Parks Planer: Rusted Gear Box

[John Bailey]

Just got the Parks Planer home. The add for the planer said "works well." What it didn't say is that it works well for a squirrel's nest. At any rate, the gears in the transmission box are completely rusted, with one of the gears being frozen. Anybody have a good idea about how to free up the gears. And yes, I'll have pictures and a full review later today.

Thanks, John

[Ray Moser]

How about filling the gear box with kerosene and leaving it soak for a while (days or even weeks). It has been known to work as a penetrating oil.

[Jeff Horton]

One word, KROIL. Best penatrating oil you will ever use. Makes liquid wrench look like water.

[Steve Ash]

One word, KROIL. Best penatrating oil you will ever use. Makes liquid wrench look like water.

I'll second that John...my dad uses it to free up rusted parts on his antique tractor restorations. Better than anything else he has ever used.

[Kyle Kraft]

Roger that on the KROIL!! Been using the stuff for 16 years and it never ceases to amaze me with the results. Some industrial supplies sell it by the can but I buy it by the case directly from the Mfgr. Makes great stocking stuffers for the mechanics in the family.

[John Bailey]

Thanks guys,

As always, this group comes to the rescue. Decided to go to town, posted the question, took a shower, checked the site, and bingo, got my answer.

Thanks again.

John

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Kyle,

Please post the contact information for the Mfg.

Thanks

[John Bailey]

Just got back from town, an admittedly small town, and couldn't find Kroil. Did a web search and got a phone number, 6715-833-4101, for Kana Kroil. Also, bought some PB Blaster for the time being. Let you know if it works.

John

[Jack Norfleet]

PB Blaster is really good stuff, but man does it smell bad. Be careful not to get it on anything that goes in the house.

[Kyle Kraft]

Here is the contact info....Kano Laboratories (615) 833-4101 1000 S. Thompson Ln. Nashville, TN 37211.

P.S. No connections! (for the police)

[John Bailey]

Just spent a couple hours of quality time with my Parks Planer. Got her running pretty smoothly and jointed and planed my first board. Seem to work pretty well.

John

[Kevin Herber]

Just spent a couple hours of quality time with my Parks Planer. Got her running pretty smoothly and jointed and planed my first board. Seem to work pretty well.

John


We need details!!! Did the Blaster work for the frozen gear? What did you do? I've always wondered how badly rusted and frozen stuff was freed up.

-- Kevin

[John Bailey]

Fair enough Kevin, here goes:

First, I took the cover off the transmission. The PB Blaster comes in a spray can. I sprayed that stuff all over the transmission. The plan was to buy enough to fill the transmission case and let it sit a couple of days. Couldn't buy the stuff like that, only came in a spray can. After letting is sit for a couple of minutes, I used the belt to move the transmission back and forth the best I could. I made sure the machine was unplugged. Nothing seemed to move, so I sprayed some more and went and cleaned the shop. I came back about 20 min. later. This time the gears seem to make some headway, and it became apparent that the real problem was the chain that ran the infeed and outfeed rollers. The chain was very stiff and some links didn't rotate at all. I used a screw driver to push and pull the chain to try to work some solvent into the links. This seemed to work a bit. I kept this procedure going for about an hour. Slowly, I was able to move the belt easier and easier until I felt I should try the motor. It did not move the transmission. So, I kept moving the belt for about another hour by hand until it moved the transmissin more freely. I tried the motor again, and this time it worked, although it seemed to run rough, so I turned the motor off. I worked the belt again by hand for about ten minutes. I tried the motor again, this time it ran quite well. I closed everything up and got a board, a piece of ash that was warped and weatherd. This is the first time I've ever used a planer. I first used my old Grizzly jointer to face and edge joint the board. Then I ran it through the jointer. I've included pictures of the board. The board was 4 ft. and I cut it in half to show the difference before and after.


35604 35605 35606


At this point, I'm very happy with the planer. I'll be tuning it up and starting to make my own boards in the near future.

John

[Chris Rosenberger]

John,
Did you put grease in the gear box?

[John Bailey]

Chris,

Yup!!

John

[CPeter James]

Good luck!! I do a lot of work on old tractors and antique fire trucks and while I hear the Kroil is the best, PB Blaster does a good job for me and I can get it locally. When you get the transmission cleaned up, I would use 140 wt GL-1 gear oil in it. That is pretty heavy and will NOT corrode any of the brass, bronze or aluminum parts that might be in there. It is what I use in my 50 year old John Deeres. If you want to try electrolysis to remove the rust and clean up the parts, here are the instructions. It works really great.

http://www.fboerger.com/Restoration%20Tips/Restoration%20Tips%20Page.htm#Electrolysis

CPeter