Meat Mixer for Cabela's Grinder?

[McCrackin]

I have a Cabela's Carnivore 1HP grinder, but Cabela's/Bass Pro has been out of stock so long on meat mixer's that I'm starting to think they quit carrying them. So, are there any other mixers (LEM, Meat, Weston) that will connect to the Carnivore?
I know there are adapters people are making/selling to connect mismatched equipment, but I'm not seeing any mention of "Carnivore grinder "X" mixer...
Thank you in advance.

 

[SmokinBubba]

I am in the same boat! I have read the LEM mixers wont match. Rumor has it that Cabelas is going to a different manufacturer/vendor. They are currently made or imported bt blue sky innovations here in Ohio. I have reached out to them with no response. Rural king has one branded lincoln for $250. Looks kust like the cabelas unit but the lincoln grinders look like rebranded LEM grinders. I may go to RK tomorrow and see if they will couple. I have the 1hp carnivore. Will post here my findings.

 

[McCrackin]

I am in the same boat! I have read the LEM mixers wont match. Rumor has it that Cabelas is going to a different manufacturer/vendor. They are currently made or imported bt blue sky innovations here in Ohio. I have reached out to them with no response. Rural king has one branded lincoln for $250. Looks kust like the cabelas unit but the lincoln grinders look like rebranded LEM grinders. I may go to RK tomorrow and see if they will couple. I have the 1hp carnivore. Will post here my findings.

All good to hear. I called LEM to ask if they were compatible, or if they made a coupler/converter... First thing out of the ... Bit**es mouth "that will void the warranty"... Really, that's your effort to gain new customers?
I'll feeling motivated to start making couplers, but for which mixer? I want; A. At least 25lbs. in a batch. B. tilting hopper.

 

[SmokinBubba]

I just saw a pic of the internals of Waltons 50lb tilting mixer gearbox. It has a sloted driveshaft not a splined shaft. So we can cross that one off our list. Btw, it looks exactly like the cabelas mixer. I bet blue sky makes different gearboxes to slap on a generic mixer tub.
Surprising that LEM had such poor customer service. They are in cincinatti and i have met Larry the owner. Super guy. Sold me my 20lb hand crank mixer 20yrs ago. Anyway, the search continues!

 

[McCrackin]

I just saw a pic of the internals of Waltons 50lb tilting mixer gearbox. It has a sloted driveshaft not a splined shaft. So we can cross that one off our list. Btw, it looks exactly like the cabelas mixer. I bet blue sky makes different gearboxes to slap on a generic mixer tub.
Surprising that LEM had such poor customer service. They are in cincinatti and i have met Larry the owner. Super guy. Sold me my 20lb hand crank mixer 20yrs ago. Anyway, the search continues!

Well, if Cabelas doesn't come out with something new pretty soon, I think I'll just buy a decent tipping hopper and fab my own shaft or adapter. This is frustrating...

 

[SmokinBubba]

I looked at the waltons gearbox pic again and think i looked at it upsidedown. I think the output shaft is slotted. The input shaft is not shown. There still may be hope. Im going to contact waltons Monday and ask.

 

[SmokinBubba]

McCrakin
just ordered a mixer from cabelas! They r in stock Right now. Jump on it brother.

 

[McCrackin]

McCrakin
just ordered a mixer from cabelas! They r in stock Right now. Jump on it brother.

BIG azz THANK YOU for the heads up... Done ordered it!
Thanks buddy.

 

[ryjack70ss]

BIG azz THANK YOU for the heads up... Done ordered it!
Thanks buddy.

McCrakin
just ordered a mixer from cabelas! They r in stock Right now. Jump on it brother.

Any report on these? The reviews on cabelas are devastating. Says they last less than 2 minutes before the gears shear off. Any input would be great.

 

[McCrackin]

Any report on these? The reviews on cabelas are devastating. Says they last less than 2 minutes before the gears shear off. Any input would be great.

Mine worked fine for the first 6-8 batches. At one point I heard a loud "pop" when switching to reverse... Then several small (25lb.) batches later I was doing a 50lb. batch, reversed it, nothin...
When I opened up the gear box I found that both of the bearing races had broken free from the three meager spot-welds that where supposed to hold them.
Several phone calls later, I'm being told by Blue Sky that they "learned the hard way" on this one, supporting the rumors that failure is common. He wanted proof of purchase, model/serial #...
Sent in all the info, they sent me a new gear box. I immediately responded to Austin Hartsel at Blue Sky that in my opinion the "new" gear box's welding really didn't look all that stronger than the original. He assured me it is the "new/improved" version...
Have not used it yet, sucker better not fail on me again... I do appreciate their support, but their original design is certainly under-built.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Cabbelas grinders suck balls.

 

[McCrackin]

Cabbelas grinders suck balls.

