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Wizard 1.0 issue on track

wisheewashee

wisheewashee

Member
Hey folks. Thank you for all of the advice on this forum. Maybe you can help me with this.

I have a 1.0 that is acting funky. I have not seen this happen but when I arrive to the wash the "please wait" sign is still lit and the gantry is at home. However the passanger side of the gantry is all the way to the end of track and the drivers side is in its usual postion about six to 8 inches from the end. That means the wizard is cock-eyed a little bit. The error on the Red Lion says "drive motor run too long". All I have to do is open the gantry door, flip the toggle and reverse the gantry to bring it back. It is almost as if the wheels have jumped the track because it flops down. Then I go inside, push reset and all is fine...until the next time which is intermittant.

First thought is that the prox is bad on the passenger side. However I have switched it with another prox. Then I thought the metal strip on the floor had been stepped on and was too low, so I raised it up to a 1/4 inch from the prox.

The only change I have made to this Wizard is the driver side drive motor went bad and I had it rebuilt.

Is it possible the rebuilt motor is not totally keeping up with the other motor? Is it a VFD issue? I replaced the Danfoss with the Yaskawa. Did I need to do something with those when I replaced the drivers side motor?

Any help appreciated. Thank you
 
I have had this exact same problem on 2 occasions. Both times, while watching the wash work, I noticed that the gantry was slamming into the home track stop on the passenger side. I watched the home prox while it was getting to home position and it did not light until after the slam. But - I noticed that the gantry was settling down after it slammed the stop. I replaced the prox and the cable - same problem. After lots of head scratching, watching, and cussing I realized that the drivers side was trailing the passenger side. I finally realized that the drive wheels were worn down on the drivers side contact face causing the gantry to lean a little bit and then the flanges on the wheels were dragging on the side of the tracks. This drag caused the passenger side to do a wheelstand, which raised the prox up enough that it could not see the home target. Replaced driver side wheels, paid a lot of attention to aligning them so they were not dragging. This fixed the problem both times.
 
Due to the fact that I have had this problem twice I am now prepared for it if it happens again. I had some wheels made by a local machine shop (the ones that wore out). So instead of using them I bought some spare wheels from my distr. I now keep two sets of wheels and bearings assembled and ready - one set with the lovejoy coupling attached. I bought a hydraulic spreader kit from Mcmaster Carr and I use it to raise the gantry up, put blocks under the gantry frame (leading and trailing end of whichever side I am doing) and then set it down on the blocks. That way I have room to get under the motor and gearbox to move them so that I can remove the entire drive wheel assembly in one piece and put a new one in. My blocks are actually a stack of steel shims so I can jack it up and shim it in steps. I replace my wheels in sets - both wheels and bearings on whichever side I am working on.
 
I believe you have something there. I have noticed that the drivers side does momentarily drag the passenger side when moving it forward and reverse.

Will check your wheel theory out. Thank you
 
Reds said:
I have had this exact same problem on 2 occasions. Both times, while watching the wash work, I noticed that the gantry was slamming into the home track stop on the passenger side. I watched the home prox while it was getting to home position and it did not light until after the slam. But - I noticed that the gantry was settling down after it slammed the stop. I replaced the prox and the cable - same problem. After lots of head scratching, watching, and cussing I realized that the drivers side was trailing the passenger side. I finally realized that the drive wheels were worn down on the drivers side contact face causing the gantry to lean a little bit and then the flanges on the wheels were dragging on the side of the tracks. This drag caused the passenger side to do a wheelstand, which raised the prox up enough that it could not see the home target. Replaced driver side wheels, paid a lot of attention to aligning them so they were not dragging. This fixed the problem both times.
Click to expand...

I have a WW 1.0 and I agree with his wheel assessment. I would replace prox and cable first though. Before I would replace wheels I would check both motors with a megohmeter at the peckerheads to rule out motor problems. I bought a nice megohmeter at Grainger for about $130 and have used it for a bunch of motor testing since. If all these are OK then I would replace wheels and bearing. Although I have replaced one bad bearing once, I usually would replace all wheels and bearings at same time. I have the same distributor as Reds and you shouldn't pay more than $150 for each wheel. Texas Car Wash supply also sells a lot of Coleman stuff reasonable including wheels.
 
Had same issue on 2.0. Can't remember which side, but I replaced a bearing on one of the drive wheels. I thought that since I had it apart, the drive wheel looked worn so I replaced that as well. As soon as I replaced it, I would get the wheel stand and it would slam into the stop. Found out that I had to replace both drive wheels at same time, as a new one and an old would not be the same diameter and wouldn't turn at the same rate. Causing the gantry to bind up and do the wheel stand and the prox switch not being close enough to the home stop bar. After replacing the other drive wheel, everything was fine.
 
Replace both drive wheels or both idler wheels at the same time. If you dont one side will always be ahead of the other/ maybe only on the drive wheels. Not driver or passenger side but, drive/idler wheel.
 
I am having a similiar issue on a 2.0 and will replacing the wheels and bearings. The work will be performed by me, myself, and I and was curious if it is mandatory tha the unit be "jacked up" or if is for ease of accessing the bolts?
 
Depending on your track height you probably do not need to jack up the gantry to change wheels and bearings. Actually you might not need to get underneath it all on a WW 2.0 for bearings and wheels but on a WW 1.0 you need to break loose the transmission and lovejoys to get the drive wheels off. This is a pain. Jacking up the gantry just makes it a whole lot easier. Texas Car Wash Supply sells wheels for $150 and bearings for $29.
 
If you don't jack it up it will settle as you loosen the bearing bolts. The weight of the gantry is resting on those wheels. I jack it up to make more room to work and I put blocks and shims under the frame so that it can't fall off the jack and crush my hands. Being jacked up also lets you tighten the bearing bolts and align the lovejoy without any weight on the wheels.
 
You were not kidding about those drive motor and gear box bolts being a pain to remove! I started today when my new wheels and bearings arrived and I spent more time on removing those than repalcing the new ones.

I have yet to lower it back down yet and I am concerned about it being properly aligned. When lowered back down there should not be a way for it to be off, right?
 
I make sure that the gearbox and drive wheel line up at the lovejoy. You can only do this visually, but a short straightedge on the lovejoy sides will help. I also lay a 2' straightedge on the side of the wheels and try to visually align the wheels so that the sides are parallel with the track. Again you are doing this visually, but there is some slop in the bearing mounting holes and you at least get it as close as possible. I use a mirror on a stick to look at the wheel flanges to make sure that they are not rubbing on the sides of the track. This is not difficult, just takes a little bit of time. But it is a pain in the a$$. I take a about 1/8" off of each end of the wheel shaft too ( I have a small lathe). That way the wheel shaft and gearbox shaft are not rubbing together and I get a small amount of space for adjusting the wheel in or out so that the wheel flanges don't rub on the side of the track. I can still loosen the lovejoy and make sure that both sides are fully engaged. Don't forget to use never sieze on every thread - especially the allen set screws on bearings and lovejoys.
 
Thanks for all of the advice! I have completed my first repalcement of drive wheels and bearings and I must say that it was a bit more time consuming than I had originally planned. At least next time I will have a better idea of what is required and the next time will hopefully go smoother.

Thanks again for everyone who contributes on this forum!
 
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