mmurra
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Need advice! Over the years, we used a takeup sprocket, them a take-up drum. Some are moving back to the sprocket, some to the drum. What are the old-timers thinking in terms of the sprocket vs drum option? Please respond!
Conveyor take-up question
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Earl Weiss
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MFGRS seem to use the drum. Not sure why. From time to time have tried the sprocket. Felt that it kept the chain more centered and we seemed to be losing a lot of cotter pins which we thought was from the edge of the chain rubbing the side of the drum.
Need to find an old time engineer. I can only guess that when the roller first contacts the tire there may be a lot of pressure to one sde or the other. The drum allows some sideways motion of the chain without the strain that would be present from sprocket teeth. I would also say that with the drum there are no teeth to wear on the chain or the teeth themselves.
Need to find an old time engineer. I can only guess that when the roller first contacts the tire there may be a lot of pressure to one sde or the other. The drum allows some sideways motion of the chain without the strain that would be present from sprocket teeth. I would also say that with the drum there are no teeth to wear on the chain or the teeth themselves.
Danny
Member
This is pretty right on. The drum has a lot to do with allowing chain some side to side motion and 1/2 the wear that a sprocket puts on the inside of the links. In many cases if there are alignment issues with the chain and it is pushing on one side of the drum, a sprocket will be used to force it to run straighter. This however does not fix the alignment issue.
mmurra
Member
So, sounds like the drum is the real deal! Any other opinions?
x458 chain and drum from sonnys
We had our drum collapse on a busy friday! I wonder about a sprocket. Our problem is that the chain has to be so tight so it wont fall off of the sprocket then we have to run 120psi on the take up to keep it from jamming the roller raiser. So I guess that is too much for the drums (SOnnys say that it can only handle 70 psi max)...Don't know why we are having so many problems with this chain???? I have ordered an extra drum for backup and we will rebuild one hopefully to withstand 120 psi--- I can't even get Sonnys to address the problem- Buyer Beware- there is a big problem with this chain setup and they dont want to back up their reliability. Same thing with the pendulum w bumper blaster attachment. Wish companies would test setups before they sell and ship and then especially won't backup with replacement or correction parts
We had our drum collapse on a busy friday! I wonder about a sprocket. Our problem is that the chain has to be so tight so it wont fall off of the sprocket then we have to run 120psi on the take up to keep it from jamming the roller raiser. So I guess that is too much for the drums (SOnnys say that it can only handle 70 psi max)...Don't know why we are having so many problems with this chain???? I have ordered an extra drum for backup and we will rebuild one hopefully to withstand 120 psi--- I can't even get Sonnys to address the problem- Buyer Beware- there is a big problem with this chain setup and they dont want to back up their reliability. Same thing with the pendulum w bumper blaster attachment. Wish companies would test setups before they sell and ship and then especially won't backup with replacement or correction parts
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Earl Weiss
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How many cars went thru the tunnel using the same drum?
Had you ever replaced the chain without replacing the drum?
Had you ever replaced the chain without replacing the drum?
Earl Weiss
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I really don't know why this should be. Have you checked to make sure you don't need to shorten the chain? How many times have you shortened it since it was new?
We started having problems where the chain was dragging on the roller raiser bar. It actually ate away probably 1/3 inch of the bar. Anyway Sonnys sent me a new roller raiser assembly along with a little 2x3 inch plastic wear guard that keeps the chain off of the roller raiser. Then we started having the problem with chain coming off of the sprocket. So we took a link out. Then a couple of days later the carriage end would be pushed up in to the roller rasier bar unless we had 120 psi on it. The link on the x458 is about 7 to 8 inches long. I don't know if that has something to do with it. Its seems as though its either too tight or too loose. Keep in mind we have only washed 70k cars. Here is the email I sent Sonnys yesterday
This problem has shut us down on 3 busy fridays. This has caused a claim for over $1500 when the chain was slipping the sprocket a car was passing the 1st wraps and stalled so the pass side wrap climbed up the drivers side and rolled up the roof and crushed the back glass.
