Removing "Squirrel Cage" from Blower Motor?
 

How do you remove the fan (squirrel cage) from the blower motor (from a w124)??? I dont want to force it off and end up braking it. I heard that they're not meant to come off... ????

THanks

They will come off, although I've never had the guts to do it.

Do a search...somewhere there is a photo of someone using a gear puller, I believe it was.

So you basically just pull them off?

if you hold the squirrel cage and have someone else hit the motor shaft with a hammer ----it will move, then you need a punch to hit with hammer and drive shaft out.

Squirrel Cage removal
 

DO NOT USE THE BRUTE FORCE METHOD

This is the post with pictures

Blower Motor Removal
on the 1990 W124 300CE
by JSlabotsky
1/9/03


JSlabotsky,

Thank you , excellent DIY!

The fans on the W124 blower are extremely delicate!
Clean the rust off of the shafts with fine sand paper (400 grit?) so that you won't chew up the ID of the fan when you do get them sliding off. Also observe the direction of the fans and measure how far they are on the shaft so you can get them back on in the same position.
Best thing would be to pay the extra and get the motor with the fans mounted.

I can tell they're delicate. One of mine broke and I wanted to replace it with another fan from a broken motor... with my luck, I'll end up breaking the good fan.

Is it glued on or just sheer friction?

cdplayer
 

No one around at the time I replaced my blower motor, so I used two stacks of books. The book stacks were close enough to support the cage with the old motor hanging in between the books. I used a punch and struck the motor shaft a couple of times to free the cage from the old motor.

I put the cage on the new motor by using a small block of wood, and taping the wook gentle to press the cage into place on the motor shaft.:kid:

The fans are a press fit. No glue.

Those describing the brute force method are describing another model. The W124 fan would not survive.

Compress Ignite has the right idea with the puller, although I don't know what he is catching on.

I made up 2 disks, one goes behind the fan and the other on the outside. They are screwed together and then a small puller catches the outer disk to pull the fan off. Because they are screwed together it is actually the inside disk that is exerting the force on the fan at the strong area where it is pressed on the shaft.
Took 2 aluminum disks (steel would of course work as well) 1/8" thick, 2" diameter and drilled a hole though the center of each the size of the motor shaft. On the disk that is to go on the inside, cut a slot with the width of the shaft diameter in from the circumference to the center. Mark the 2 disks in 3 spots (more or less equally spaced) so that screws can go between them without touching the delicate fingers that attach the fan blades to the center part of the fan. Drill clearance holes in the outer disk and tap the inner one (I used 10-32 x 1 1/2" screws).
For use on the later W124 fans with the cabin air filter, I had to Dremel out some metal from the inside disk as the clearances are tighter between the fan and motor than the earlier blowers.

Lubricate the fan bushings with transmission fluid before putting it back in the vehicle - avoid getting any on the commutator and brushes (syringe works well).