How To Rebuild Ao Smith Hayward Motor

If you have a Hayward Super Pump or a Super Pump II and also have an A.O smith electric motor that is powering that pump, then this guide will explain to you how to rebuild your electric pool pump motor. You will need a motor bearing puller, a Flathead screw driver, a nut driver set and about two hours of your time. Having access to an arbor press would also be helpful so you can press your new motor bearings onto the motor armature after you remove the old, worn or noisy 6203 / 6204 bearings from the motor’s armature shaft.

Removing The Wet End / Pump Housing From The Motor

The first thing you will want to do is to remove the wet end,this is also known as the volute or pump housing. You will want to remove this from the motor. You can do this by removing the four flange bolts that connect the wet end of the pump to the motor. Once you remove those four bolts you will be able to remove the wet end of the pump. You will now see the Hayward Super Pump’s diffuser and impeller. You will want to remove both of them and then remove the seal housing. Once you have removed the wet end of the pump, the diffuser, the impeller and the mechanical seal housing you will be ready to actually work on the electric motor.

Remove The Rear Cover Loosen The Motor Through Bolts

Now that you have removed the pump housing, you will want to remove the motor through bolts. These bolts are what holds the two ends of the motor in place. These motor thought bolts are sometimes hard to remove, so the trick is to work them back and fourth, ( loosen and tighten ) a few times until you can work them all the way out of the pump motor.

To access the motor through bolts on you A.O. Smith motor that was connected to your Hayward pump you will first need to remove the rear motor access cover. You can remove that cover by removing the hold down bolt which is a 1/4 nut driver or a 5/16 if you have an older model. Once you remove the rear cover you will see four hex head bolts that you will have to remove with your nut driver these are the motor through bolts, You will want to remove all four of them. If they are stuck or hard to get out, just make sure to spend some time and slowly work them out of the motor. If you break the through bolts you will have to drill the motor end bells out.

Remove The Front End Bell & Armature

Once the through bolts have been removed you can take a rubber mallet or hammer and knock the front end bell from the motor windings casing. You will then pull on the motor shaft a bit and then the motor armature will come sliding out from the motor windings. Now that you have the motor armature removed from the windings you next step will to be to remove and replace the ball bearings. The Hayward Super Pump uses ( 2 ) 6203 motor bearings on most models and on some motors they use a 6204 on the front of the shaft, but that usually is in the Hayward Super Pump II models.

You will need a electric motor bearing puller for the next step in order to remove the bearings. You can buy an electric motor bearing puller at most tool stores like Sears, Home Depot and so on. The motor bearing puller will remove the rear and front bearings from the motor shaft.

Remove & Replace The 6203 Motor Bearings

The first thing you will want to do is take your bearing puller and remove the front and rear 6203 motor bearing from the pump armature. Once you remove the old bearings you will want to press on two new 6203 motor bearings using a arbor press. You will want to make sure that you press the bearings on by the inner race of the bearing only. Failure to press the bearing on by the inner race of the bearing could result in a bearing that does not last for a long period of time and may become noisy right away. Do not press the bearings on by the out part of the race for any means, this will destroy the bearing.

As a side note, some front motor bearings will have a retaining clip that you will have to remove with a pair of ring pliers.

Re-Assemble The Motor & Bench Test

Now that you have replaced the 6203 motor bearings inside of your pump motor you are going to want to put it all back together again. Start by carefully inserting the motor armature into the motor windings casing. Once you do so you will want to install the front motor end bell and then slide all the through bolts into the motor casing. Now you can tighten up all the motor through bolts and then install the wet end of the pump.