850 Lower Tray Paper Pickup Issue

[AKPolarBear]

The lower tray has constant paper feed issues. Sometimes after you clear a jam, it will print that job and then jam again on next job. It appears that it is trying to pick up 2 pieces of paper at a time with the 2nd page only partially coming up off the bottom tray and stopping just inside the feed rollers with about 1/4" sticking out.
The rollers have been cleaned and then replaced. The clutch has been updated with a newer version. What it appears it needs is some sort of paper separator for the lower tray. It could be a humidity/static problem but has persisted since the unit was relocated from a sunny window to an interior location. Maybe it misses the sunlight as it was working just fine prior to the move. I have tried different types and brands of paper all with same results. The maintenance drawer is approaching replacement time (20% remaining) but I don’t think that is the issue. Jobs printed from the upper tray do not jam.

 

[datchupokey]

To make sure it's not a paper feed clutch, remove all of the paper from the upper tray and, from the front panel, make the lower tray the default source. If no jams, then the paper feed clutch is bad.

 

[fieryzx]

This seems to be a separator problem. I would be checking the sep pad/roller if you do a lot of 2 siding from this tray they get very dirty fast and need cleaning/replacement more often. Humidity and static do cause problems but I would think you would have the same problem in tray one if this was the main problem. Also check that side and end guides are snug not tight.

 

[AKPolarBear]

I scrubbed the pads and it appeared to have worked better for the rest of the day but it is now back to being a problem. I was wondering if either of these to observations might be part of the problem:
1) The maintenance kit is nearing replacement and the front panel reports it. However, If I manually check the remaining life, it reports something like 20% left and the message on the front panel then disappears for awhile (days or weeks) before reappearing. Can this tray be part of the problem?
2) Since we moved the printer, use has dropped off. With this problem, use has dropped even further. Could "lack of use" becoming a problem -too much idle time, heating cycles, etc.
I suppose I could just remove the lower tray and the problem would probably just go away.

 

[fieryzx]

When the machine starts showing that the maintenance kit needs replacing it starts with about 20% life left to give you time to get a new one. The kit only contains One feed kit. You could just get a feed kit for tray 2 to see if the this fixes the jamming problem.

 

[AKPolarBear]

It appears that datchupokey may have hit on the problem (even though the clutch was just replaced). I did what he suggested a second time and it only jammed once out of about 50 pages of different print jobs. I put one piece of paper in the top drawer to stop the out of paper light from flashing but it used that paper on the next job and then jammed while going to the lower tray. I have now noticed that when I go into printer properties that the middle and lower tray selections are grayed out. I have not noticed that before. Sounds like it is not communicating with the print server and/or I need to reload the driver.

 

[mrimagepueblo]

take a look at the maintenance kit --> tray holder, not the kit itself. Pull it out and look on the right and left side of the holder, in the middle of each side along the bottom edge you will notice a square peg coming out each side, approx 1/2" long, they have the ability to go up and down as the tray is lifted to meet where the paper is fed. These pegs must be square, if you notice any notching where it's being rubbed down, then the problem is that it's not picking the tray up high enough.

 

[AKPolarBear]

The post from datchupokey has pointed the way. Even though the clutch was replaced, this appears to be closer to solving the problem. If I leave 1 paper in the upper tray, it will stay for only a few print jobs before it used. I also found that the lower tray was not "available" through the software. After I fixed that, I reloaded the upper tray and it jammed on the first job. Besides seeing the red warning light flash, it is printing much better.
Is there a second clutch or other area I should look at?