Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

I am new here and have a question . Should the oil collector bolt go in far enough to rub on the shaft to pick up oil ? Mine for some reason stops flush with top of casing? This is a mill I just picked up and I replaced the nose babbitt and trying to get it put back together right .

First of all, are you using a new oil collector? when installed with a new snout bearing, the oil collector has to be ground down at the outer end with a slightly rounded top so it will just clear the inside of the hub casting as the hub rotates. It may take several attempts of grinding and re-seating the collector to get the proper (but not excessive) clearance between the top of the collector and the inside of hub.

The oil collector should bottom out in the snout casting and never touch the hub shaft, it is intended to scrap the inside of hub casting picking of excess oil to be returned to the main frame housing.

This is not unique to the X-702 model as all model 702 Aermotor motors operate the same, just different size of parts.

Have you checked the website's library under Aermotor for assembly and maintenance instructions?

Larry Chilton

I plan on getting a new oil collector and put it in like you said . So if I file or grind off the excess steel to a rounded shape there should still be plenty of material left for the slot of screwdriver to fit into ? Hopefully ok .. my next question is .. the two bands of steel one on each side of oil collector I'm not sure if there is some wear there or not can you give me specifics on that . I guess what I'm asking is do those two rings need to fit snug with the inside diameter of the hub?

Larry is right. The oil collector is made tall, with the slot down in there so when you (file, grind) it shorter it won't affect the slot. I fit mine to where it drags the inside of the hub, so it will clean it off, so I can blow it out while on the bench. It's gonna drag anyway, later, so might as well make it like that at the start. The rings around the snout wear when the bearing goes south, but what is more important, is the circle ridge around the collector, (oil dam) If that is worn too much, the oil cannot pool inside the dam, to run back into the snout, but will overload the scraping action of the collector, and may run out the snout.

Post a picture, so we can take a looksie.

I'm not sure how to send pictures I'm new