Garry

I have taken the air pump out of my 86.5 as the front bearing has become noisy. I've got most of it apart. I can't figure out how you get to the front bearing. Does the collar behind the pulley "press" on, or does it get screwed on and which way if it is screwed on? Once I get this part done I see the bearing is held in by a clip. I reviewed the Greg Nichols site and I could't get into "Mark Grasser" post which talked about photo's. Gary

Kevin in Atlanta

When you get it rebuilt and remount it take care not to over tighten the drive belt. This will lead to premature failure of the bearing. On my 86.5 the belt has enough slack in it to move the belt 3/4 - 1". It seems loose, but it does the job of turning the fan blade and the air pump.

Bernie

Hey Garry,

Me Too!!
I just pulled off my airpump today and easily I might say due to the help here on Rennlist. I got it off by removing the airpump filter housing and praticing a little physics to manipulate it out from the bottom. Anyhow, I am now trying to figure out how to replace the bearing as well. Any help from our esteemed crew of BTDT would be greatly appreciated. I have basically removed everything that can be removed------I think <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

Bernie

OK, the airpump is out and sitting on my bench. Now, the question is what next? First, I can't seem to get it apart. There was a writeup on Nichols site. Maybe Greg can email the writeup directly to me and the others since the link to it seems to have expired.

Thanx again folks.

BTW - I need to finish this so I can get to the "Magic Blower" and other climate issues thanx to my fellow sharksters writeups.

Garry

Bernie, the write up on Nichols site is gone. The site Mark Grasser had with photos no longer exists. I'm thinking someone out there has done this and can help. Gary

Greg86andahalf

This is from my hazy memory, but the pump splits in the middle. There are two pins which center the two housing parts. It will come apart once the bolts are removed. You can use a dowl and rubber mallet on the high spots around the housing to knock it apart. (gently). The bearing is removed from the front of the shaft. The innerds of the system consist of three rubber impellers which contract (slide) in and out as the shaft is turned. make sure they are free and will move properly. That can be a cause of squeal from rubbing the housing. When you split the housing, you will see what I mean. Clean and lube the internals of the pump including the impellers, the inside of the housing where the impellers rub and the rear of the shaft where it fits to the housing. Clean the front bearing area. You may be suprized how smooth and quiet the pump may be when hand spinning once everything is cleaned and lubed. I didn't bother to pull my front bearing because it spun good after some basic cleaning. Don't spray the front bearing with solvents,or lubricants, it is a sealed bearing. Just clean around the ouside of it. There are no gaskets to worry about. If you have any problem removing the front bearing, take the shaft and new bearing to a shop with a press and pay minimal $ to have the old bearing pulled and the new one pressed on quick and right.

That's all that comes to mind right now.

Greg

Bernie

Thanx Greg, Your a champ... <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />
Well, my bearing(s) must be replaced so I will need to either figure this out or take your suggestion. What type of lube did you use in the pump?
My new pal Gary said to be careful tapping out those guide pins. Try to whack 'em out together or else you could risk tweeking out something.
<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Greg86andahalf

Don't tap out the guide pins!!!

BTW, there may only be one pin, I'm doing this from memory. There should be one or two bumps around the seam of the two housing pieces. Those bumps are where the pin(s) is (are). They are like the guide pins on a water pump.

The pins are what make the two housing pieces a litle tight to pull apart. Look at the seam where the two housing pieces come together. You cannot simply pull the two apart because of the pins. Do not pry the housing peices apart with a screwdriver, that will cause damage. There are a couple of high spots around the seam of the two pieces. Just lightly tap them in an effort to start seperating the housings. The pins will stay on one part, as they come out the holes on the other part. Just tap on opposite sides, back and forth. You will see the housing begin to seperate. Then you can pull it apart.

Remember TAP lightly. Wooden dowl and rubber hammer. No big deal.

As far as the grease, I use red line synthetic wheel bearing grease for many things. Someone will probably chime in that it is not the best choice, but it makes a good coating, is fairly thin, is synthetic, can handle heat and pretty much stays put. Remember, just a very light coating. If you glob it in there, it could end up being blown through the air hose, something you would not want. Just rub some on the walls, wipe off any excess. You're just using the grease to maintain sliding action of the impellers and to provide a light coat to the interior housing walls where the rubber impellers contact when they spin. My housing walls had a bit of rust on them from maybe a overly enthusiastic pressure wash by a previous owner (?). That rust made the squaeling on mine.

Greg

John Struthers

Garry, and Greg,
I went through all of the smog pump threads in the archives...no joy.
If memory serves and he is willing ...I think Snow went down this road. The threads were erased and I'm not sure if it was Snow or someone replying to him that did the 'talk thru'.
Was this the one that went in the oven? Only the poster nows...
good luck,
John S. When all else fails, <img src="graemlins/drink.gif" border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" /> <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Garry

Thanks John. I even sent Nichols an e-mail about the missing info from his site. There used to be a complete instruction with photos about this rebuild. He has offered to post it on his site if given the date. I hope he gets it.

garry <img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />

Mike Schmidt

The guy who did the write up on the air pump rebuild was Mark Grasser. He's been going overseas on business a fair amount, and is also in the process of preparing for a long distance move. That may vary well have something to do with his web site being down right now.

Bernie

Thanx Mike,

Yes, he appears tobe MIA. I have emailed him personally to try and get a copy of the rebuild and have received no repsonse. I would assume that by now, we have spammed the poor guy to death over this. I have made it inside the pump now and I think I will take it to a local rebuild shop to get the bearing itself swapped out. I have discovered that one of those spring loaded pieces inside the fan barrel has broken in half and also the gasket between the barrel and the front bearing has shredded. Not as straight forward as I had hoped. I have to see about getting these replacement pieces. I have taken enough jpegs to do a proper writeup on the procedure so once I get the final info, I will gladly writeup what was done and send it off to Greg for a posting.

<img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />

Fletcher

Does anyone sell a quality rebuilt unit, with new bearings etc...?

Bernie

Hey Fletch,

I believe any of the BIG3 carry new or rebuilt units but that takes all the fun out of it.

I think its abotu 150 for a rebuilt. Something like that.

<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />