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***Arcticdude*** · 02-11-2013, 15:51

Can anybody tell me if there's a way to check the famous rear bearing in the Powertech 15k's without disassembling the thing? If I've gone that far, I might as well just go ahead and replace it.

tia

davidbrady · 02-11-2013, 17:21

(02-11-2013 15:51)Arcticdude Wrote: Can anybody tell me if there's a way to check the famous rear bearing in the Powertech 15k's without disassembling the thing? If I've gone that far, I might as well just go ahead and replace it.

tia

Hey John,

Welcome to the Forum! I had that same question cause my Powertech has around 3000 hours on it. Jeff at Powertech told me that there's no way of telling the condition of the bearing without disassembly. Jeff said that the life expectancy of the bearing is 3000 to 5000 hours. Looks like I may need to take a trip down to Van-Mor's in Ocala Florida for some service.

david brady, '02 LXi, NC

***Arcticdude*** · 02-11-2013, 21:38

Well, hopefully with only ~1000 hours on mine I've got a long time before I have to worry about it! That's good info to know!

***encantotom*** · 02-11-2013, 22:20

i have a powertech 20kw genny, with over 9000 hours on it. i am not sure what has been replacde on it but it runs like a top.

tom

davidbrady · (This post was last modified: 02-11-2013 23:46 by davidbrady.)

(02-11-2013 22:20)encantotom Wrote: i have a powertech 20kw genny, with over 9000 hours on it. i am not sure what has been replacde on it but it runs like a top.

Tom, Powertech musta used the good bearing in their 20K models. That's amazing!

david brady, '02 LXi, NC

pgchin · (This post was last modified: 02-13-2013 12:53 by pgchin.)

(02-11-2013 21:38)Arcticdude Wrote: Well, hopefully with only ~1000 hours on mine I've got a long time before I have to worry about it! That's good info to know!

It's an "age" thing, not an"hours" thing. Meaning, the grease in the sealed bearing dries out over time and then failure of the bearing and stator and armature contact is imminent! Also the aging insulation and road dust doesn't help. Me I am waiting until next year, then I am going to replace it as a "maintenance" deal as my travel plans this year do not call for extended use of the genny. Yes, no way to check you need to pull it BUT make sure that blower fan on the back of the genny head is working, you can use a mirror and see the squirrel fan moving, it not then do that and the bearing now! :-)

***Arcticdude*** · 02-12-2013, 16:23

That's also good to know, Pete. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and yank the genny.

pgchin · (This post was last modified: 02-13-2013 13:15 by pgchin.)

(02-12-2013 16:23)Arcticdude Wrote: That's also good to know, Pete. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and yank the genny.

In reviewing my post above I realized I was a bit short worded, my apologies, bad day in the work hood. I wanted to convey to you that the bearing age and other contributing factors such as old insulation dust and road dirt accelerate the bearing wear. Also many people do not realize (including me) that there is a squirrel cage cooling fan on the back of the genny cooling the genny head you really can't see it when the genny is out without a mirror. If that goes bad then the head heats up and both the head and bearing fail prematurely. Obviously hours used plays into the equation but I wanted you to know that it was a number of factors that can cause premature failure. I need to pull my genny to replace the old insulation so I'm just going to replace the bearing anyway so I don't have to eat the cost of a new head while its out, but that is just my PM style, I prefer PM to fix on fail!!!!! Obviously you'll weigh all the criteria and chart your own course!!!!! Good luck and happy motoring!

***Arcticdude*** · 02-14-2013, 00:53

What are you replacing the egg foam insulation with? Don't worry about the short speak, I understood your points. Worked fine for me!

pgchin · (This post was last modified: 02-14-2013 13:47 by pgchin.)

(02-14-2013 00:53)Arcticdude Wrote: What are you replacing the egg foam insulation with? Don't worry about the short speak, I understood your points. Worked fine for me!

So here I am breaking my own 3 days a week only rules on the internet as I had to pay bills and decided to drop by! hahahahaha I'm going to use this stuff:
The insulation is 1" foil faced Polydamp Hydrophobic Melamine made by Polymer Technologies:

http://www.polytechinc.com/products/absorption.php
I used 3M™ Super Trim Adhesive, 08090, to glue the stuff down.

http://tinyurl.com/3y7ylwn
http://preview.tinyurl.com/3y7ylwn

This stuff is super strong and formulated to handle the heat. It passes the rip test which means that if you grab the insulation and pull, the melamine tears instead of the glue.

Dave B used back in '10 for his engine compartment and it has performed well... as I said in your engine post, its pricey but I'm going to use it anyway. Others have used insulation sheets from JC Whitney and other vendors like Dupree products as well. Plenty of choices and price points that all appear to have good results reported! :-)

Just saw Markus's update on your engine post, that's good to know about current price comparisons as my data was 3 years old, thanks!