I love my little shop vac!! It’s portable, easy to handle, and never lets me down. But lately I need ear plugs to run it cause it sounds terrible. So there it sat in the corner of my barn waiting for me to tear it apart.
After removing the motor and lubricating the bearing it was running smooth again and had increased vacuum power. Sadly I neglected to realize how much power it had lost over the years of wear and tear.
You will need a 20mm torx head bit, drill or driver, and penetrating oil. Thankfully all of the screws used on this model are the exact same so don’t worry about jumbling them up.
With your shop vac unplugged remove the motor from the base. Next remove the 6 screws plastic base from the bottom of the motor. This step is important…get a metal tray with a magnet or something to keep your screws from getting lost.
Next unscrew the motor from the rest of the housing.
Remove the plastic piece to get to the top of the motor and wires.
Mark the wires with electrical tape or number them to remember which stud they belong to. After I had the fan fully removed I took it to the air compressor and blew the dust off and out of it. It was pretty full of crud and when I went to spin the fan I could hear the bearing screeching and making the same noise I would hear running the shop vac so I knew I had found my issue.
After blowing it down real well with compressed air I added some penetrating oil to the bottom of the motor on the bearing. It was hard to get oil in on top of the bearing but I was finally able to get some in there best I could. Spin the motor and the noise should disappear, if the bearing is still rubbing add some more oil and keep spinning the motor slowly to work it in.
Reassemble the wires, fan, and plastic housing then test out your much quieter shop vac!!
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