Help Before I destroy the fan!

[tshih]

I'm trying to replace the burned out motor for the front condenser fan of my 1988 carrera A/C. I removed the loctite treated set screw on the old hamster cage fan in the front condenser blower fan. Someone please give me a proper procedure for removing the fan from the motor spindle. Despite soaking in pb blaster the shaft of the motor appears to be fused onto the fan's base. What's the best way to get them apart without destroying the fan??

[Hendog]

I've never tackled this job, but is it possible there may be another set screw?

[zbph10]

Hammer and a punch, worst case carefully drill the shaft out.

Brian

[dad911]

I would cut the motor off the shaft, then push it out with a press.

Hitting shaft will mushroom it, making it harder to get out.

[tshih]

Dad911, that's the best suggestion so far. Thanks, will give that a try.

[tshih]

zbph10 and dad911,
I was successful in getting the spindle off by sawing off the motor and tried punching and drilling. Unfortunately the base separated during punching and needs to be re-crimped over the shaft collar. Will also reinforce the crimp area with JB-weld.
Thanks for your suggestions. Saved $200 in this repair.

[Zeke]

I think mine had a set screw that wouldn't budge. I gave up.

[dad911]

I assume the fan is steel.... perhaps a few tack welds to the collar would be better than JB weld.

[tshih]

The metal is too thin , I'm afraid of burn through. I'm not confident enough of my welding skills and knowledge to try. The epoxy should be plenty strong for the application after I nipped the surrounding metal around the collar to hold it tight.

There was 1 set screw held in with red loctite. I was able to get that out first (2 mm allen).

[JFairman]

I got one off a burned up motor by clamping the shaft of the motor real good with needle nose vise grips and twisting the squirrel cage off the shaft.
Thats after removing the little allen head grub screw.

Maybe you can tap the armature shaft out of the fan boss with a thin drift punch if you can support the back center of the fan well enough.
Heat and pb blaster helps.

[GH85Carrera]

Be careful to use a thin even coat of JB weld. The balance of the fan can be thrown off with very little weight.

[kodioneill]

are the two holes opposite each other threaded?

[tshih]

Well, after putting in the new motor the fans still didn't come back on so I opened the evaporator fan housing to check the motor. Guess what, that was burned and frozen too!. So ordered a new motor assembly now having spent $400 and still counting.

Learning a lot though about the A./C system.

[safe]

Originally Posted by zbph10

Hammer and a punch, worst case carefully drill the shaft out.

Brian

+1
I have done it like that, no problem. Held the fan in my lap.

[vreference]

A trick I have used for parts that are frozen on a shaft is to weld a bead on the part around the shaft. The part heats up very quickly and pretty much falls off the shaft (Perhaps a hammer strike required). Looks like you have enough beef there that you could do the same; might have to do it at both ends for something that long though.

I suppose it's worth mentioning that the reason I like this method is that you heat the part so fast that the shaft and things attached to it (seals and plastic) don't have time to get hot. That's also why it works so well (Part expands but shaft does not.)

[scarceller]

Heat the hub on the fan near the shaft but not the shaft, simply apply some heat to the collar that slide over the shaft with a torch apply slowly. No need to get it red hot just warm enough to cause the collar to expand.

[911pcars]

Is it simply a press-fit? Did you try with a press?

Sherwood

[tshih]

That front condenser fan is quite fragile and I pushed the collar through the fan cage base during the hammering and now that fan kind of wobbles. So I may have to get a whole new assembly or locate a good used squirre-cage fan. I wished it was plastic like the evaporator fan instead of metal.l