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Found out our cutterhead is way off spec from the factory manual
I was going through the maintenance logs on our Ellicott 370 last week and decided to double check the cutterhead RPM against the spec sheet. Turns out the factory manual says it should spin at 38 RPM but we've been running at 33 RPM for the last 4 years since we bought it. I found a bulletin from 2019 on the Ellicott parts portal that said they updated the gear ratio after serial number 4872. Our machine is 4891 so we should have the new setup but the dealer never swapped the gearbox. Now I gotta figure out if we need to replace the whole drive unit or if a sprocket change will get us back to spec. Has anyone else found hidden factory updates that were never communicated to the end user?
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noah2481mo ago
Man, I ran into almost the exact same thing on a 288 Dragon a couple years back. Found out the hydraulic flow was set different from the manual after a pump rebuild, turns out there was a field mod that the dealer just never told us about. Ended up just swapping the sprocket and it sorted out fine, but you might wanna check if the gearbox input shaft bearings are rated for the higher RPM before you start changing ratios.
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charles_knight1mo ago
Hold on, I gotta chime in here cause nobody's talking about the chain tension on those Dragons. I've seen a few guys swap sprockets or mess with ratios and forget that the whole driveline geometry shifts when you do that. If you change the sprocket size even a little, the chain can ride different on the sprocket teeth, especially under load. I'd check the chain slack and alignment real close before you even fire it up again. If it's too tight or off to one side you'll eat through bearings way faster than any RPM change will. Just something to keep an eye on before you chase down gearbox issues.
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