Aermotor B602 restoration

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

Sometimes I've had to drill them.start with a smaller bit then the pins making sure you try to keep centered. Try again to knock them out if no luck go to a bigger bit try again until the pins knock out. Remember there's two pins in each gear

[Ron Stauffer]

Just a catch up on your other post and this one.

I first thought the tower was a traditional 3 post of similar vintage to the head but it isnt. Those are "aftermarket" lower X braces and the rest of the tower top is the top part of a trussed tripod tower of 1907-1915 vintage that was pretty tall.

The transition of 602 to 702 wasnt a universal timeline in the different sizes of Aermotors. In B602, 1930-1932 had 2 rivet wheels with the rolled rib and the 702 style tailbone with the angle bottom strut. It is really hard to call single rivet wheels 602 and double rivet wheels 702 as the 14 & 16 602s had two rivet wheels but with a flat rib. Since yours has been worked over or altered and falls slightly outside the dates it is hard to say if it originally had a single or double rivet wheel,

Speaking of being worked over, did this come from north AZ and more specifically between Holbrook and Show Low. These are the reasons I ask:
1) Looks like northern AZ vegetation and the water had to freeze in that hub
2) The mill and tower is more rusty than typical AZ
3) And there was a guy 50 years ago that summered in MN and wintered in AZ and he took MN windmills to AZ. I have worked on several up in that area that had MN shipping addresses and all the stuff was 602. Finally after a couple, I inquired and one old timer told me how I was seeing MN windmills in AZ. Have you seen any shipping addresses on it?

On your project, some castings welds better than others. the inside diameter of the repaired area at most should be flush and better out some and never in too far. Dont do any more touch up to the ID than necessary, we had a weld blow through and couldnt use it as the blow through was in the path of the oil collector. That part of the hub is structural as that is what supports the spokes next to the case.

Usually you can tell which direction a small gear pin was driven in because the driven side is not in as far. It is the best to drive it back out opposite the way driven in.

It looks like the mill laid a good while with the hub down. It is likely that the main shaft will be pitted.

If the rebuild endeavor gets halted, I have a complete rebuilt B602 with same upgrades as yours and also a B503 hub and shaft. I have a load of stuff going to the valley in the next couple days

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO

[waterPumper]

Ron, your intuition is remarkable. I bought the mill in Taylor AZ, between Holbrook and Show Low. As for shipping address, I have attached a pic of the vane. I cannot make out the address but maybe someone else can. There is other writing on the tower but I haven't unpacked that yet. Ron I will send you a PM regarding your hub etc. Thanks. John

[Ron Stauffer]

That lettering is a guess but the bottom line on the right is the state abbreviation before they went to two letters. That looks close enough to be WIS - Wisconsin. WI and MN have pretty similar aging metal looks. Ivan, any help?

The tower may be a different ship to since they are not from the same period.

Taylor, Snowflake, Showlow outlying areas were "homesteaded" by the back to the land, Mother Earth News people in the 1970s. It is an interesting mix now after covid - people fleeing the valley, survivalists and a few lingering original homesteaders.

Ron

[waterPumper]

When hammering out the pinion pins with a non-tapered punch, do I risk damaging the shaft babbitts?

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

John i dought you'll hurt the babbitt knocking the pins out.were you going to have new babbitt bearings poured?

[waterPumper]

Dan, I am hoping that I do not need to pour any new babbitt bearings. How hard should I be hammering the punch? I also don't want to split the cast pinion gear.

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

Did you try drilling them the way I explained

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

John if you don't plan on pouring new bearings why are you pulling the shaft out are you replacing it with a new one?

[waterPumper]

Dan, this is all new to me. Since applying penetrating oil the hub & main shaft spin very well with very little slop. I have no prior experience with babbitts or windmills and thought I would do complete tear down & report back to all the knowledgeable people here. Shouldn’t the hub be off prior to welding anyway? Thanks for all the help and advice to everyone. I’d be lost without you all.