Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

Good morning,

We are in need of a windmill repair technician in Brighton CO. We have a Dempster 12A and (we think) during high winds, the windmill will leak oil. The windmill is mounted on a ~20' tower. Please let us know if you are - or know of - an experienced windmill mechanic.

Zach
303.550.0590
znr.johnson@yahoo.com

Thanks much!

Zach

So, what you are needing is someone to actually come there and work on it, instead of advice for you to work on it yourself?

A true Dempster 12-A will have that wording under the snout on the case.

Good morning,

Thanks for your response - we appreciate it. To be honest, the reason we'd like someone to work on it has to do with our "problem" with heights - don't like 'em! With that said, advice is certainly welcome...

Thanks,

Zach

I understand about the heights thing. If you have certain questions, I can help with that.

Windy, pack your bags you need a vacation. Just a hop,skip and jump from you place.

Good idea Wayne. But one issue is that the trucks are tied up with a bunch of windmill jobs here. I think Ron is closer.

LOL, pass the buck !!!

I assume this to be an 8' 12A mill. We work on them all the time since the Dempster factory was 40 miles away and our area is full of Dempster mills. If you can get someone to get it off the tower and you ship it to our location we can overhaul it for you.

Thanks for your info/offer. Might be a problem getting it off of the tower... About how much would it cost to overhaul it?

It's impossible to give an estimate without looking at it but most of the time it can be dismantled, thoroughly cleaned, bearings replaced, crosshead babbitt re poured, new wheel shaft made, new front end seal, fixes most gearboxes and re assembled for $750-$1000. Other problems can be brake hub wore out, outer hub came loose and the bore is ruined and will need replaced, small gears worn, brake shoe worn out, vane pin hole is elongated, tin helmet bent out of shape. Also the platform bearing wore out from lack of grease (they never got greased) and wears out the bottom of the gearbox at an angle because the bearing locked up. Any of these adds to the repair.
Note: The outer wheel hub was famous for coming loose and it would wobble on the wheel shaft and ruin both the hub and the wheel shaft. In later years Dempster improved the hub by extending it longer.

To get it here, get online and look up "U Ship" and get a bid from truckers to bring it here. They are much cheaper than commercial trucking.

Dave..