Parts for a Champion 400 blower

[bsiler]

I have lost a bearing cap. Does anyone have any idea where I could get one. Also the blower is leaking oil around the fan shaft behind the blades. Is there a fix for this.
Thanks for any help
Billy

[David Hughes]

I also need a grease cap for the crank gear end.

The oil leak, though, I believe has been answered below in other comments. There is no seal, the gears are lubed by oil but do not run in oil. By the time you get to the blower shaft things are moving at high rpm and running in oil would slow it down. People have tried seals, and as a result, added too much friction/resistance to the gearing to where it is a struggle to use this finely designed mechanism. They were designed to leak, probably helping remove dirt and grit from the gears and bearings. Add a little every time you use it. The more you add the more they leak. The only "fix" is to adjust your bearings, bearings in proper adjustment leak less or leak slower and turn better.

[bsiler]

Thanks David
Last night I was looking at some old post and found the one about not running in oil. How is the best way to oil the bearings? This is the first blower I have had.My farther suggested making a cap and gasket and taping a couple of screw holes. Not sure I want to do that.
Thank you for the reply
Billy

[David Hughes]

You have two things here. You have bearings that run in grease/oil and you have gears lubed by oil.

The caps are grease caps for the bearings, fill them with grease and screw down. If typical, you will need to clean the bearings out and adjust them. If you adjust the bearing on the off end of the blower shaft, DO NOT hold the shaft by using the blower vanes, they are thin castings and will break off. Likewise, do not use the brass gear as a hold down. Adjustment is like your bicycle bearing adjustment. I made a funky cap to replace my missing cap out of thin wall brass sink drain pipe. Turned the edge over into an internal flange and bolted a couple of fender washers together to seal it. Like I said, funky, but We Are Blacksmiths And We Make Our Own Tools

On the top cover there should be a brass fitting that looks kinda like a vent. If missing, there should be a threaded hole, if broken off, there should be a brass-rimed hole. This is a spring-loaded oil port. Pull up on the top to open it and add a squirt of oil from an oil can. This blower was in production for so long there might be various differences in the oil port, but the basic idea remained the same. Remember, the more you add the more it leaks, but it needs at least a few drops every time you use it. The leak comes out the front blower shaft bearing and runs down the inside of the blower housing. Depending on how you have the piping to the forge attached, it then runs down either the inside or outside of your supply pipe. Collect in a coffee can or a drip pan on the floor.

A cleaned, tuned and adjusted Champion 400 blower should coast two or more turns of the handle after releasing it, of course assuming you have the counterbalanced handle. If it sounds like sand in the bearings, they need cleaning and adjustment. It is possible, using appropriate care, to replace the iron ball bearings (that like to rust) with the same size modern stainless ball bearings (he sez, having actually done this). If the blower shaft or crank shaft is loose in the housing, the bearings need adjustment.

The Champion 400 is considered the finest blacksmith hand blower made

[bsiler]

Thanks again David,
I sure wish I had ask some questions before I started messing with it.

There doesn't seem to be much play in anything. When you crank it seems to be a little hard (hard might not be the way to describe it) to turn. This is the first one I have ever cranked. It doesn't turn much after you let go. I have noticed that if the weight is left at the top it will always go to the bottom. I saw somewhere that after you have it hooked up that it cranks easier.

I looked at it and saw the the oil port, and I wonder how you could fill it up with oil through it. So I took the cover off and put oil in it, ran out almost as fast as it went in. Thats when I started taking other things off and lost (I think I have ghost in the barn) the grease cap. Wish I had ask you first.

Thanks again for the instructions and advice. If you don't mind I probably will have other questions and problems that I might need advice on.
Thank You
Billy