Sawzall teardown

[Fialaja]

Sawzall from eBay came in today on teardown she’s is really dirty and rusty, with a lot of nasty greases that smell as bad as they look. She did run, albeit roughly.

 

[Fialaja]

I suspect that either she belonged to a turd chaser, or was left outside a time or two due to the rust and the condition of the gearbox. All the electronics are good, the switch, the Quick lok cord, the variable speed dial and the motor all check out. Thinking of changing the bearings, new brushes, new grease. Not much else needed.

 

[RTM]

Brushes look like they will last your lifetime, but for about $15, why not?

On my first Sawzall rebuild, most of the screws were in nasty rusty condition, so you are ahead a couple of $$ there. Broke 2 getting them out.

 

[neophyte]

Brushes look like they will last your lifetime, but for about $15, why not?

On my first Sawzall rebuild, most of the screws were in nasty rusty condition, so you are ahead a couple of $$ there. Broke 2 getting them out.

Don’t brushes “wear in” and become more efficient once they’ve been run a bit?

 

[d.mcfarland]

With grease in that condition, I'd plan on some new bearings.

 

[engineer2]

I rebuilt mine, and later sold it to a buyer who was taking it back to Costa Rica. Easy to rebuild. I probably still have an extra set of brushes and a tub of the special grease around. Anyone need a new blade clamp?

 

[nieuport17]

You should do a video

 

[pcmeiners]

"Thinking of changing the bearings, new brushes, new grease"

Rebuild is very simple, do replace the bearing, also replace the bronze sintered bushing the reciprocating shaft moves in. Don't over grease.

 

[Indexmill]

It's really a testament to the quality of that tool that it even works and can be salvaged.

 

[metalhead212121]

You want a second one for parts/rebuild? Its collecting dust right now... I'm in Northern NJ.

 

[Fialaja]

So teardown and cleaning are complete. I have parts on order from Ereplacement parts(3 bearings, brushes and some seals.) I cleaned and painted the handle.

 

[The Cobbler]

Nice, I bet it serves you well for years

 

[Fialaja]

So my parts came in today. I installed 3 new bearings after giving them a good packing with Milwaukee type L grease, repacked the gear case with said grease, reassembled the wobble plate and wobble shaft 2x as I had it wrong the first time, realized I was missing a spacer that I knew I’d seen recently, so I dug through the trash bin, no luck. Checked the floor, nope. Remembered vacuuming the shop recently, and thank god I didn’t empty the vacuum... Grabbed a magnet and was able to fish it out of the dirt in the vac. It’s all together and running like a top. The only thing I have to do is reassemble the quick lok clamp and replace the shoe.

The brushes are different then the ones that are in the saw- I believe they were changed somewhere in the saws life with the wrong ones. The ones in there now have the spring and wire integrated into the brush whereas the replacement brushes require separate springs.

So the saw cost me $35 dollars with shipping on eBay as a “needs work, for parts not running” type deal...parts cost was $82.00 for 3 bearings, 2 seals, A tub of grease($30)and new brushes. So $117 total got me a fun project that restored a great American tool back to service. It runs great. Much quieter than before, and I have enough grease left for another restoration.

 

[Fialaja]

So rebuild is complete! Was a fun project and not too difficult or expensive. I think I will take on more of these “for parts, not working” rebuilds. I think I Will follow the criteria that the tool must be purchased for under $50, shipping included, the tool must be of a higher caliber(no Chinese stuff, no lower end brands such as Ryobi, craftsman, or Black and Decker) and parts must be readily available. Milwaukee, Makita, Metabo all seem to have decent parts availability, whereas Porter Cable, Craftsman, Black and Decker seem to discontinue replacement parts availability pretty quickly.

 

[theoldwizard1]

So rebuild is complete! Was a fun project and not too difficult or expensive. I think I will take on more of these “for parts, not working” rebuilds.

That is a real **** shoot ! They had better be cheap !!

 

[Bacon!]

The brushes are different then the ones that are in the saw- I believe they were changed somewhere in the saws life with the wrong ones. The ones in there now have the spring and wire integrated into the brush whereas the replacement brushes require separate springs.

Far more likely that the brushes in it are original and the ones you received are a generic (size) for many applications and a spring added with the right length for that one.

Nice job but you way overpaid for grease. $30 a tub is crazy high when it does not need special grease.

 

[RTM]

Jeez, I thought buying mine for $20 was risky prior to rebuild, I must tolerate less risk.

 

[Fialaja]

Jeez, I thought buying mine for $20 was risky prior to rebuild, I must tolerate less risk.

$35 with shipping is in that ballpark. I figure roughly 50/50 parts and purchase cost. A new sawzall of any decent quality is gonna run over $100 these days so I would say it still is worthwhile.