Electric lawn mower bearing repair, Qualcast motor bearings re-lube. 

Thank you for this amazing video. I was trying to get the motor apart to check for a broken electrical circuit and like everyone, I got stuck separating the motor. After trying lots of things i sprayed wd40 on the top bearing you were trying to replace, and let it soak for about 5 minutes and then found by inserting a larger flat headed screwdriver in the top brown piece in the side holes (not where the brushes go, and then lever the plastic cover up, it came off with a few gentle attempts. It was the top bearing that was keeping it tight on there. This then allowed the outer coil and inner coil to slide apart and gain access.

Two years later this video saved my lawnmower...

Great, informative, clear video. I've got a slightly larger Qualcast with the same problem. Looking forward to doing the job now, thanks.

Well done Andy !

Hi, thanks a lot for this video! My experience and repair were exactly like yours: I stopped when the motor noise turned nasty, so I took it apart and hit the same roadblock, and since I didn't have any experience at all with mowers I searched and found your video. It seems you are absolutely right when you said, it's a "generic model": the whole assembly looks identical even though I'm from Germany, and this is from the firm Einhell, model BG-EM 1437, 1400W, production date 10 years ago. Your little comments everywhere were extremely helpful, so I knew where to look and lift the little covers on the bearings and lubricate properly. I found that it wasn't good to tighten the top brown part holding the motor brushes too much, since then it would stop turning easily. So turning it on, thankfully no blue smoke dragon, at least not yet, and the overall sound of the motor was very smooth, silent and gratifying. I don't think it ever sounded as good as this, it's amazing what a little well-applied lubrication will do! And also thanks for that funny comment near the end: "I'm just gonna pop a bit of oil on these screws, because why not?!" I think that's going to stay with me from now on... 🙂

Thank you for an amazing video. I have learned so much. Thank you for talking through, showing your thought process as you came to unexpected challenges. Best wishes 😊

Well done Andy. Hope u keeping well👍

Good work Andy, Great pleasure in a little success like that. The little pulley on the splined shaft looked to me like a washing machine motor pulley. I see other comments saying otherwise, but my opinion is what it is. If so, they are very well pressed on there. I managed to release one once using a miniature bearing pullers, I may have made a video of it. To get the pulley off the shaft I had to make it red hot, it seems to be beyond an interference fit, but I can't imagine that they heat them to fit them on. I imagine with your press and jig and a bit of heat it may have shifted. But the heat may have damaged the plastic. Or the jig may have shielded it and acted as a heat sink. Nevertheless, it works! and that is a success. On another thread, the brushed commutator motor is a universal motor, it will run on AC or DC. I am sure there is a bit of math involved, but it must be possible to stick some batteries up on top. I guess the trade off is that you have all the freedom of no cable but you get to lug the batteries around. Maybe I have talked myself out of giving it a go.

That bearing looked like it was toast - you might have made smoke a moment later, as I think you said. Good job it freed up because it didn't look like it was going to be much fun getting it off that shaft. Cheers,Dave

A superb video as you have encountered all the same problems as I do and then talked them through. I just got a discarded Hyundai HYM 3200E with tight bearings the runs for a second or two then stops. The set up is exactly like this Qualcast and I'll be having a go tomorow to save it from scrapyard.. Thanks for inspiring confidence.

Hurrah, very enjoyable. Thank-you!

Great video Andy which I only came upon after dismantling the same mower. This would have saved me some time. It was great fun anticipating your next move as you went along. The impeller below the motor on mine disintegrated quite alarmingly whilst mowing. I have the same issue as you with that drive pulley splined onto the motor shaft and I can't see any way of getting it off with the tools I have. The impeller is above the pulley and cannot be replaced without first removing the pulley. I can't even source a replacement impeller. It is so frustrating that it means the end of the mowers life and the expense of a new one when I can see just what needs doing and the part would be of minimal cost.

fantastic knowledge thanks for sharing, im going to give mine qualcast another go!!!

