Sprint 2000 Circulation Blower Overhaul

[ZooCity]

Anyone ever done it?  One of our pillow block bearings started it's death rattle yesterday an I'd like to get it out of there this weekend.  We have a Sprint HO, built in 2000.

 I have all the recommended parts from M&R tech and am going to try and swap out our pillow blocks, realign the blower motor shaft, put a new heat slinger on.  It doesn't look too complicated but I'll take any advice I can get.  M&R tech hasn't replied with instructions but I'm not sure if much are needed, it all looks pretty straightforward.

I'm pondering if I should have purchased a new blower motor shaft, thinking it might be worn where the bearings contacted....but hoping I can just nudge the shaft over a little and get better purchase on and unused section of it.   If anyone recommends getting a new shaft I'll hold off and order one and do it next week so I don't have to tear it down and rebuild it twice.

Big thanks in advance. 

[jsheridan]

was done on a dryer at one of the last shops I worked at.

Guy who did the job was no way qualified to do the job, shaft was out of balance and the entire blower cage essentially tore it self apart was driven into the surrounding fire box. It had to be cut out to be removed it was so bad.

I had some pictures of the blower, Augie did the final repair and even he was amazed at how much metal was bent.

make sure it's done right and in balance.

[CGS]

We've seen both cases rebuilding these over the years;  sometimes the shaft is reusable, other times the it has a nice groove worn into it. Obviously replacing the shaft is a little (lot) more work if you never done it before and sometimes if it is in bad shape cutting it is easier to remove it.  If it just started the rattle, you should be able to loosen one bearing fairly quickly and see the condition of the shaft. If looks worn don't bother putting the new bearings on, order the shaft. It is not that expensive and usually a stock item from M&R parts.

Make sure you use that high temp grease too and before connecting the grease lines, bleed out the old crap that might have slugged up.

[bimmridder]

Ahhh the memories. I did a SuperSprint years ago. Don't want to do that again. It's not that it was that difficult, I just didn't know what I was getting into. More than a 12 pack job for one guy.

[ZooCity]

Thanks everyone.  I'm going to check it out today but probably will order a new shaft. Sounds worth it to me for 175 bucks.

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[ZooCity]

was done on a dryer at one of the last shops I worked at.

Guy who did the job was no way qualified to do the job, shaft was out of balance and the entire blower cage essentially tore it self apart was driven into the surrounding fire box. It had to be cut out to be removed it was so bad.

I had some pictures of the blower, Augie did the final repair and even he was amazed at how much metal was bent.

make sure it's done right and in balance.

That's a rough story, got me thinking for sure.  Ours thankfully has the pot to adjust the circ blower speed so I can start out slower.  How does one balance it properly, I'm assuming you just ensure everything is true?

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[Underbase37]

I have done this more times than I would like. From my experience it takes a lot to warp the shaft, so unless you're barrings have been  shot for a while it should be fine ( have an extra one sitting around I've never needed ). Getting the shaft balanced isn't really the hard part, it's getting the old bearings off>
Make sure you pull off the outer insulation & open the box where the blower is, so you can see the fan, this will help you position the fan when you put the new bearings on, it should be at least a fingers width all the way around, so not to rub on the inside wall. Opening this up will also help you see if things are in balance. Just a tip, make sure you don't let the fan drop when you take off the old bearings, have someone hold the shaft when you're doing this, or make sure you have the new bearings ready to go, slide them on & quickly secure them to the mount.

The heat sling works great, but if you are having trouble with heat gumming up you're grease make sure & check you're fire wall isn't damaged or missing. If so replace it, this will make all the difference.

I'm actually getting ready to do this on are bigger dryer again as its about a every 3 year project with as much as that dryer runs. ( I'm very picky about my bearing making any noise )

Murphy37

[Underbase37]

 oh and buy some liquid gasket, so you can reapply it to the metal housing on the fan box. You should be able to get it at any auto parts store.

Murphy37

[ZooCity]

Excellent advice here and also thanks to binkspot for the pm on cutting off the old bearings. 

Our firewall is old and in a couple pieces.  What is this material and where could I get it?  It looks like gypsum but I'm not sure, maybe local building supply has it?

[ZooCity]

Turns out is was our motor causing all the ruckus.  I pulled it off the sheaves to see if I could move the bearings to check the shaft (could not) and noticed the motor bearings where all but shot.  I was surprised, we had a tech here not long ago so it must have happened in between then and now which means it happened spooky fast or the tech seriously missed something.  Picked up and installed a shiny new Baldor motor today, it seriously looks like it was rattle canned gold, and all's swell. 

The firewall material is ceramic fiberboard.  That's the next project, new firewalls and buttoning up the insulation.   I'm putting the bearings on the back burner for awhile as they seem to be just fine and other, more pertinent projects await. 

A couple more tips to toss in: 

-mark where everything was on the shaft prior to ensure you put it all back together the same way, presuming it was in their correct to begin with
-get fresh grease fittings (line should be ok) to attach to the bearings and be careful not over tighten them into the pillow blocks
-borrow a laser pulley aligner off someone if you can.  I didn't have one of these and used a straight edge clamped to one sheave but I think it would be a very good idea to perfectly align the belts, it could only help. 
-check for something called "soft foot" on the motor base and probably the pillow blocks as well basically check if it's sitting totally flush, and shim as needed.  Less vibration is a good thing.

I think we have very fine forum here that we keep filling up with very useful information.  Underbase37, I will be coming back to your post when I do the bearing for sure.  Also I need to thank M&R Tech Services for further assistance. 

[Evo]

We're in the thick of this. Had to take the blower impeller to a machine shop the other day to have the remains of the shaft pressed out. Took 12 tons of pressure to push it out.

This is the 4th set of bearings in 2 years. This thing is cursed.

[CGS]

Do you have the heat slinger metal "fan" installed on shaft prior to the first bearing to help dissipate the heat ?

We started putting these on all our rebuilt sprint dryers since they introduced them on the new models a little while ago. 

[Evo]

Do you have the heat slinger metal "fan" installed on shaft prior to the first bearing to help dissipate the heat ?

We started putting these on all our rebuilt sprint dryers since they introduced them on the new models a little while ago.

Yep. That got put on in April. These bearings blew out in record time. This time it's a new set of bearings AND a new shaft. It's all much quieter now.

[CGS]

Fun job for sure.... make sure the grease you are using is rated at 500F & a pump every day or two

[ZooCity]

4 sets in 2 yrs?  Dang. 

Hard to tell what the problem could be without seeing it but it sounds like maybe the shaft isn't true. 

We've been using Mobil SHC220 for grease.  One weird thing about greasing the pillow block bearings is that you can seize them if you go too fast pumping the grease gun.