Replacing a bearing on my air compressor motor
Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane):
Easy
Process:
I was working away in my shop the other day when my air compressor started to sound really bad. It sounded like something was rattling. At first I thought it might have been a loose pipe, but upon further inspection it turned out to be a bad bearing in the motor.
I've never actually seen a bearing that bad; the ring that separates the actual balls inside of the races was literally ripped apart and sticking out.
The original bearing was a 6203 LB (NTN) but all the bearing places were closed on the weekend so I bought a cheap 6203 RS replacement bearing at princess auto for $5 bucks and started putting it in.
Pulling the inner race off the shaft was pretty hard. I ended up having to use one of my diy lathe dog and a 3-prong bearing puller to get it off. The outer race was equally difficult so I had to turn a piece of 1.500" steel down to the proper size so I could hammer the outer race out of the aluminum housing.
Once the old bearing was off, I had to make another custom piece on my lathe to press/hammer the new bearing back on the shaft. Lastly, I used my oxy/acetylene torch to heat up the aluminum housing and lightly tapped the bearing into the housing. After putting it all back together it was back to running like it should.
Pictures:
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| The compressor without the protective cover |
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| The bearing cage sticking out |
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| The dust shield floating |
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| The damaged bearing cage with the dust shield off |
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| Another view |
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| This motor has seen some dust |
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| The inner race still on the rotor |
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| Pulling the inner race off with a home-made lathe dog and a 3-jaw pulley puller |
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| The outer race still in the aluminum housing |
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| Another view |
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| Getting ready to turn a piece of metal to the proper size |
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| Knocking the outer bearing race out of the aluminum housing |
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| All the parts of the motor |
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| The not so good looking old bearing |
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| The new bearing (6203 RS from Princess Auto) |
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| Turning another piece of metal to hammer the new bearing back on the rotor shaft |
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| The hole allows for the rotor shaft to protrude past the bearing |
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| The rotor back in the motor housing |
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| Pressing the new bearing back into the aluminum housing |
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| Another view |
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| Close-up of the new bearing |
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| The aluminum housing back on the motor |
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| The fixed compressor motor |
3-prong pulley puller
Socket set
Oxy/Acetylene torch
Hammer
Rubber mallet
Metal lathe & accessories
Torx screwdriver
Cordless drill
Materials:
6203 RS bearing
Cost:
$5.00
Time:
2 hrs
Savings:
At least $125 bucks
Conclusion:
Works like a charm
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