Motor Disassembly: Craftsman King-Seeley 103.23141 Drill Press Restoration, Pt. 8

Now we'll take the motor apart and pull the bearings. I had noted some bearing noise when I tested the motor, and I've decided just to replace all of the bearings - motor and drill press - since I'm taking everything apart.

First we remove the drive belt pulley.

I read a couple of threads on the interwebs about drill press restoration, and they mentioned having to use a puller to get the pulley off, so I was dreading this.

No worries at all. Just undid the Allen screw and poof.

Off it came.

I'll be cleaning everything up and polishing as needed on reassembly.

There are access plates/covers on each end of the motor. This enables one to get to the bearings to relubricate them.

I took the plates off mainly to be out of the way for disassembly of the motor case.

I'm keeping the parts in the order they'll go back on - there's an end float spring, a couple of seals, and the plate cover.

The other end of the motor, where the circuit breaker and starter switch is, comes apart the same way.

Note that I stacked the parts and labelled them so I can reassemble in the same order. The parts are stashed in a safe place - NOT the workbench!

Now we undo the acorn nuts that are on the ends of the long case bolts.

Lots of squirrels in my hood so I have to stash the nuts where they can't find them.

One down, three to go. You can see these are just long rods with threads at the end. Once the nut on one end is loosened, the rod slides out.

Some people who know me might say I am the loose nut.

The "Craftsman" nameplate is an aluminum band that goes around the center of the motor.

I marked the location of the plate with tape so it can be relocated in precisely the same place when it goes back together.

Note that dent - dagnabbit. I must have inadvertently done that when moving the motor around. I'm pretty sure I can get it out though.

Simple yet effective mounting for the nameplate. There are bent clips in the metal that hold the label in place. Just unclip them and the label comes off.

There you have the sleeve/nameplate removed.

Now we really get down to business.

There are seats cast into the end bell covers on the motor which the bearings ride in. On the pulley end, there is a lip on the outer edge of the seat, which means that the cover has to be removed to access the bearing. The way the bearing is mounted means it has to be pulled off the rotor shaft.

On the other, circuit breaker end, it's the opposite. The lip is on the inside edge of the seat. The bearing is driven out from the inside of the cover. This should become clearer in a minute.

The service material that came with this stuff is invaluable now. Here you can see where I studied the exploded diagram before I...exploded the whole thing.

On the pulley end of the motor, I used a gear puller to get the end bell off.

What we'll see in a minute is the end of the rotor shaft with the bearing still attached.

The bearing is in its seat tightly; the end bell can't be moved off without leverage.

The end bell is cast iron so it's highly unlikely it would be damaged by pulling it off like this.

The cover is removed and we can see the bearing pressed on the shaft. Note the end of the bearing is open - it would be accessible via the small end plate I removed before in order to regrease it.

And note also the motor fan, which is mounted on this end of the rotor.

The rotor is free to slide out of the motor housing at this point.

On the right, you see the still-attached bearing from the pulley end, while there is no bearing on the left side. That bearing is still in the circuit breaker end bell.

Here's the view looking down inside the winding housing looking toward the circuit breaker end of the motor.

The silver object is the motor start switch. You can just see the inner bearing race in this shot.

Undo the two screws holding the switch in place and gently move it out of the way.

Note the fiber insulator that was under the switch.

With a bit of maneuvering, the insulator can be removed. It's an odd shape, so it won't pull straight up, but it will come out.

And now we have access to the bearing. It needs to be driven out from this side.

I used a big socket - I think it was 24mm - on an extension to drive it out.

I read on the interwebs that if you're driving a bearing from (or into) an opening like this, you should only put pressure on the outside so as to not damage the inner race. And the reverse if it's on a shaft - pressure on the center.

In this instance, it's not so critical since the bearings won't be reused.

And here's the bearing.

None of this is that difficult, you do need the right tools and patience. AND of course, keep track of your steps for reassembly.

Finally, I use a puller to get the pulley end bearing off the rotor shaft. I think the bearing may get mangled.

Sure enough, the puller dented it. Again, not a big thing since it will be replaced.

Now I need to clean everything up, fit new bearings, put a new start capacitor on, and put it back together.

The complete restoration saga

Part 1 - Beginning

Part 2 - Electrolysis to Remove Rust

Part 3 - Grinding to Remove Rust

Part 4 - Leveling Base Table

Part 5 - Recreating Model Number Label

Part 6 - Refinishing Base

Part 7 - Removing Motor

Part 8 - Motor Disassembly

Part 9 - Motor Bearing Replacement

Part 10 - Start Capacitor and Motor Reassembly

Part 11 - Removing Threaded Jacobs Chuck

Part 12 - Spindle Removal

Part 13 - Quill Disassembly

Part 14 - New Quill and Spindle Bearings

Part 15 - Engine Turned Aluminum Trim Proof of Concept

Part 16 - Engine Turned Aluminum Trim

Part 17 - Cleaning and Polishing Hardware

Part 18 - Jacobs 633C Drill Chuck Restoration

Part 19 - Cleaning and Polishing Column

Part 20 - Reassembly Begins

Part 21 - Restoration Completed