How To Remove & Replace Pump Motor Bearings

If the bearings inside the electric motor on your Swimming Pool Pump are starting to make noise you will have to replace them with new bearings or you can replace the entire motor, but why do that when in a few hours you can replace the bearings for a way lower price then buying a new motor. Plus there is no reason to throw away a good motor when the motor on your Super Pump can just be re-built. If you think about it, rebuilding your pool pump motor instead of replacing it is a ECO-friendly thing that you are doing because you are creating less waste.

You Need To Remove The Pump From The System:

The first thing you will need to do before you can remove the bearings from inside your pool pump is to disconnect the pump from the filter system plumbing. This will make it easier for you to work on the pump. You can disconnect the pool pump from the filter plumbing by loosing the suction side and discharge side unions and then the pump will be able to be moved to a place where you can work on it more comfortably. You will need to turn the union collars counter clockwise to loose them. Most of the time PVC unions will have an open arrow and close arrow on them so you know which way to turn.

It’s Time To Remove The Pump Housing, Diffuser & Pump Impeller:

Depending on what brand of pump you have will depend on how the pump housing separates from the motor. If you have a Hayward in-ground pool pump you most likely will have to remove a set of four bolts behind the pump housing. If you own a Sta-right or Pentair pool pump you will have to loosen a bolt and metal band and then the pump housing and motor will come apart. To find out how your model of pump disassembles be sure to take a look at a parts breakdown diagram if you cannot figure it out yourself. Once you have removed the pump housing you will be able to see the diffuser and you will just want to pull that right off the seal housing. Once the diffuser is removed you will need to remove the pump impeller from the motor shaft. You can do this by holding the rear of the motor shaft while turning the pump impeller counter clockwise with a strap wrench. Once the impeller is removed you will be able to move to the next step which is to disassemble the electric motor and armature.

You Will Next Need To Disassemble The Pump Motor:

Now that the electric motor is no longer attached to the pump housing you will be able to start taking apart the motor so you can replace the bearings inside. Most electric motors on pool pumps will have 4 bolts that hold the two end bells of the motor onto the frame. You will need to take a nut driver and remove these four bolts and then you will need to remove the front and rear motor end bells.

Next You will Remove & Replace The Motor Bearings:

Now that the through bolts and the end bells have been removed you can pull out the motor armature, get out your motor bearing puller and you can now remove the bearings with the puller. You should always change both the front and rear motor bearings at the same time. There is no reason you should only change one bearing. You already have the pump apart so you might as well change both bearings even if just one of the bearings is bad. Once you remove both bearings you will now want to re-install two new bearing on the motor armature. You can either use an arbor press to install the bearings or a bearing installation tool to press the bearings onto the electric motor shaft.

Now You Will Reassemble The Motor & Pump:

By now you should have the new pump bearings on to the motor armature so you will be ready to start putting the motor back together. You will want to slide the motor armature into the motor windings and then you will want to re-install the rear and front motor end bells. Once the armature and then end bells are into place, you can insert the motor through bolts and tighten them up with the nut driver. You will want to turn the bolts clockwise to tighten them. Once the motor is all back together you will want to replace the pump seal and then reattach the pump housing to the electric motor in reverse order that you took it apart.

It’s Now Time To Reconnect & To Test The Rebuilt Pump:

Once you have changed the pump motor bearings, replaced the pump seal and have everything back together you will now be ready to re-install the pump back onto the filter system plumbing. Take your pump over to the filter system and reconnect the suction and the discharge side plumbing unions by turning the union collars counterclockwise and then you will want to snug them down with a big pair of channel locks to make sure they are tight. Once both of the unions are tight you can prime the pool pump with some water and then you should plug the pump in and start it up. If everything was installed and rebuilt right you should have a nice and quite fully operation rebuilt swimming pool pump.