Problem- hl-2 spindle

[thum31]

When I purchased this lathe I asked the question, What if the spindle bearings fail? The repair tech I spoke with said that was one of the advantages of the haas lathe, that the spindle bearings could be replaced in about 2 hours by anyone that can "change a flat tire".
Well its that time, and HAAS says you can not replace the bearings you have to replace the whole spindle as a unit. I see lots of places online that rebuild the haas spindle so the parts must me out there.
Anyone been through this and and have a source or advice. I hate to spend the money right now for a new spindle if all I really need is the bearings.....

[thum31]

I'll post what I found, it may help someone else. I did get in touch with the tech that I spoke with. He said that there must have been some confusion, that he thought I was asking about the bearings in the main motor.
He said it was possible to rebuild the spindle but that given the age of the machine and the cost of the spindle swap from HAAS, in his opinion, I would be better off doing the swap. His logic was that I would be getting a spindle with any and all upgrades that had been implemented over the last 10 years.
That makes since to me.
Now to the good news. He also told me that the rear motor bearing is prone to failure due to the amount of pre-load and that it will sound like spindle bearings if all the sheet metal is on. He advised me to pull the sheet metal and get down close to the motor and give it a listen, that it might not be the spindle.
I have done this and he was right. 95% or more of what I am hearing is coming from the rear motor bearing. The bearings are available locally for about $50.00.

[Excelmachine]

Thanks for sharing that info, will most likely save someone some big money down the road.

[thum31]

Well, I have to hand it to the tech I spoke with. He saved me a bunch of money. With the metal off I was pretty sure it was "also" the motor bearings. Figured I would replace the spindle and the bearings in the motor. You could spin the chuck by hand with your head inside the work area and it really sounded like the spindle.
I finally got down and loosened up the motor and removed the belts. The spindle is very quiet and the motor is very loud. I cant believe the noise transmitted like that.
So anyway it took way longer to get started on this repair than it will to complete. The bearings cost $14.95.
Also just like the tech said, it will be the rear bearing 99% of the time, the front almost never goes out. He was right again. The front one is smooth and quiet.

So if you start getting "spindle" noise, it only takes about 20 minutes to loosen up the motor and remove the belts. You will know in less than 1/2 hour what I have been worrying about for 2 months..

[thum31]

Bearings ae in and the machine is super quiet again. I hae to look to make sure the chuck is turning. It sure feels great to save that much money right before Christmas!!!!!

I really hope this will help someone in the future.

[CHAD LAWSON]

gates offer a belt tensioning meter to allow proper tightening of all belts your simply input pulley sizes lenghts and number of belts and it will tell you how tight your belts our by simply flicking a belt with one fingure. the bearings go out on these motors do to overtightening the belts. people often tighten them as tight as possible and this is a big mistake. if you change mamy belts on spindles i would goto gates rubber company website and check into a belt tentioning meter. yes the repair was cheap but down time could have been prevented. bad part it sounds like a factory error which would be consistent with what i know about a hass. buy tear it apart and reassemble yourself and you will have a better machine. glad to hear you found a hass service man with a brain. do not call the kansas city office.