Vortech ball bearing replacements

[trivan]

Has anyone tried the mod to replace the ball bearings on their mp's?
One of mine has a hum which I would like to reduce. I'm past my 1 year warranty so I'm thinking about doing this. The only part I'm not sure of is pulling the ball bearing. Some say a bearing splitter is the safest bet, but not really looking to buy one at this point unless I have too.

Thanks.

 

[trivan]

Here is the mod link:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1901337

 

[Xavier613]

Ive thought about it, My vortech is -To me- Very noisy. Its been like that for a while now too, And recently i tried to go short pulse and found it stutters when ramping up.

Looks simple enough to do so why not if its out of warranty anyway

 

[TanksNStuff]

Sounds pretty simple. I say go for it.

 

[trivan]

OK so I finally got around doing this to 1 of my pumps. Pretty simple, if you have a bearing puller. Also note that the sizes for the bearings seemed to have changed from the posts in RC to the newer MP10's. I had to get ones which were about 2mm different, so I would recommend opening the pump up and measuring the bearing prior to ordering the bearings.

1. Opening the dryside: was pretty simple, just put a utility knife between the parts and gently rocked it back and forth, cracked the seal pretty easily.

2. Remove the 3 screws holding the motor:

3. Remove the magnet which spins the wet side:

4. Remove the motor unit from the housing:

5. Remove the screws holding the motor together:

6. Motor opened, and the magnet with the bearing pulled out:

7. Used a bearing puller to remove the bearings from the center piece.

8. Put the new bearing on and reassembled in reverse.

Conclusion:
The bearing are breaking in but it seems quieter then when using the original bearings, I report back in 1-2 weeks when the bearings are broken in. While I can't say it's silent, the noise is less at higher speeds. Then the original. I have 2 pumps and the one which I did was the noisy one. If this works well. I will spring for very high quality bearings which should make a larger difference. When I ordered them, the good ones were about $3 each. The best ones, with I guess a greater tolerance were about $20 each.

 

[ricwilli]

I'm looking forward to your update. I would have gone with the best bearing in the first place as I'm guessing that echotech is using the cheap ones to keep cost down. Thanks for the photos

 

[trivan]

Yeah I agree now, but people on RC seem to have great success with simular bearings.

 

[asonitez]

Man one of the things I hated was that this seems to be a Yearly thing replacing these components inside of the vortechs. Like after a year or so you will find yourself doing the same thing again and risking further damage to components that CANNOT be replaced by ecotech. Somethings they sell come to them pre-assembled and they sell it as such. I believe the dry-side engine components are one of those things.

All said and done I might try the next generation vortechs when they are released.

 

[trivan]

I still think they are great. . With only a 45 space is limited inside so the mp10 save a lot of space.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Trivan, thanks for your concise DIY but I still have a few questions. Where exactly did you purchase the bearing and although I have large pullers, where do you get that mini bearing puller?

 

[malulu]

this is great!! tagging along... thanks for sharing...

 

[trivan]

Red- I got the bearing from a site called vxb.com. eBay for the puller. It was about 65, but worth not damaging the center piece. There were a number of dyi's on how to get the bearings off, but I have no luck with those, I alway end up spending more money taken a short cut. Happy to lend the puller to anyone who is willing to come up to Summit. Just send me a pm.

 

[trivan]

FYI. There are reports that in some instances the bearings slide right off so if you are going to do this try before you go out and get a puller.