General D Grinder Leaking oil

[gfritz1]

From Pa and basically use grinder for sausage . Our normal batch size is 100 lbs a couple times a year . I have a LEM that works well but one of the group has a old General D Grinder that was past down from his Father In Law . We would like to get it operational as a back up and also because it was passed down generation to generation .Its leaking oil out of the center hole where the grinder attaches to the motor .If you tip it up you can see it flow and it appears around like a seal? Could it be overfilled as cant read sight glass or is there a seal that could be bad? Trying to help him fix it so looking for advice and any info someone might have on General D? Any parts available . Looks like SAE 30 oil is in it. Thanks

 

[kuroki]

Assuming it is a bad seal, I would suggest taking the seal out and bringing it to your local hydraulic shop. Preferably with the pieces it goes with.
That's my day job and I would be stunned if I couldn't supply a seal that fits if someone brought this to my shop. I have supplied many many gearbox and similar seals over the years even though that isn't my prime business.

It is certainly possible it's overfilled, but if it's leaking past the seal I would be looking at the seal regardless if it was my machine. I would be very surprised if there was not a seal considering that keeps oil out of your meat. Hard to say much more than that without having one torn apart in front of me.
Hope that helps

 

[gfritz1]

Assuming it is a bad seal, I would suggest taking the seal out and bringing it to your local hydraulic shop. Preferably with the pieces it goes with.
That's my day job and I would be stunned if I couldn't supply a seal that fits if someone brought this to my shop. I have supplied many many gearbox and similar seals over the years even though that isn't my prime business.

It is certainly possible it's overfilled, but if it's leaking past the seal I would be looking at the seal regardless if it was my machine. I would be very surprised if there was not a seal considering that keeps oil out of your meat. Hard to say much more than that without having one torn apart in front of me.
Hope that helps

Thanks that was my plan on Thursday . Think parts for this old grinder (OEM) are long gone and think General no longer supports . 1st drain oil and refill per recommendations and then go after seal if still leaking .

 

[four20]

Thanks that was my plan on Thursday . Think parts for this old grinder (OEM) are long gone and think General no longer supports . 1st drain oil and refill per recommendations and then go after seal if still leaking .

The beautiful thing about oil seals is that they are pretty standard for older electric motors. I have a local branch called Bearing Distributors Inc that can identify the worst of seals and bearings I have brought them.

 

[gfritz1]

Assuming it is a bad seal, I would suggest taking the seal out and bringing it to your local hydraulic shop. Preferably with the pieces it goes with.
That's my day job and I would be stunned if I couldn't supply a seal that fits if someone brought this to my shop. I have supplied many many gearbox and similar seals over the years even though that isn't my prime business.

It is certainly possible it's overfilled, but if it's leaking past the seal I would be looking at the seal regardless if it was my machine. I would be very surprised if there was not a seal considering that keeps oil out of your meat. Hard to say much more than that without having one torn apart in front of me.
Hope that helps

I found a paper in grinder box that said use 30 weigh oil and fill with 8 oz. When looking at sight glass could not see level so proceeded with my first thought of draining oil. I drained out over 14 oz of very dirty oil so for sure it was overfilled .In looking at unit my thinking is that the reductor the motor is attached too is a "open reductor " as you fill from the top with a flip lid oil fitting. So not a enclosed reductor . In looking at the reductor bore with auger connects you see a seep hole located at bottom . Also if you can see in picture it appears to be a brass or metal to metal seal . So my thinking is that the reductor if it does leak at the rotational seal it basically flows to the bottom and into the seep hole and back into reductor . With it being overfilled oil was flowing from the seep hole not from the rotational seal . So once filing back with the proper amount of oil you can now see level in sight glass and no oil is running out of the inner bore . I will hook up the auger etc later and run again but think its ok but want to make sure under load. I assume this grinder is at least 50 years old . Does this make sense that the issue is "TO MUCH OIL".

 

[jkc64]

Too much oil is never a good thing with any piece of equipment that uses oil. Hopefully this fixes your issue.

 

[tbern]

You may have solved your issue. The bottom part of the gears only need to dip into the oil and that gets all the parts lubricated as it rotates. Too much oil just gets thrown around the gear case and causes problems. Nice job with your findings when you dismantled your machine!

 

[kuroki]

I think you're spot on with what you found

 

[gfritz1]

I think you're spot on with what you found

I found out they were using Vegetable oil in the grinder . Said his father in law cautioned him to not leave it run out of oil so he added every time he used. Any Food grade options rather than using SAE 30 W regular oil? I see some mention Lubriplate but think that is a grease .

 

[boykjo]

An old trick we used to do with a conveyor gear box seal went bad we would drain the oil, install a grease fitting and pack it with grease and never worry about oil leakage.

 

[kuroki]

Lubriplate is most known for their white lithium grease, but they have a complete line of specialty products. I am pretty sure they make a food grade oil that would be suitable. I know they make a food grade grease, as I have a tube here.
Full disclosure I do sell lubriplate alongside a few other brands at my day job. I don't however think you'll be able to tell a difference with your usage level no matter what brand you get. I would probably suggest looking online for whatever you can buy in a small quantity. Most industrial places won't sell any less than a 5 gallon pail, and you don't want to know what a 5 gallon pail of a food grade lubricant costs

 

[kuroki]

If you do go the grease route, I'd use food grade grease, and I would buy the very thinnest grade you can find. Preferably a 000 or 00 NLGI. Too thick and it tends to form a hollow cavity around the gears and not actually lubricate them after a while.

 

[beckyjo]

From Pa and basically use grinder for sausage . Our normal batch size is 100 lbs a couple times a year . I have a LEM that works well but one of the group has a old General D Grinder that was past down from his Father In Law . We would like to get it operational as a back up and also because it was passed down generation to generation .Its leaking oil out of the center hole where the grinder attaches to the motor .If you tip it up you can see it flow and it appears around like a seal? Could it be overfilled as cant read sight glass or is there a seal that could be bad? Trying to help him fix it so looking for advice and any info someone might have on General D? Any parts available . Looks like SAE 30 oil is in it. Thanks

Hi gfritz1,

I hope that you were able to get the General D grinder operational.

If ever your colleague decides to not use it anymore and is interested in selling the auger, could you please let me know?

My aunt has a General D and auger is broken. So we're looking for an auger and it's very hard to find because so old!

Best wishes,
Becky

 

[gfritz1]

Hi gfritz1,

I hope that you were able to get the General D grinder operational.

If ever your colleague decides to not use it anymore and is interested in selling the auger, could you please let me know?

My aunt has a General D and auger is broken. So we're looking for an auger and it's very hard to find because so old!

Best wishes,
Becky

Family pass down item so doubt he will ever part with it. good luck finding a part

 

[beckyjo]

Family pass down item so doubt he will ever part with it. good luck finding a part

Thanks!
Fingers crossed that I'll find an auger somewhere that someone no longer needs.
Have a nice weekend!