was with smaller turnings.

But I too would loosen the belt and turn the spindle by hand and feel for any roughness. It might be best to push on the spindle with the other hand and then moderately with the tailstock for this test.

Feel for any play as well, in any direction. I do that periodically for the front axles of my tractor now after one bearing destroyed itself and caused hundreds of dollars of damage when the axle and wheel broke loose under load!

JKJ

Re: Bearing Replacement On A Jet 14" Lathe

Lyle Jamieson

Years ago I replaced the bearings twice on a lathe before I realized it was not the bearings but me trying to turn large hollow forms and exceeding the limits of the one inch spindle. The one inch spindle is the weak link for the Jet 14's.

Re: bearings

Ron Pemberton

Must not be a John Deere tractor.😬

Re: bearings

John K Jordan

>>>Must not be a John Deere tractor.😬

Yes, thank goodness!!!

I started checking around and found that the outer bearing is a weak point in general on tractors with front wheel drive and front end loaders that get stressed a lot. I know I do that. At the time I was carrying a rock that was at the limit of what the tractor would lift. In hindsight I should have taken a few minutes to go get the "bobcat." (It's a Deere. )