My grinder has worked fine, although I may experiment with a slightly larger pusher so the second grind goes better. One think I like about it is I think it might be the only grinder that offers reverse, hand when you attach the mixer...

 

[thinhorn_AK]

My grinder has worked fine, although I may experiment with a slightly larger pusher so the second grind goes better. One think I like about it is I think it might be the only grinder that offers reverse, hand when you attach the mixer...

I used one for moose and the second grind was an absolute nightmare.

 

[McCrackin]

Second grind is tougher than first (when the meat feeds itself right through). I lowered my grinder from the countertop to the top of a cooler that is about 22" tall, putting me over the pusher, made a big difference. It seemed like the 2nd grind took twice as long, but once I timed it I found it was only about 50% longer than the 1st. grind (it just seemed longer due to constant pressure on the pusher I guess...).

 

[HahgBuck3317]

I'm looking for a mixer that fits a Cabela's grinder and seem to have found one on Sportsman's Guide. I'll probably order it and let you all know how it goes.

On a separate point that was mentioned a few times here, when you're going through your 2nd, 3rd, or beyond grind, two things that help...don't try to stuff so much meat down the chute at once causing you to use the plunger to force the meat into the auger. It'll go a bit faster (still slower than the first grind but faster than forcing it) if you just drop smaller chunks or balls of the meat into the chute at a time and let the auger pull it in on its own. Once you get a rhythm going, it'll be faster. 2nd, is when doing those grinds past the 1st one is to either put the meat in the freezer for an hour so it stays cold and hardens up a bit, or add ice to it. About 1 cup/1-2 lbs of meat. It helps and it won't hurt your grinder as long as it's at least a .5 HP.

 

[scotttaylor007]

I'm looking for a mixer that fits a Cabela's grinder and seem to have found one on Sportsman's Guide. I'll probably order it and let you all know how it goes.

On a separate point that was mentioned a few times here, when you're going through your 2nd, 3rd, or beyond grind, two things that help...don't try to stuff so much meat down the chute at once causing you to use the plunger to force the meat into the auger. It'll go a bit faster (still slower than the first grind but faster than forcing it) if you just drop smaller chunks or balls of the meat into the chute at a time and let the auger pull it in on its own. Once you get a rhythm going, it'll be faster. 2nd, is when doing those grinds past the 1st one is to either put the meat in the freezer for an hour so it stays cold and hardens up a bit, or add ice to it. About 1 cup/1-2 lbs of meat. It helps and it won't hurt your grinder as long as it's at least a .5 HP.

Please let me know if the sportsmans guide mixer works for your grinder, if you wind up going that route.

 

[HahgBuck3317]

I did buy it and it's been delivered. I haven't unboxed it yet though. Depending on how hunting goes on Wednesday, I may get to using it on Thursday and will definitely update the thread.

 

[S.Clancy]

I used one for moose and the second grind was an absolute nightmare.

Second grind is tougher than first (when the meat feeds itself right through). I lowered my grinder from the countertop to the top of a cooler that is about 22" tall, putting me over the pusher, made a big difference. It seemed like the 2nd grind took twice as long, but once I timed it I found it was only about 50% longer than the 1st. grind (it just seemed longer due to constant pressure on the pusher I guess...).

Why do people "2nd" grind? I've always just ground 1x on the fine plate, everything turns out, even sausage.

 

[Huntindog45]

Why do people "2nd" grind? I've always just ground 1x on the fine plate, everything turns out, even sausage.

i do a large grind then mix things up again and do a fine grind. It just tends to mix the fat that I add to the meat better. After the first grind there are usually big chunks of fat still separate from the venison. This probably would not be a problem if i cut my chunks smaller and was not lazy and mixed things better to start but with the bigger grinder i can run pretty large chunks of meat through it so .... the second grind works great. Also if I am doing sausage i do a rough grind, add my seasoning then do the fine grind. Not sure if that is the correct way but its the way I learned and it seems to work.

 

[Huntindog45]

I'm looking for a mixer that fits a Cabela's grinder and seem to have found one on Sportsman's Guide. I'll probably order it and let you all know how it goes.

On a separate point that was mentioned a few times here, when you're going through your 2nd, 3rd, or beyond grind, two things that help...don't try to stuff so much meat down the chute at once causing you to use the plunger to force the meat into the auger. It'll go a bit faster (still slower than the first grind but faster than forcing it) if you just drop smaller chunks or balls of the meat into the chute at a time and let the auger pull it in on its own. Once you get a rhythm going, it'll be faster. 2nd, is when doing those grinds past the 1st one is to either put the meat in the freezer for an hour so it stays cold and hardens up a bit, or add ice to it. About 1 cup/1-2 lbs of meat. It helps and it won't hurt your grinder as long as it's at least a .5 HP.

absolutely spot on. my second grind i have certainly found that if I just put enough it to drop it straight down the mouth of the grinder without having to stuff it with the plunger it goes so much faster.