1954 Emerson 77648 Has Fast Spin Down After Servicing

[Daemen Cook]

Recently bought this fan in working order and slightly cosmetic damage. Cleaned out all the old grease in the oscillating gearbox and filled the oil port. It ran fine with no noises, but it spins down quick even after servicing. Low speed has a 17 second spin down, med has an 18 second spin down, and hi has a 20 second spin down. I use Zoomspout oil and Red N' Tacky for the grease. I only ask this question because most people that have fans nearly identical to these have a much better spin down than mine does. The blade has very little back and fourth play and everything else seems to work fine without issue. My first thought was bad bearings, but correct me if I'm wrong. I've also heard that these fans only have one bearing. This is the first Emerson I've owned, and am new to fans. Any help is much appreciated

[Patrick Ray]

You can feel if there's a bad bearing by holding the motor and moving the blade up and down to feel for play. Not saying it doesn't happen, but the bearing is very robust and usually doesn't wear down. It's one big bearing in there. Basically the entire middle of the rotor is the bearing and rides on a metal tube in the motor housing. The tube holds a good amount of oil and keeps that rotor well lubricated. I'd pull the rotor and make sure the oil holes in the shaft/tube are clear and able to supply oil to the rotor. There's 4 holes. 2 on the top, front and back. 2 on the bottom, front and back. Clean the surfaces before reinstalling the rotor to make sure there's no junk. I apply some oil to the shaft before sliding the rotor back. 

[Michael Rathberger]

Is the oscillator engaged? I would think that would make it slow faster.

[Daemen Cook]

9 minutes ago, Patrick Ray said:

You can feel if there's a bad bearing by holding the motor and moving the blade up and down to feel for play. Not saying it doesn't happen, but the bearing is very robust and usually doesn't wear down. It's one big bearing in there. Basically the entire middle of the rotor is the bearing and rides on a metal tube in the motor housing. The tube holds a good amount of oil and keeps that rotor well lubricated. I'd pull the rotor and make sure the oil holes in the shaft/tube are clear and able to supply oil to the rotor. There's 4 holes. 2 on the top, front and back. 2 on the bottom, front and back. Clean the surfaces before reinstalling the rotor to make sure there's no junk. I apply some oil to the shaft before sliding the rotor back. 

I'll be sure to check this out. Thank you much

[Daemen Cook]

9 minutes ago, Michael Rathberger said:

Is the oscillator engaged? I would think that would make it slow faster.

The oscillator was not engaged when I was testing for these numbers

[Mark Olson]

The Emerson single bearing is tapered. The back of the shaft is very slightly larger diameter than the front of the shaft, and the rotor is exactly similar. The end result of this is the ability to set the bearing clearance by adding or subtracting fiber washers from the back of the rotor. Of course, the end clearance must also be considered. If too much shim is removed from the back the rotor can bind. Some Emersons have too much clearance with all the washers out of the back, but it is rare to find one with that much bearing wear.

Also, make sure the oil holes and grooves on the bearing shaft are clean and open.

Edited February 8 by Mark Olson

[Daemen Cook]

Update: the blade is extremely stuck. I've had a generous amount of penetrating oil ran down the hub in an attempt to soften the leather washer for over 12 hours and it's still stuck. Any tips on getting the blade unfroze from the threads?

[Patrick Ray]

For whatever reason, I've found these later Emersons to be more stuck than earlier ones. Just my luck or type of oil used from the factory? 🤷 Who knows. But you can try a heat gun to try and soften the gunk keeping the hub on. Caution! Hub will be hot! Use a pair of good gloves to spin that hub off. Remember: it's reverse threaded!

[Lane Shirey]

On 2/9/2025 at 2:49 PM, Daemen Cook said:

Update: the blade is extremely stuck. I've had a generous amount of penetrating oil ran down the hub in an attempt to soften the leather washer for over 12 hours and it's still stuck. Any tips on getting the blade unfroze from the threads?

Yes, heat gun will loosen it. Don’t apply too much torque on the wings or you can loosen the rivets. If it’s really stuck, wrap the hub with duct tape and use a vice grip for leverage. 

[Marc Sova]

On 2/8/2025 at 3:11 PM, Mark Olson said:

The Emerson single bearing is tapered. The back of the shaft is very slightly larger diameter than the front of the shaft, and the rotor is exactly similar. The end result of this is the ability to set the bearing clearance by adding or subtracting fiber washers from the back of the rotor. Of course, the end clearance must also be considered. If too much shim is removed from the back the rotor can bind. Some Emersons have too much clearance with all the washers out of the back, but it is rare to find one with that much bearing wear.

Also, make sure the oil holes and grooves on the bearing shaft are clean and open.

Such good information Mark. You’d mentioned it on my post the other day about rotor/ststor clearance and I’d never known about this. 

[Marc Sova]

On 2/9/2025 at 3:10 PM, Patrick Ray said:

For whatever reason, I've found these later Emersons to be more stuck than earlier ones. Just my luck or type of oil used from the factory? 🤷 Who knows. But you can try a heat gun to try and soften the gunk keeping the hub on. Caution! Hub will be hot! Use a pair of good gloves to spin that hub off. Remember: it's reverse threaded!

Worst one I ever had was this AN. I’m not sure what the hell someone put in it for oil lol. Maybe spray lithium grease??? Lol. I finally got it cleaned up and running.