Vortech bearing replacement

M

Mewik

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My old MP10 is sounding a little bit rough and I decided to hunt down a way to fix it. I came across this thread on replacing the bearings.

Noisy Vortech DrySide FIX!! - Reef Central Online Community

Has anybody tried this on an ecotech pump? I read an article about cleaning and relubing the bearings somewhere as well, should I try to clean them or just replace the things? If anyone has done it how hard is it to do?

Thanks
 
Yup, I vote you do it, and take loads of pics along the way so we can have our own SA flavoured "how to" thread. :p
 
viper357 said:
Yup, I vote you do it, and take loads of pics along the way so we can have our own SA flavoured "how to" thread. :p
Click to expand...

Haha i will try my best to document the potential disaster, if things do go wrong then my rage reaction being caught on tape might make it all worth while.

Will open the pump up this weekend to get the bearing numbers and then I will get the replacements next week.

I will try to go one better and post the part numbers and where to get them from :p
 
Looking forward to it, and thanks for volunteering to be the guinea pig on this one. :biggrin:
 
I've been contemplating doing the same thing to one of my MP40s. I spoke to @bryan to see if Vortec does services on the dry side units but it sounds like they only do replacements etc on the wet side.
 
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The mail I got from @bryan said they test the wet side .. I replied asking about the dry side and he didn't answer. Perhaps they don't have the resources to work with bearings?? Or he finally got tired of me bugging him :lol:
 
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I didnt even check if they do service the dry side, I got mine from the uk so I figured no one would want to touch it. I managed to get the motor out of the housing and got stuck with the small star and hex screws due to my general lack of tools. Getting the front cover off of the housing was a proper las, it definitely wasnt designed to ever come off again. Will post pics later when I manage to open this motor casing up properly and get to the bearings.
 
One thing I noticed is how crappy the magnet in the motor must be. If you switch on the motor when its out of the housing it spins way off centre, due to the magnet not being 100% round, so I'd image that will cause some serious ware on the bearings over time. Also for what these pumps cost an aluminium housing would be nice to help with dissipating the heat it generates. I've noticed my pump gets stupidly hot sometimes so again that cant help the bearings. And why the hell dont they use ceramic bearings? Seems there's alot of room for improvement on what is a top end unit
 
Success!!

Ok managed to get it done and now the pump is running as quietly as the day I got it. Whole thing cost a stonking R25 and a bit of stress and pain. With the right tools it would not be such a hassle, but it was not so much fun due to the fact that I don't really own any tools :whistling:

The hardest part was getting the front cover off. It took a fair bit of time to pry it off without damaging it, in the end I ran a pocket knife around the seam until it got it to come off. At first it seemed like it was doing nothing but eventually I got it right.

The inside would have been easy but one of the screws holding the motor casing together wouldn't budge so it had to be drilled out, turns out it was bent down in the middle of the thread so it was never gonna budge without drilling the head off. Otherwise once the screws are off the magnet, bearings and shaft just come out and you can pop off the bearing with some gentle prying. I just took the bearing to Bearing Man and they gave me the matching bearings which cost R12.50 each. Simply popped them back on and put everything back the way it came off and it's good to go :thumbup:

I am running next to the mp10 I got from STC-1000 and they both sound the same so all around a good result and not a bad way to save some cash.

I am not going to bother gluing the front piece on as well as it was before, least that way in future I can easily open it up to redo the bearings. A bit of silicone should work well enough.

Front cover removed:
20130322_214314_zps6e0732b9.jpg


Back sticker removed
20130322_214321_zps134685ab.jpg


Once the back screws are removed the motor housing will come out
20130322_214740_zps271b71f9.jpg


all the screws come off the motor housing after a bit of a fight and you land up with a pile of crud like this
20130323_113246_zpsfcb23dec.jpg


Pic of the magnet and shaft with the bearing removed
20130323_113238_zps2be77083.jpg


The replacment bearing
20130323_113340_zpsfdbd246c.jpg


Old mp10 backing in action
20130323_134130_zps7b31606a.jpg
 
Nope just straight switch for what was in there. I dont mind doing it once a year or so. The ceramic ones are alot more expensive and they dont stock them so you would need to order them in. Will see how long these ones last if they dont last a year ill get ceramics
 
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