I replaced failing treadmill motor bearings on a motor that I am thinking of using for a 2"x72 belt grinder. 3HP ought to be enough. There's a bit of backstory that I didn't get into in the blog post. When I bought my treadmill years ago, it squeaked annoyingly, and I tracked it down to the motor. Johnson Health, after a short support conversation, quickly sent me a new motor and didn't even want the old one back; I guess they weren't going to re-use it, so why pay shipping two ways when they could pay for shipping only one way? I replaced the motor, which fixed the squeaking, and told folks how happy I was with my support experience.
When I trashed bearings on the replacement motor by over-tightening the new belt (oops), I tried swapping in the old motor on the theory that squeaking was better than crunchy bearing noises, then discovered that I really wasn't over-reacting in the first place. But now I have learned more, and know that the squeaking was also bad bearings! So I took apart the motor with the bearings I had trashed, measured the bearings, and ordered two sets of replacement bearings. After successfully fixing the treadmill by putting in the motor with the replaced bearings, I took pictures while replacing the bearings in the original motor in order to post photos to help the next person.
And now, when I build a 2x72" belt grinder, I'll have a 3HP 90V DC motor to run it. That should be enough!
When I trashed bearings on the replacement motor by over-tightening the new belt (oops), I tried swapping in the old motor on the theory that squeaking was better than crunchy bearing noises, then discovered that I really wasn't over-reacting in the first place. But now I have learned more, and know that the squeaking was also bad bearings! So I took apart the motor with the bearings I had trashed, measured the bearings, and ordered two sets of replacement bearings. After successfully fixing the treadmill by putting in the motor with the replaced bearings, I took pictures while replacing the bearings in the original motor in order to post photos to help the next person.
And now, when I build a 2x72" belt grinder, I'll have a 3HP 90V DC motor to run it. That should be enough!
