Sausage Stuffers 101... Need Help!

[HawgHeaven]

Okay folks... time to get serious about this sausage making craft. I told Santa I wanted a vertical, 5 pound capacity, stainless steel stuffer. I don't want to invest a ton of money in one, but don't want something so cheap, I'll be replacing it in a year. I was looking at the LEM #606 - 5LB stainless model. Looks sturdy, but it appears its downfall is plastic gears...

Any recommends on what to get and where to find it?

Thanks!

[Meat Hunter]

Personally I would go with metal gears. How much is the one your looking at?

[SmokinLee]

I have a National Specialty Pat. 1897 15 pounder for sale. It is similar to an Enterprise but it has a unique feature that the side post has a catch at the bottom witch pivots out of the way and the whole bowl comes out separate for filling. It belonged to my Dad and when he got it it was missing the tubes and the nut that holds the tubes on, since he was a pattern maker he made a pattern and had a new on cast. The nut needs just a little filing because it goes on alittle hard ( just blue it up and see where it hits and file). The tubes can be made with copper tubing and flanges. I kept the Enterprise but still like this one as well but don't need 2. I think $150.00 is a damn good price for this. shipping would probably cost a bit since it weighs 40 pounds without a shipping box I would have to build... It has a fruit press disk also

here it is.

[Slanted88]

I'm lookin fer one...Santa ain't got it on Louies list...gotta be a bit covert with this!

[Pandemonium]

I have the Grizzly 5lber and its gonna be the cheapest one youll find probably but it has plastic gears, but i dont see why everyone thinks the plastic will break? You would have to be pretty damn rough on it to break them (A real idiot lol) plus the gears on the grizzly can be replaced with the lem metal ones if they ever did break.
http://grizzly.com/products/H6252

[nickelmore]

Plastic Gears

I researched the same topic when I bought mine.

I ended up buying a 15lb unit at Gander on sale for $109.00.

Folks say that the plastic gears hold up. And LEM does sell parts.

I beleive that the 5lb and 15lb veritles are pretty much all made in the same little factory in China and deiferent names are slapped on them at the door.

I think Grizzly had the best price on them the last time I checked.

The 15lb one does not come with a small tube to make snack sticks with.

[THE__DRIFTER]

The one I purchased is HERE. It is very well built, heavy, 2 speed and has metal gears. The 11 pound is the one I opted for and comes with 4 tubes. They are stainless and quite heavy. I had a $30.00 off email and free shipping and it was less than $160.00 delivered.

Also just noticed its on sale for $130.00 ....

[Pandemonium]

I researched the same topic when I bought mine.

I ended up buying a 15lb unit at Gander on sale for $109.00.

Folks say that the plastic gears hold up. And LEM does sell parts.

I beleive that the 5lb and 15lb veritles are pretty much all made in the same little factory in China and deiferent names are slapped on them at the door.

I think Grizzly had the best price on them the last time I checked.

The 15lb one does not come with a small tube to make snack sticks with.

Thats the one i tried to buy and gander screwed me out of it even after they sold it to me online they realized that the price was too low and said they were sold out or some crap so to hell with gander mountain anymore

[Slanted88]

I have the Grizzly 5lber and its gonna be the cheapest one youll find probably but it has plastic gears, but i dont see why everyone thinks the plastic will break? You would have to be pretty damn rough on it to break them (A real idiot lol) plus the gears on the grizzly can be replaced with the lem metal ones if they ever did break.
http://grizzly.com/products/H6252

You right!....Been lookin here...i'll check Grizzly...

http://www.midwesternresearch.com/iw...=INC?cat=16540

[Pandemonium]

Its not like your cranking it 100 miles per hour and when you see your getting close to the bottom just pay attention and you will feel it bottom out so stop your damn cranking sucka really you dont crank fast at all the meat comes outta there at a good rate while turning pretty slowly so i cant see how you would break the gears?

[Squirrel]

Its not like your cranking it 100 miles per hour and when you see your getting close to the bottom just pay attention and you will feel it bottom out so stop your damn cranking sucka really you dont crank fast at all the meat comes outta there at a good rate while turning pretty slowly so i cant see how you would break the gears?

Not unless you're a squirrel jacked up on mountain dew! I have the same one you do. I haven't used it yet (had it for a few months) don't know what I am waiting on either.

[Meat Hunter]

I have the Grizzly 5lber and its gonna be the cheapest one youll find probably but it has plastic gears, but i dont see why everyone thinks the plastic will break? You would have to be pretty damn rough on it to break them (A real idiot lol) plus the gears on the grizzly can be replaced with the lem metal ones if they ever did break.
http://grizzly.com/products/H6252

Actually, you don't have to be rough on them at all. There is an company that buys all the returned stuffers from Gander Mountain, (sells allot of them on ebay as broken or missing parts) The same stuffer that LEM uses and pretty sure it's the same one Northern sells. The number one return problem is the plastic gears either cracking cracking teeth or thread stripping. That is certainly not saying that they will all crack, break or strip, but they are more prone to doing so, (also a common complaint on the reviews for these) especially when it comes to the last bit of sausage trying to squeezed out as more force is usually used to do so. A broken cog tooth or stripped thread half way in to a batch of sausage sure puts a damper on things. They do sell the metal gears for them separately for an upgrade, but I have seen the gears sell for darn near close to the cost of stuffer itself.

The reason I bring this up is right now, during the holiday seasons, the big stores like Cabelas and Gander Mountain and Bass Pro have promo codes that most don't know about. It can be either free shipping or something like 15-25% off total purchase or a combination of both. So, by checking out some of these codes,( just google "promo code" and either gander mountain or cabels or bass pro) and the item your looking for, (sometimes the promo code is generic, covering everything above a certain purchase price and just limited to a stuffer) and buy it online.

Last year I got a 15# all metal gear stuffer for 129 bucks at Gander with stuffing tubes. Same stuffer as the LEM and the Grizzy.

Doing a little digging you might be able to find a bigger stuffer for the same or less price than a smaller one

[Fishawn]

Got a Northern 5 pounder, I think it has plastic gears & they aint broke yet. I like the looks & price of that Weston 7 pounder

[T-bone Tim]

Hey Phil ,just seen this one on ebay ,seems like a good stuffer at a good price , have a look

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Lard-and-Fruit-Pr...item2eb1f12e50

also I think the LEM would work well too , even with the pastic gears , you get into trouble with those if yer cranking away not payin attention and bottom out hard , thus breaking the gears , just gotta be cautious

[nickelmore]

Wow

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Lard-and-Fruit-Pr...item2eb1f12e50

Sold not sure how much shipping was but that was a good deal.