A 1990s Otis traction motor threw a bearing on me yesterday in the old bank building downtown.

Heard a nasty grinding noise from the machine room and found the motor housing hot enough to fry an egg on. I had to shut it down, call for a replacement part, and explain to the building manager why their main elevator would be out for two days. Anyone run into a similar failure on these older units and have a trick for getting the seized bearing race off the shaft without damaging it?

3 comments

3 Comments

charlesm5029d ago

Man, that sounds like a rough day. I've been there with a stuck race on an old blower motor shaft. Did you try a three-jaw puller with some heat on the race itself? Just a propane torch, get it good and hot, then crank the puller. Sometimes a few sharp taps with a hammer on the puller screw as you add pressure can shock it loose. If that doesn't work, carefully splitting the race with a chisel is the last resort.

tara_patel25d ago

Yeah, I used to think splitting the race was a hack move too, but that "last resort" chisel method saved me a ton of time last month.

the_max29d ago

Ugh, don't get me started on stuck races. @charlesm50 has the right idea with heat and a puller. I once spent a whole Saturday on one, tried everything but the kitchen sink. Ended up using so much heat I think I changed the temper on the shaft. Had to grind the stupid thing off in the end, made a huge mess of metal shavings. Felt like a total hack.