I would have given you an extra upvote for your patience.

where you were trying to lever the belt off (11.20), if you look a little lower you will see 4 screws, undo those and the motor assembly will slide (you can see the elongations around the screw holes) - that will give you the slack to undo the belt and refit it

well i fixed it mine was the bearing on the other side, grease and hammer hit, working again THANKS

I used your video and got the first one that I was given by our croquet club back to running condition. However recently I was given another , from Freecycle, and it has defeated me. It didn't respond to oiling, and remained seized solid. So I needed to get that drive pulley off, but nothing worked. Home made puller, blowtorch, acetylene torch. no dice. So I cut it off using a Dremel, and even then had to cut twice. But Ive still not managed to free the shaft. . It would be a pity to scrap it after getting this far, so I've written to Ryobi to see if they have parts. But somehow I doubt that

Good idea

Well, after cutting the drive pulley off to get to the bearing, it was still seized solid, and I lost patience and applied a strap wrench to the plastic fan. It then came loose and i found it had got so hot that the fan had welded itself onto the housing. The oiling had indeed got into the bearing, but it was rough, so I pulled it off and bought a new one for R25 (1£). I checked the resistances of the commutator segments, and there weren't any dead shorts or open circuits, so i though that would be ok . I reassembled the lot, gluing the drive pulley back together with Q-Bond (gap filling 2-part superglue) And it worked, but sadly, only for a few minutes before overheating again .I then took the top cover off and observed . There was a lot of sparking from one of the brushes , and it overheated even more quickly. It seems there is an electrical fault. So, thats a fail

Hi Andy, great video. We always want to strip everything apart but sometimes have to accept to repair as best as possible without complete disassembly. I have a Bosch 320 but very similar shaft and pulley. Mine has a loud sweal as the fan behind the small pulley is no longer connected to the shaft. (It just spins freely). When doing this video did you see did you see how this fan is attached to the shaft? I may have to just lube to remove squeal and risk running for short periods fanless ( there's a bigger fan on the larger pulley which will give some cooling)

Perfect video sir. I followed your every step. However when I fired it up. The blue smoke dragon arose. Any idea what caused this? The carbon contacts were healthy before power up Many thanks

I would call that a result...........Great

it will not budge with a press cause the pulley is threaded on the shaft. there is a thread, not push fit.

update; in y case the small ball bearing is also a write - off and a gear puller wont remove it.reading other comments I will have to resort to an angle grainer and cut it off. But the lower large bearing is wobbly, and it's not going to be treatable as yours was. There is some sort of packing around its outer circumference , and I'll have to get that belt pulley off to fix the bearing if the mower to work again. Probably futile. We've bought another in the meantime

It seems that this Qualcast in the UK is the same as a Ryobi RM 2232 in South Africa, apart from a different top cover. Our croquet club has one that is used for mowing round the edges of the lawns, and it has the same problem as this one. Luckily our gardener also stopped right away. Thanks for the video, I missed the screw in the front axle section and of course it would not come apart. I will now go back to the garage and find that screw

A man after my own heart lubricating everything .I do it too [if it moves lube it]

Hi Andy, great video. I've just stripped down a similar machine - a Qualcast MZEB1537M which had a broken washer under the blade. In doing that, I decided to strip the whole lot out because it looked like this machine had ploughed a field and was clogged with mud, grass mulch and had been kiln dried! It smothered the motor and all around it. I removed the plastic housing which holds the brushes and revealed the bearing - I also removed the cover to the blade rotor spindle revealing that bearing. On reassembly I was left with a 'wavy' sprung washer about the size of a 10p piece which must have been on one of these spindles. Having stripped yours down, can you tell me exactly which one of these spindles I should be placing this sprung washer? Thanks and keep up the good work! Andrew

I had the same problem. Cut out the old pulley, replace the bearing and got a new pulley machined and put in place, that's the only way i knew how.

Its always worth trying to fix it for free!

Hi I’m working on the same motor from my mower and cannot get that belt drive cog off either and my bearing is toast so it’s a fail unfortunatley

My qualcast stopped. When I tried to take it apart the shaft that the cutting blade spindle nut attaches to has no resistance so I am unable to remove the nut and the blade. So I can't access the motor but I can see that the belt, that I changed last year, is still intact. Can you give me any suggestions please?

Was hoping for removal of the bearing on the big pulley,, but thanks,, good video.

Are they're not higher quality mowers son the scrapyard or are all modern ones low quality?

How do u remove the bolt which snapped in half when the blade hit a rock? Half is stuck in the plastic bit.

Is the machine fitted with capacitor?

It looked to me like the pully was machined on the end of the shaft and the splines were for the plastic fan.

its not good solution's for bearing problem better to change it .