As @amyjackson9592 stated, you fill the gearbox by removing one of the two supporting hex bolts on top of the unit. The gearbox casing is drilled and tapped on top right through to the inside. The port you used to fill it is normally left open during the fill so you know you have added enough oil when it reaches that level. As another viewer commented, this gearbox is used by almost all planer manufacturers for widths 15" and above. In fact, the entire planer build is identical across brands with the exception of the electrical box and the covers which are adapted to the various brands' look and feel.
I have a 15" Total Shop planer made in 1985. It does not even have a gasket between the box and the lid and still only loses about a teaspoon of gear oil in 6 months. I simply top it off periodically. But the seals do not leak and it runs trouble free nearly 40 years later. Grizzly cannot put one out of the factory new and claim that.
Just watched your video. Thanks for uploading. I have a General International with a leaky gearbox and am just thinking about fixing it. After seeing this I think I will steer clear of Grizzly.
Looks like I bought mine just about the same time you bought yours. After 3 months of operation, I had a fail to start fault. Grizzly assumed it was the start capacitor and sent a new one - not the problem. I traced it to the centrifugal switch; the bolt holding it to the shaft had come loose. Easy enough fix, but frustrating none the less. Though I would pass this info along (if this happens to you, add some thread lock - I contacted Grizzly and they said that was ok.). Otherwise, I love the machine and can't beat it for the price.
Mine arrived and I didn't even get to use it! The height adjustment chain fell apart due to poor or no riveting to the links. Same response from Grizzly as you got.Waiting for new chain and then several hours installing and adjusting with no instruction.
Why didn't you use a hand pump (with a tube) to squirt the oil into the gear box? The process would be very much like filling the oil on a differential.
This isn’t a unique problem with grizzly. Most all planers use the same gear box and the seals are faulty at times. The gear box design hasn’t changed for like 30 yrs I think. It’s a pain to replace but it can be done. I have an old Delta and had to do the same thing. Part of the price you get with grizzly is some self maintenance and repairs.
Hi there - at 3:32 you show your gear box open with that lower gear out. I attempted to open my gear box and had a similar issue with the top and middle gears staying in the box.. How did you get those out? I haven't even been able to get my gearbox open all the way since hte bottom gear is still attached to the outer panel and I can't wiggle the bottom gear past the other two gears to get it out...
the gears are part of shaft and the bearing are just a "snug" fit into the back of the case. I had to fabricate a "puller" with a piece of angle iron bolted across the front of the box to push the cutter shaft through the gear and release the gear box
2:46... "PLASTIC" cover for the chain drive??? They don't make those out of cast iron anymore. Of course this video is now 5 years old but shows one of many ways that Grizzly has cheapened their products and now sells Chinese crap. Look through TH-cam and see how many complaints there are about just these gearbox problems, not to mention a multitude of other manufacturing and quality control problems which they expect YOU to fix.
I had this same problem, but it turned out that the 3 lower screw had all loosen during shipping. Once I tighten them I had no oil leak from the box
As @amyjackson9592 stated, you fill the gearbox by removing one of the two supporting hex bolts on top of the unit. The gearbox casing is drilled and tapped on top right through to the inside. The port you used to fill it is normally left open during the fill so you know you have added enough oil when it reaches that level. As another viewer commented, this gearbox is used by almost all planer manufacturers for widths 15" and above. In fact, the entire planer build is identical across brands with the exception of the electrical box and the covers which are adapted to the various brands' look and feel.
I have a 15" Total Shop planer made in 1985. It does not even have a gasket between the box and the lid and still only loses about a teaspoon of gear oil in 6 months. I simply top it off periodically. But the seals do not leak and it runs trouble free nearly 40 years later. Grizzly cannot put one out of the factory new and claim that.
Just watched your video. Thanks for uploading. I have a General International with a leaky gearbox and am just thinking about fixing it. After seeing this I think I will steer clear of Grizzly.
Looks like I bought mine just about the same time you bought yours. After 3 months of operation, I had a fail to start fault. Grizzly assumed it was the start capacitor and sent a new one - not the problem. I traced it to the centrifugal switch; the bolt holding it to the shaft had come loose. Easy enough fix, but frustrating none the less. Though I would pass this info along (if this happens to you, add some thread lock - I contacted Grizzly and they said that was ok.). Otherwise, I love the machine and can't beat it for the price.
I believe that you can pull out one of the top mounting bolts in the gear box and fill it with oil from the top in just a few minutes.
Mine arrived and I didn't even get to use it! The height adjustment chain fell apart due to poor or no riveting to the links. Same response from Grizzly as you got.Waiting for new chain and then several hours installing and adjusting with no instruction.
GRIZZLY....... never again! I also have an issue with sliding bed table saw making noise from bearings
Why didn't you use a hand pump (with a tube) to squirt the oil into the gear box? The process would be very much like filling the oil on a differential.
or a transfer pump from Harbor Freight. th-cam.com/video/yEc71a0V-kk/w-d-xo.html
This isn’t a unique problem with grizzly. Most all planers use the same gear box and the seals are faulty at times. The gear box design hasn’t changed for like 30 yrs I think. It’s a pain to replace but it can be done. I have an old Delta and had to do the same thing. Part of the price you get with grizzly is some self maintenance and repairs.
Do you think it'd have helped to hit the oil tube with a heat gun to make the oil runny?
maybe, buy it was pretty warm already from the air temp
Hi there - at 3:32 you show your gear box open with that lower gear out. I attempted to open my gear box and had a similar issue with the top and middle gears staying in the box.. How did you get those out? I haven't even been able to get my gearbox open all the way since hte bottom gear is still attached to the outer panel and I can't wiggle the bottom gear past the other two gears to get it out...
the gears are part of shaft and the bearing are just a "snug" fit into the back of the case. I had to fabricate a "puller" with a piece of angle iron bolted across the front of the box to push the cutter shaft through the gear and release the gear box
What is the difference between the G0454Z and the G0454ZW? Why did you choose the ZW?
The spiral cutter head
2:46... "PLASTIC" cover for the chain drive??? They don't make those out of cast iron anymore. Of course this video is now 5 years old but shows one of many ways that Grizzly has cheapened their products and now sells Chinese crap. Look through TH-cam and see how many complaints there are about just these gearbox problems, not to mention a multitude of other manufacturing and quality control problems which they expect YOU to fix.