Henry964

The AC/heater blower motors?

Both of my blowers are apparently fried (blewed 2 fuses and never blew air again) and getting the new parts to Argentina is going to cost me a month´s salary so my best option is to get them rebuilded and pray that they work again

tbennett017

I would think a good motor guy should be able to do it. I have seen repair shops that can re-wind armatures and do the bearings, so I would guess it's worth a try... please let us know how it works out... I bet we'd all be interested in a solution.

Jacke2c

I changed both of my blower motors about a month a go. It was not that bad of a job.. about six hours work. It is tedious and you have to pay attention. After getting my old motors out, they could have been easily repaired by just replacing the brushes. It looks like a fairly common DC motor brush. I have seen some brushes advertised on e-bay. about $10 for a pair (it takes two). All it would require is to pop the brush retainer off and de-solder the brush wire, insert the new brush, resolder, and replace the spring and cap.

Although the used motors that I purchased were in good shape, I did lubricate them lightly, daily for a week with a high quality bearing oil before installing them. My old motors have did have stiff bearing due to lack of use.

altarchsa

Go here:

https://rennlist.com/forums/964-foru...ront-dash.html

and pay special attention to the post regarding the bearings by Gregg-K on page 6.

The fans are a lot easier to get at than it looks. I was a little concerned when I read this thread before I did mine about a month ago, but R&R is a snap. Just pay special attention to the makeshift hacksaw blade tools and torx screws to release the motor and fan from the housing.

If you can't afford new, which was my case, I would highly recommend that you go with used, good working motors instead of trying to repair your original ones. I found one for $125.

Gettting the shaft and armature out and back in with brush replacemetn is really difficult because of the bearings. A motor shop may be able to do it, but it would require a press and puller. I experimented with my bad one and couldn't get it back together properly. The bearings are sintered (read voodoo metalaurgy), which I learned from Greg-K, and really can't be lubricated.

Henry964

Thanks guys!!! very good info, I will go the rebuild way and hope for the best
I can´t believe the asking price of these blowers, least expensive price I found in E-Bay 600 U$S and we cannot import used ones (local regulations)

psychoideas

Has anyone tried to modify them to accept a small ball or needle?

I'd love to see one to find out if it was possible.

Anyone have pics of this blower / shaft / bearing??

sundog

But you are not importing used parts for your car. You are importing engineering test equipment for research on magnetic fields.

Gregg-K

As altarchsa mentioned above, I've spent a bunch of time with these motors, after my rear blower motor went bad. I ordered a new one, and when UPS lost it, I decided to research modding the bad one with new bearings.

I've published the photos here, of what I did ... but for the life of me I have not been able to find the originals on my computer ... I suppose they may have been a victim of a disk crash.

Anyhow, making a long story short, the mod consisted of dismantling the motor and removing the armature with its front bracket. Dismantling required un-doing the staked joints that hold the front bracket to the motor frame. The front bearing is held in carrier made from stamped steel, and a bit of judicious grinding will liberate the whole thing, leaving you with just the front bracket, to which you want to attach a new bearing.

I decided to use a miniature sealed ball bearing, and found one with an ID that fit the armature perfectly. I machined an aluminum carrier to replace the original sheet metal part, and fastened it to the front motor bracket with four #4.40 machine screws.

Reassembled the armature with its new bearing, with a couple of MIG weld tacks to replace the original staking that held it all together.

The day I completed the motor, UPS delivered the OEM replacement they'd lost, and I installed it rather than the one I rebuilt. And, so it sits.

I'll have a look for the pics again ... I know I sent them to another member, along with photos of the tool I made to pull the fan off the motor's splined shaft.

... Gregg

psychoideas

Fantastic job Gregg!!!

Was the rebuild cost in time and materials worth doing?
You could sell it as a rebuilt / upgraded motor.

Thanks for the info.

Gregg-K

Thank you Frank, you're very welcome .

I already offer restoration of vintage Lucas Magnetos and Dynamos that are unobtainable otherwise, so I've thought about offering services for these Bosch motors too ... I have the in-house machinery to do all of it. However, I don't know what the market would want to pay, and whether that would make it worth my while.

The other snag is whether most owners would be able to get the squirrel cage fan blades off the motor prior to shipping, and then back on again without damage. I say this, because it would reduce labor at my end, and also possible shipping damage.

Perhaps some discussion is in order?

... Gregg