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1926 Buick fan pulley bearing holiday project


AzBob

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As some others have done, I made a ball bearing fan pulley hub insert for my 1926 Standard Coupe. Started with 4" diameter x 4" long aluminum round stock. Was pretty straight forward machining. Had to make a couple of tools for pressing in the bearings without damaging them. As others have noted, the fan holes are not symmetrical. The end result is a nice free spinning pulley with no oil leaks as well as preserving the look of the original pulley. Used .750" Bore X 1.625" OD X 7/16" width radial ball bearings, double sealed from Grainger.

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The issues were leaking oil and wear which caused the fan to wobble. I would fill the hub to the proper level and within a few miles the oil would be gone and the fan bearing would start to squeal. Sure, I could have rebuilt the original and replaced the seal. However, with the sealed ball bearing hub, it's one less oil leak to deal with.

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Bob:

Great Job!

I posted on the forum last year or so the same technique.(I should have done a 3-D CAD drawing as you have done since that is one of the classes I teach). I made several units for other Buick friends. Mine is still doing fine on the 1925-25. But my original goal was to stop the leaking and ruining the leather fan belt. My first attempt was to bore out the ends and make bronze bushings with a spiral groove in the original casting. This lasted about a week and then locked up. So then went to the lathe and started hogging out aluminum! Now it seems that the front lower pulley seal is leaking. So I keep making new fan belts.

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Larry, like to say great job on your 1925-25 fan bearing project as well! In fact, yours was one of my sources of inspiration. After doing an online search, I found a drawing by Bryan Stanley for a 1930-31 Buick. Seems some of the Model T guys are making ball bearing hubs too. I put all the available information together and with dimensions from my existing pulley, made a model and drawing in IronCad Inovate. The most critical parts of this job as you know is the press tolerances and ensuring concentricity between the two bearing bores. The best thing about this alteration is it is reversible and preserves the original look. I have saved all of the old parts in case one wanted to go back to the original unit.

One would think that the grooved bronze bushings would have worked fine. I would have tried the same thing.

Edited by AzBob
clarification (see edit history)
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