15” planer head change questions

[Brian Steinberger]

I’m changing the cutter knife head in my old Bridgewood 15” planer. It’s a typical 4-post Asian planer. From 1990. Started in on it today and everything is going fairly well. My main hold up so far is that I cannot get the old cutter head apart from the gear box. I have the gears out and I’ve tried hammering on the cutterhead a few different ways and it won’t budge. A few of the gears were difficult to break loose as well but I did eventually get them. Any ideas on how to deal with this? Would a squirt of PB blaster help?

Other questions are, should I replace the bearings and oil seals inside of the gear box? I am replacing the gasket and have new bearings for the cutterhead. My gear box has unshielded bearings. Would shielded ones would be fine to replace with?

Thanks everyone!

[Bobby Robbinett]

I’m changing the cutter knife head in my old Bridgewood 15” planer. It’s a typical 4-post Asian planer. From 1990. Started in on it today and everything is going fairly well. My main hold up so far is that I cannot get the old cutter head apart from the gear box. I have the gears out and I’ve tried hammering on the cutterhead a few different ways and it won’t budge. A few of the gears were difficult to break loose as well but I did eventually get them. Any ideas on how to deal with this? Would a squirt of PB blaster help?

Other questions are, should I replace the bearings and oil seals inside of the gear box? I am replacing the gasket and have new bearings for the cutterhead. My gear box has unshielded bearings. Would shielded ones would be fine to replace with?

Thanks everyone!

I would go ahead and replace the bearings and seals inside the gear box while you have it apart. I would stick to the original style of bearings but someone more knowledgeable on bearings might have a different opinion.

On getting the cutterhead out...soak in PB Blaster. Add a few extra squirts every hour or so and let it penetrate for a day if you can. It actually starts working much faster but my experience has been that you will have an easier time if you let it soak for a day or so.

[Mike Kees]

Brian if those bearings are unshielded and inside the gear box then they are being lubricated from the gear oil in the gear box. If this is the case you need to stick with unshielded bearings. And yes replace them and the seals while it is apart.

[Brian Steinberger]

Thanks guys. I was looking last evening online and saw where there might be three small screws that attach the cutterhead to the rear of the gearbox. This example was a delta planer and mine is a bridgewood. I was following the grizzly video online for how to change the cutterhead and they didn’t show removing these small screws before knocking the head from the gear box. And I did not take the knives out in case this new grizzly head I got didn’t fit for whatever reason. Today after work I will take the knives out and see if there are these screws that need removed. Man I will feel stupid....

[Thomas Crawford]

Finding an exploded part diagram will help find little screws that are hiding.

[Brian Steinberger]

Took a closer look at the cutterhead tonight and it does not have those little screws, so it’s just stuck. I soaked it in PB blaster and will let it sit overnight and try it again tomorrow.

[Bobby Robbinett]

Took a closer look at the cutterhead tonight and it does not have those little screws, so it’s just stuck. I soaked it in PB blaster and will let it sit overnight and try it again tomorrow.

I have that exact same Bridgewood BW-15P and mine did not have any small screws holding the cutter head in.

[Brian Steinberger]

Well I just cannot get it to budge. I’ll have to take it to a machine shop. I have a feeling the bearing is rusted to the gearbox. The other end came out relatively easily from the casing though.

[Jeff Dymond]

If you go to the Byrd shelix web page they have instructions on how to change the cutter head. Very helpful