Blaster heater motor rotation

huskybul · Feb 24, 2018

Am getting very little air flow from my heater after rebuilding the heater box and installing an upgraded blaster heater motor. Pulled the motor and rotation is counter clockwise (from rear of motor), but the fan looks to want clockwise rotation to effectively push air.

needsmoarturbo · Feb 24, 2018

Reverse the wires when you installed it?

DirtDonk · Feb 24, 2018

Happened to someone last year. Is this a one-wire motor, or two? If a single, it's either the wrong motor or someone built it incorrectly. I think...
Not sure how to fix it though, since reversing the wires ends up grounding the positive. Which obviously comes with it's own issues...

;D

If it's a 2-wire motor though, you can give reversing the connections a try. Just be ready to remove them if you see smoke.:-[

Paul

huskybul · Feb 24, 2018

Thanks for the quick replies. This is a single wire motor with frame ground so no way to reverse wires. After thinking about it, would it be possible to reverse the fan mounting on the motor ? It's a new unit, will need to check paperwork but I believe it came from Wildhorses. This is the tailend of a major rebuild with floors, kick panels, front discs and an AX15, so just beginning to go back over some of the bumps that have developed.

75MIKE · Feb 24, 2018

And your center switch control/fresh air cable is pulled all the way out?

DirtDonk · Feb 24, 2018

Good point Mike. Always check for the old "Pull For Heat" condition!

But huskybul, if that's not it, sorry to hear you're having trouble with one of our fans. Since you verified the direction of the motor spinning, give us a call on Monday to see if that's consistent with what we expect.
One of the guys can test a motor there as well, but that will only tell us what that particular motor is doing, and not that it's the way they were originally. Since it's the Blaster kit with the new squirrel cage too though, perhaps the cage is what's backwards and not the motor.
Someone should be able to verify that our supplier is shipping the correct ones.

If it turns out to be an incorrect cage, it looks like there's one more aspect the packaging guys are going to have to look at when putting the kits together!
I don't think they would have noted the different orientation of the vanes just off-hand. Would have needed to study them more closely specifically looking for backwards cages.
Guess it's time to go to squirrel chasing class. Comes right after wild goose chasing class..%)

Good luck.

Paul

No Hay · Feb 25, 2018

The previous owner added this upgrade to mine. You will appreciate it when it's done! I do.

huskybul · Feb 25, 2018

Thanks again for the replies. All the heat controls are in the correct position, the symptom that caused me to pull the motor was weak air flow in both the heater and defrost positions. I will follow up with Wildhorses tomorrow, but today I'm going to play with it a little bit to see if reversing the fan might be the easiest solution. Thanks again guys, have used this forum for years for troubleshooting information and has always been a wealth of knowledge.

Chuck

66broncoCT · Feb 25, 2018

Not sure if you realize but the "pull for heat" Paul is talking about is a different control from the floor/defrost. There's another flap that blocks the outlet of the heater box unless you "pull for heat." If you knew that sorry for restating it but I know it got me when I first got my bronco on the road

huskybul · Feb 25, 2018

Thanks for the additional reminder, and yes I've been bitten by that before also ! The crux of my problem was the air flow was weak whether cold or hot. Just came in from playing with reversing the fan cage on the motor shaft and low and behold it about blows me out of the cab ! Something I've been looking forward to for the 30 or so years I've had this Bronco and driving it in our cold and snowy central Washington winters. Now after maneuvering the larger motor into position a few times my glove box needs attention - always something !

DirtDonk · Feb 25, 2018

Hey, a result!
So are you saying that the fan can easily be installed in either direction on the shaft? Is it at least semi-obvious, or something you had to work at to reverse?
I thought they only went on one way, but it's been awhile since I looked at one.

Thanks

Paul

huskybul · Feb 25, 2018

Paul, the switch is pretty easy only complicated by my initial concern that the motor may have been turning wrong. Either way the cage is attached to the motor shaft using a set screw (accessible through the fins from the side) and a small hex nut on the shaft end. My only advice would be to be certain you have the correct size allen wrench for the set screw and don't use a ball socket allen - it's pretty snug on there.

huskybul · Feb 27, 2018

As a final note on the subject I did confirm through Wildhorses that the correct motor rotation is counter clockwise.

DirtDonk · Feb 27, 2018

When viewed from the shaft/fan side, or the motor side?
Fan side presumably, but wanted to be clear.

Thanks

Paul

huskybul · Mar 1, 2018

For clarification the rotation direction I referenced was from the back of the motor as would be visible when mounted.

DirtDonk · Mar 1, 2018

Thanks

Paul

Blaster heater motor rotation

huskybul

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needsmoarturbo

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DirtDonk

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huskybul

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75MIKE

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DirtDonk

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No Hay

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huskybul

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66broncoCT

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huskybul

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DirtDonk

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huskybul

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huskybul

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DirtDonk

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huskybul

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DirtDonk

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