power house maintenance?

[iverson]

the gen works good and no noise on our 28 just wondering if it would be a good idea to do any preventitive maintenance on it

[Kurt in NJ]

How much of its history do you know-- if it has modern greased sealed bearings, or untouched original bearings-- does it make noise or have play
Look at the commutator, do all the bars look the same, are the bushes worn

[iverson]

Kurt it works good feels good, I'm sure it's never been updated, I don't see any spot to oil it. I put a new belt on it. Car drives good just trying to make it reliable with out doing any damage, until we replace the old hard tires I don't go far!

[Tom Wesenberg]

The bearings are very heavy duty for the job they need to perform. Once you clean them and repack them they should outlive most of us. Be very careful when you remove the brush holder, as it is easily broken or cracked. I've repaired them with JB Weld.
To remove the bearings for repacking you need to remove the rear cover and brush holder. Then remove the special fine thread bolt on the armature, and install a longer bolt, like 1 1/2" or 2". Hold the armature by the commutator and tap the bolt with a hammer to knock the armature loose. Remove the bolt and armature, then use the longer bolt for the front pulley. Hold the pulley in one hand and tap the bolt to knock it loose.
Now you will see the serrated special nut that holds the bearings in place. I used thin steel banding strap and an aluminum bar to make the special tool to remove and install the nut. I've only had to replace 2 bearings out of all the powerhouse generators I've worked on. The others I just clean and repack.

Someone said to remove the rear seal for the shaft, but DO NOT attempt to remove it. It's factory crimped in place and can not be removed. It also has a cork seal/spacer crimped under the metal, so be careful not to hurt the cork while cleaning out the old grease. I use Mystik JT-6 High Temp red grease to repack the bearings. You can add just a little grease to the sides of the bearing chamber, but do not pack it full.

If you do a search for "powerhouse", you should find a lot of pictures and information on this site. I'll look for the picture of the tool I made to work on them.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Here's a link to one thread on powerhouse bearings, and #18 shows the tool I made.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showth...owerhouse+tool

Another thread to read.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showth...rmature&page=2

And another one to read.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showth...house+armature

[al's28/33]

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Is that an original Ford factory two blade fan ??? oh boy I see a can of worms waiting to be opened.....

[iverson]

yes Al its a 2 blade fan I know they can let go, I have seen the hoods! it spins true I looked it over the best I can, I think as long as nobody hammers em should be no problem right? Tom thats some great info! I am sure glad I asked before I jumped in like a dummy! I probably would have damaged it!