I spoke with Anthony and he said it was because I was using acid. I don't understand why this chain would be susceptible to acid. To my knowledge this chain style has been around forever and acid has been in car washes forever. I don't know if that's your way of washing your hands of the responsibility for the reliability of this product. Is the chain bad?
.
This problem has shut us down on 3 busy fridays. This has caused a claim for over $1500 when the chain was slipping the sprocket a car was passing the 1st wraps and stalled so the pass side wrap climbed up the drivers side and rolled up the roof and crushed the back glass.
I spoke with Anthony and he said it was because I was using acid. I don't understand why this chain would be susceptible to acid. To my knowledge this chain style has been around forever and acid has been in car washes forever. I don't know if that's your way of washing your hands of the responsibility for the reliability of this product. Is the chain bad?
.
We have the a six wheel pusher roller. After looking in the BIG catalog I see there is a roller that claims to specifically designed for that x458 chain. The roller we have seems bulky and too big for the x458. It creates awkward movement on the chain. Why was that x458 roller not put on that chain when we ordered it?
The take up part of the conveyor does not have bottom. We have a self cleaning pit so the rollers are dropping and smacking the concrete below. Could this be contributing to the carrier link prematurely wearing?
Air tensioner- is there enough travel- The chain is too loose or its too tight for 60 psi especially. Is there enough travel in the air tensioner?
Is it the sprocket design?
Or is it a combination of all of the above?
Can you all make a drum that will withstand 120 psi?
As you all know my family has washed many cars over the years and we used the Old style SPRING tensioner dk88 chain. Do we need to go Back?
Whatever it is we need to get some type of resolve. I understand that we have washed some cars with this setup but I don't think it is fair for me to have to pay 100% of the repair bill. The chain and setup should have washed 300k-500k vehicles without any repairs. The money was never budgeted to have to be spending the amount to replace the chain or carrier link or rollers. Something is definitely not right with part or all of this setup. Let me know what our options are
The take up part of the conveyor does not have bottom. We have a self cleaning pit so the rollers are dropping and smacking the concrete below. Could this be contributing to the carrier link prematurely wearing?
Air tensioner- is there enough travel- The chain is too loose or its too tight for 60 psi especially. Is there enough travel in the air tensioner?
Is it the sprocket design?
Or is it a combination of all of the above?
Can you all make a drum that will withstand 120 psi?
As you all know my family has washed many cars over the years and we used the Old style SPRING tensioner dk88 chain. Do we need to go Back?
Whatever it is we need to get some type of resolve. I understand that we have washed some cars with this setup but I don't think it is fair for me to have to pay 100% of the repair bill. The chain and setup should have washed 300k-500k vehicles without any repairs. The money was never budgeted to have to be spending the amount to replace the chain or carrier link or rollers. Something is definitely not right with part or all of this setup. Let me know what our options are
Earl Weiss
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Remote diagnosis is very difficult. New Chains wear the most as far as stretching fgoes initialy. I do not use that exact change and can only estimate but I would say that dependingon chain length after the first 10,000 cars we may easily remove a foot of chain on a 100 foot (210 foot chain) conveyor. It may be another 20,000 cars before we remove another foot. We remove as much chain as the tensioner allows. After another 30,000 cars we may remove 6 inches to 1 foot.
As far as acid use goes and it's effect, I cannot say. It would seem apparent from the takeup as to whether the collapse was from wear, acid erosion, or a mfg defect. It may simply be that you got a lemon. Hope you work out a resolution to the problem if not the repair cost.
As far as acid use goes and it's effect, I cannot say. It would seem apparent from the takeup as to whether the collapse was from wear, acid erosion, or a mfg defect. It may simply be that you got a lemon. Hope you work out a resolution to the problem if not the repair cost.
