Haas TL-4 Spindle Repair

The Haas TL-4 is a large-bore, flat bed lathe.  It is commonly used in the oil field industry due to its large chuck diameter and bar capacity.  The spindle alone weighs an astonishing 5,000 lbs and was quite a feat to repair.

CHALLENGE

Our customer delivered this spindle to Northland Tool with complaints that it was very noisy during operation. Right away during our incoming inspection, we noted that the OD taper and face of the spindle measured with high runout. Our technician also noted that spindle sounded very loud when spun by hand.  After a complete disassembly and evaluation, we reported back to the customer that there was heavy oil contamination in the front rolling elements. The oil was noted to be very dark in color. Some of the roller cages in the front and rear were broken as well, causing a few rolling elements to fall out of place.  Lastly, metal shavings were present inside the housing.

SOLUTION

This Haas TL-4 spindle turned out to not have any dimensional deviations and therefore only required replacement of the bearings and wear parts.  Due to the large diameter of these bearings they were somewhat difficult to source.  We were originally quoted a  16-week lead time from China, however we got lucky and were notified that the bearings would arrive after only 8 weeks.

RESULT

After reassembly of all components and adjusting bearing preload, the spindle was put through our extensive break-in and testing procedures.  This spindle passed our final quality inspection before being returned to our customer with a 1-year warranty.  The customer was happy to have their spindle back up and running after 8-weeks of being down and reported it to still be running like new well after the repair.