Bridgeport boss 5 rigid ram head

Hi guys,

Got said machine going last fall and when running the spindle in high gear there is a horrible vibration and rattle. Ive read up and it seems to be an issue with the vari speed assembly either the bushing or the shives needing replaced. Well I just spent 2 hours trying to get the top cover on the head off and no luck. I loosened and removed the socket head bolts on top (5 of them) and noticed that the spindle speed selector was bolted to the top and bottom section. I removed those and still can not get to top off the head.

Looking inside and it needs to be taken apart and at minimum cleaned. Any help would be appreciated. I spent several hours searching google and yahoo for disassembly instructions and didn't find anything except j2 head instructions. Thanks.

pyro

I can get the top of mine off in about 10 minutes. I start by taking the inspection cover off that is over the motor, then take the round bearing mount off the top above the spindle. Then it is just the 5 bolts and varidrive body as you said and pull it up. I think the trick you are missing is that there are dowel pins in there. Since the top bearing for the pulley above the spindle is mounted to the cover, it needs to be precisely located. I forget where the pins are but if you start tapping on it you will get it moving.

I rebuilt my head using a kit from H&W Machine Repair, replaced all the bearings, belts, bushings, etc. Note that play in the spindle spline and the mating spline in the varidrive will make some noise as well and is much mor expensive to try and fix. Even after rebuild, mine is quite noisy, pretty sure it is because of the wear in the spline.

If you have more questions, let me know, I've had mine apart a few times, most recently to fit it in my new garage because the door wasn't tall enough.

Matt

Ok, ill tear it back down tonight. Do you just leave the varispeed body hanging there. I was worried about it falling out. I did figure out how to remove the top bearing cover too. Once I get that off I'm sure ill be back on here. I kind of have an idea what I'm looking for so we shall see.

The back varispeed pulley is mounted to the motor shaft and will not be affected by removing the top cover. The front varispeed pulley shaft is part of the bottom half of the pulley and the brake drum. It is pressed into a bearing and will not move anywhere when you take off the top cover. Now that i thought about it, there is also the adjuster screw for the arm that pushes on the varidrive pulley. I normally just screw that all the way through the top cover as I am taking the cover off. You will need to do that.

These should help you out:

Variable Speed Front Gear Assembly
1.5 - 2 HP

Matt

There is also a thread on here somewhere on replacing the variable speed head with two toothed pulleys and a toothed belt. If you've only got single phase in your shop, the VFD is a wonderful, which makes the variable speed head unneeded and perhaps even unwanted.

Tom