Have been running the same sk-5000 for the past 4+ years and had the fleece pulling quit hard. There is absolutely no binding on the fleece supply side. The problem seems to originate with the two white rollers, at the bottom of the filter chamber. So far I've had to replace the cruciform once (original fractured from the constant torque). Several weeks ago the motor stopped turning even with load. I then disassembled the motor unit and discovered that a tooth on one gear in the transmission had fractured off and was caught between the two adjacent gears. I have reassembled but the binding issue remains. I can temporarily reduced the fleece tension by pulling back and forth between the clean and dirty sides of the fleece (drops the pulling tension and resolves the issue) but in several hours the binding has increased to the point where the motor stops and the alarm sounds. Anyone experience this?