New Holland 510 spreader chain jumps off sprockets

[booch]

Hi, I have a New Holland 510 spreader that we use to make compost on our farm. During the fall, we run this think 8 hours a day for days at a time, tossing in compost materials to make a windrow. It has an aftermarket t bar chain in good condition, and we replaced the idler shafts a while back.
Every 50 or 60 hours of use, the chain will jump off one of the front idler pulleys, causing the chain to stop turning on one side and then a slat will catch the floor board and bend and rip up the bed. Not so fun. Just happened again. Looking at the idler pulley, it appears bent. Also wondering about play in the idler pulley hole where the shaft runs through, and we have used washers to try to keep them as far as possible from the end of the shafts. Wondering why this keeps happening, would love to know what I am missing. Thanks in advance for any comments. Paul

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

One of the front sprockets might be running on a slight angle. There's no shaft that connects the two, so that's a common issue.

The apron might be running crooked, too. You want the apron bars running 90 deg. to the ends of the box. If the apron is canted, it can jump.

May also want to look into a sheet of poly for the floor. Helps to keep drier, grittier loads from sticking to the floor & causing problems.

Mike

 

[Donald in MN]

i had a neighbor many year ago have a similar problem i told him that one side had one to many links . i had him count the links on each side but he said he couldnt tell if the chain had gone all the way around .i said tie a sting on a slat and count the links between each slat on each side . he said one side had a extra link he took it out and no more problems.

 

[caterpillar guy]

I think everyone has covered it. Though if the front idler bearing is bad letting the idler twist sideways some it might be your culprit also. I would suspect the chain is off a tooth or ha sa different count either one to many or short one on one side. Dn't try to run it with the chain tight either it needs some reasonable slack to float on to things as it goes around.

 

[Texasmark]

Chains stretch over time and need to be replaced so that the length of the chain span equals the distance in the gear. Amazing what a new chain will do for an old noisy implement and in some cases without having to replace the sprocket even though it shows a lot of wear.....BTDT