Anyone ever tried to fix a blower motor?

[erice1984]

So, I have two blower motors sitting in my garage and both have shot bushings.  I haven't looked inside either of them to determine the damage that they have, but I was wondering if it could be as simple as replacing the bushings?  possibly with bearings?

The squirrel cage would have to come off in order for this to be done but curious if anyone has tried this.

Thanks
-Eric

[ORCoaster]

When my motor went to squealing like a bad animal I replaced it.  I already had it apart and lubed everything up once and that was only 6 mths ago.  So replace might be in order for you as well.

Just my two pennies.

[erice1984]

I will take it apart tomorrow, or try to get it apart is more like it.  I will report back.

[ORCoaster]

I might do the same just to see if there is a way to do what you say.  Then if I fix it I will sell it on the forum as a rebuilt.  Bwwwwwhhhaahhhaahhah.

[erice1984]

haha, I have three fan motors.  If I can fix it with $5 worth of ball bearings....    it would never wear out again unless the windings shorted out.

[VWCaddy]

Never had a problem with my VW blower motors, but have rebuilt one in my Toyota:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Blower.shtml#MotorRepair

[erice1984]

So I took the thing apart.  It was a little tricky...to do without destroying things.

I removed the squirrel cage.  I first tried to press it off with a hydraulic press, but the squirrel cage fan was flexing about a quarter inch, so I quit that.  Second I tried using a punch and "impacting" (plastic deadblow hammer) it out.  That wasn't working, so I used my cutoff tool and ground down what was visible of the shaft on the squirrel cage fan side of it (about 1/8 inch) to even with the plastic.  I then retried the impacting/hammering on the shaft with the punch and this time I gave it a couple good hits and it released.



The next part was figuring out how to open this thing up.  I initially tried the front (the end of the motor that the plastic fan wheel was attached too) end of it, and with no luck, it may be pressed in or something else.  So I flipped it around and with three successively greater hits it knocked the back cover right off.



Then remove the board that holds the brushes, it is just set in place, nothing retains it.



After that you can remove a clip on the front end of the motor and then slide the armature out the back end of the case.





I had two choices for bearings.  Both 8mm ID, one was 16mm OD and the other was 19mm OD.  Both of these bearings are flanged. F688ZZ and F698ZZ.  I am going with the F688ZZ (8x16) bearing for my initial test.

Rethinking my decision on bearings here.  The F688ZZ bearing has to be pressed on the armature shaft, and in the cap of the motor housing.  I am not too fond of the idea. I may go with a needle bearing and a sleeve combination press each part into and onto its respective part and then slide the armature into the housing easily.

More to come...

[pointynoggin]

good luck,  if you succeed I'll try it.

[maxfax]

Probably your most difficult task is going to be finding bushings or bearings that fit right..  If you got some place around that does electric motor repair (AC or DC motors) check with them..  I managed to find some dandy little ball bearings to use in a Mercedes blower motor..  I think they were from a soap pump on a commercial dishwasher..  Ya know, I wish I would have made note of the bearing number, it too was a Bosch motor, might have worked for you..