The irrigation system on our house has a half-horse Myers pump on it. I believe it is the same age as the house since it doesn't look like it has ever been replaced. Last summer I needed to water the lawn a lot because we just wasn't getting enough rain to keep the lawn alive. The old pump started making some really strange squealing noises, sometimes worse than others. I checked out the motor shaft and found it to have some drag and a gravely sound when I turned the shaft either way. Other than the noise the motor seemed fine so I opted to replace the bearings instead of replacing the whole motor. That not only saved money, but it saved time as well since I didn't have to re-plumb to accommodate a new pump.
Replacing the bearings was easy and inexpensive. I managed to find new bearings in a local auto parts store for around six dollars each. After carefully separating the motor halves to expose the bearings I gently tapped the old bearings out with a soft hammer and inserted the new ones. While I had the motor apart I replaced the impeller also because the plastic looked fatigued and it was less difficult to do it while I had the motor apart than to take it apart again at a later date just to replace the impeller. So far, the pump is running like a new one and it only cost fifteen dollars total in parts to make the repairs. Definitely better than having to buy a new motor.
