Yardvacuum Impeller Removal

[l008com]

I have not had time to work on this again, but I hopefully will soon. I will be tapping half inch and using a bolt. So heres the question.....

Given how the impeller is sort of just stuck on there, does it make sense, instead of just cranking the bolt down and hoping it pops free, does it make sense to crank it a little bit, then say give the aluminum impeller a few light taps with a hammer. Then crank a little more, then a few more taps, and so on? Seems like that could help it break loose before stripping the threads (hopefully)? But I have little experience with this type of thing. Thoughts?

 

[StarTech]

Well with flywheels here I tighten the forcing screw down as tight as I can by hand. Then using a 2 lb brass hammer strike the top of the forcing screw and re-tighten as a flywheel slowly pulls off the taper. Sometimes it only once and other times it has been several cycles. Basically you are shocking the item off the taper by using tension and play in the threads of the forcing screw.

So far I only had one flywheel that I couldn't pull in 16 yrs and that one someone had gone hog wild with an impact on install.

 

[l008com]

So I stripped out the 7/16" hole and now I'm about to go buy a 1/2" tap and bolt to try again.
But I just started thinking, is that going to be big enough? Or should I go up to 9/16th to make sure i'm getting full new threads with no sign of the old threads?

 

[l008com]

Success! I drilled out the hole with a 29/64" bit. Re-tapped it with a 1/2-20 tap. Then put some grease on the bolt so it would be good and lubricated. Then I got it pretty tight, then gave the impeller a few hard taps. Then tightened the bolt a little more and it popped right off! So that part of the job is mission accomplished! After realizing the belt was still holding the impeller in place, I was able to get it all removed and finally get at the three bolts that let me pop the motor off. Now I can star tearing it apart and fixing what i suspect is a melted camshaft.

 

[Cusser]

Good update !