Disassemble old Ruthman gusher coolant pump for Wade 7"

Probably used on lots of other machines too. Anyway I've been carefully avoiding listening to the noisy bearing in the motor but it got bad enough to finally take notice. I have it apart as below but no sign of how to get it apart further without drilling out the impeller shaft which seems too destructive. The top bearing turns OK by hand, not obviously bad- sealed type and the grease is really stiff.

I note two little diagonal holes at the joint between stem and base, leading to the shaft- one is shown here. I can see the shaft rotate in there, but no sign of anything to unscrew or drive out. I keep wanting something to be in there which would separate the motor shaft from the impeller shaft but maybe not?

The lower motor bearing is still in place, the last step before stopping here was prying the end bell forward which pulled the bearing free from it.





Many thanks!

Greg

Nevermind, impeller unscrews... good lord should've tried that first. It sure didn't look threaded from the end though...

I was going to suggest that, til I read your follow up post. I worked on a similar pump with same the trouble. When reassembling be sure the impeller is installed for proper rotation. Mine was assembled upside down (or backwards if you prefer) long before I acquired it. Still worked but very poorly.

I had the big coolant pump on my ATW running backwards for a while- 3 phase motor, I was wondering why the flow was so terrible lol.

The 2 angled holes at the flange/stem open to a collar pressed onto the shaft up against the lower bearing. I couldn't get a safe purchase anywhere to press it out, and it doesn't seem important so parted the collar & completed disassembly. I suppose the two holes would permit a drift to punch the collar tighter against the bearing- but given how the unit is assembled I don't see why any of that would be necessary- perhaps its a factory assembly aid of some kind. That said, those holes do vent the stem into the tank, would allow the stem to drain as coolant level drops or if coolant inside it surges up to the mounting flange. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if the collar is intended to fling coolant off the impeller shaft so it doesn't get to the bearing.

Remove the 2 screws from the top of the motor case, they hold the start/run switch contact in place on the inside of the outboard bell. When you pull the rotor it will tend to take the outboard bearing out of the bell with it, want to make sure the contact switch board is loose so the bearing doesn't break it on the way out. Once the rotor and bearing are free from the end bell a screw type bearing puller will remove the bearing and the contact switch board is free to come off the rotor.

Got both bearings out, the lower definitely lumpy. While I wait for the new ones, for kicks I'm trying the old shade-tree fix of punching a hole in the shield, flushing and pumping in some new grease. They both spin better now, will toss them in the motor, see how it runs...

Relubed the bearings, just run 'em until the noise stops, wear away the crusty grease but it does sound ok for the moment.

Anyway, when reassembling put the outboard bearing in the bell & screw down the centrifugal switch. As you get the rotor into place make sure the leads don't interfere with how the centrifugal switch wires lay up into the bell. I had the inboard bell and bearing all set on the rotor before doing the outboard- kind of fiddly but worked OK.

No added value from me. However, I'd love to see pics of any Wade with coolant flowing. I guess that means I'm "in for the pics".

I'll hook you up, have a job for the Wade once I get the pump back in; experimenting with little brass cups to retain a ball and spring, trying to make some smaller than Mcmaster's. And I have a J&L die head to try out in the turret- that should be fun.

New bearings were substantially quieter than the old relubricated bearings, got things back together- the pump is working great. I did some initial tests of the J&L 20S die head, I recently made up a 3/4" arbor for it so this is the first time I've been able to run it. My stash of chasers are mostly UNF so put in 1/4-28 and a rough setting, not going for good threads just trying the head out on some old brass rod.

The head works fine but doesn't fully release when triggered, I have to help it a bit with a quick shove to make sure it fully opens. I'll keep working on that.

meantime, heres a link to the vid- haven't found a way to get the player to show up properly here yet. Not interested in youtube or any of the others.

http://pounceatron.dreamhosters.com/all-photos/wade/wade-jl-diehead-test1.webm

Too cool. Now if I could just find the impossible Wade 8a turret..... thanks for the video! Much better than pics.