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For Sale/Looking For => Parts for Sale/Wanted => Topic started by: tbro on February 04, 2021, 10:24:57 am
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I need a replacement for my 1982 Caddy heater/AC blower motor. The bushings are shot in my current motor and upon removal it seems to be non rebuildable. I am open to any suggestions on being able to replace bushings (if possible) from someone who has done this. Thanks for your comments, Tom
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They are readily available new for <$50.
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Hey Andrew,
Is that for the bearings or the MK1 AC heater fan?
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Thank you for the reply. Do you have a link or name of a place that cell the fan motor?
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I might have been mistaken. I got one recently for my rabbit, but it does not have A/C. If they are different for the vehicles equipped with A/C, then ignore my post.
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Try one of these places.
https://www.partsplaceinc.com/vw-heater-blower-motors.html
https://www.partsgeek.com/ss/?ssq=vw+pickup+blower+motor&year=1982
Just a click away.
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Those look nothing like the one in my AC Rabbit pickup.
I would like to post a picture of the unit but can't seem to get it to work. Any ideas how to post a picture? I looked at help section but it did not work for me. Thanks
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Did you not find this in the FAQs. It is sort of buried in there.
http://vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php/topic,13132.0.html
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(https://i.postimg.cc/XpZwHVgC/8790960.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/XpZwHVgC)(http://)
Thank you OR coaster it worked! Not mine but identical to the one in my AC caddy.
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I looked a little to see if I could find one. Here's the only one I came up with: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2350874
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I've looked for the bushings but couldn't find any the right size.
Ended up making a few on my lathe.
They are 8mm hole and are round on the outside.
I don't remember what they are called.
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Thank you both for your comments. Making the bushings is no problem for me. Dismantling the armature case is the problem since the case is staked together and the squirrel plastic fan seems to be epoxied to the shaft. I tried pressing the shaft through the fan but stopped before I broke the plastic. If I can remove the fan I probably can deal with the case which houses the bushings.
The one in the picture Libby sent is different as I do not have the resistor. Thanks again for trying.
A real shame VW did everything to make the unit not rebuildable and then stopped making them available!
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Andrew, I sent an email to Samba seller to confirm status of bushings on his used motor.
Thanks again for looking for me ::)
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The one in the picture Libby sent is different as I do not have the resistor.
Hmmm, the one in the picture you posted has the resistor.
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Yes you are right. The one in my truck uses an a circuit board that is mounted to the heater enclosure on one side. I do not know if it makes a difference.
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I've removed the fan by holding it between my knees and smacking the shaft down through it
with a punch.
It's hard to hold a plastic fan firmly without breaking it, but that works for me.
When putting it back together be very careful to have the brushes back out of the way.
If they catch the center while you shove it in,
it will move the brush contact area down the shaft and things won't line up.
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Great information Fatmobile! I will try that and hopefully will not break the fan. Was it originally a press fit or glued? I stopped trying to press out shaft last time I was going to get to bushings, but stopped after the fan began to deform.
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I too support the fan well from below and smack the shaft to drive it off the fan. I don't think pressing on it makes it let go. Mr. Hammer does the job though. Flat punch works best.
Getting the fan housing apart requires you to tap the staked pieces of metal back to straight lines. Remove the splayed ends. Then to get it back together you have spread the ends again. A small sharp cold chisel seems to work better than a sharp counter punch.
Best of luck on that. I have spent a lot of time on a blower motor only to switch it on high and still have it squeal at me. I bench test now with a 12 car battery before I reinstall.
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OK. I will try your method tomorrow and see if I can get the fan off. Once off I can reverse the staked
fingers and get to the bushings. Should be home free from there. Like your tip about testing prior to install. Will get back to the forum with hopefully good results! Wish me luck, Tom
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Well it took the comments of this forum for me to try the "knee-hold-punch technique" to get the fan removed. Worked like a charm with no damage. Once the fan came off, so did the front bearing,felt circular oil pad, retaining clip and thrust washer all together! All this time I figured a bronze bushing had given up the ghost, but not so. The play in the front housing was do to the bearing retainer working loose allowing the spherical bearing to slip which in turn allowed the shaft to wobble as it had nothing retaining the position.. Just in case I reversed the bearing on the shaft, cleaned up the inner housing and put it all back together. If you try this, it helps to use a 5/16" SS bolt (8mm) to overcome the magnetic pull of the shoes riveted to the inside. That way you can align the bearing and retaining parts into the bearing housing relatively easy. The retainer has three cut outs 120 degrees apart and must be rotated once inside the housing to secure it. That is apparently what moved and had nothing to hold the bearing in place. The rear bearing was good to go so I just lubricated and buttoned everything
up. Hooked the blower to 12 Volts and it ran smooth with no indication of a problem. BTW: the front and rear bearing look just like a heim joint you would see on linkages or high end shock absorbers. Not sure where you would purchase these in metric sizes if needed. Dodged the bullet on that one. I hope this helps someone else in the future as new units are not made anymore.
Thanks again to all the contributors to this thread. Best regards, Tom
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The knee hold punch technique, ha.
Glad it worked.
I'm not sure what those bushings are called,..
so glad you didn't have to try to buy one.
The ones I make work,.. sometimes.
I made some that were too small outer diameter,.. just kind of eyeballed them.
Mine are made from cintered bronze.
It think the factory ones are cintered steel.
It is nice to hear them purr when you are done.