Noisy Vortech DrySide FIX!!

All done. Not bad but I might still do another change. The RC bearings are in the mail. As for the balance job... Good luck, brings magnet you'll have your hands full with trying to get the metal shavings off. I used sticky tape. It's not totally balanced but I'm happy with it. I personally don't believe the vortech can be "dead silent" but close to it yes. Once I install the RC bearings I will post again.

As for pressing on the bearings. Only use something that will only apply pressure directly on the inner race. Any other way and you'll stuff the bearing. That's if you are one of those who needs a press to get them on. The bearings I just fitted are the fire mentioned ones that our friendly forum bosses decided to sensor based on what it sounds like. No it's not a bigamist bearing brand it just isF.A.G Bearings.

I'm pretty sure the RC bearings will be better quality.
O and one more thing. Not sure if anyone noticed this but if you tighten up the three short bold vs. leaving them slightly on the loose side... It makes a huge difference in the noise resonating through the shell. I decided to stick three small bits of the soft Velcro on the silver cap that the long bolt go into. That way padding the cap from the drive unit. It helped heaps and I could do the little bolts up tight without the resonance noise through the cap. Give it a shot....
 
Hi guys, I recently bought 2 used mp10w's and one of them had a pretty noisy dry side. No biggie, I had seen this thread before so I jumped back in it and tore the dry side apart. Now that I have it apart, I'm worried that I might be hosed as it may not be the bearings making the noise. Take a look at the attached pic, one side of the magnet is worn through the black coating. Looks like it could be the magnet itself rubbing... what do you all think?

Also, I cannot spot any distinctive markings on the two bearings. I see no letters or numbers and am not sure what size to purchase... assuming I go forward with the bearing replacement. Depending on your opinion on the magnet, I may have to buy a new dry side.

Thanks all!

Andres
 

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Or, could the worn magnet be caused by a bearing being so far out of whack that it's allowing the magnet to touch? Anyone? opinions?

And does anyone have any insight as to what bearings I'd need to order? I still can't find any size info on these.

Any feedback would be great as I'm itching to pull the trigger on either new bearings or a whole new dry side before too long. I'm running on only one mp10 right now and would like to get the second back up and going asap.

Thanks guys!
Andres

anoriega211 said:
Hi guys, I recently bought 2 used mp10w's and one of them had a pretty noisy dry side. No biggie, I had seen this thread before so I jumped back in it and tore the dry side apart. Now that I have it apart, I'm worried that I might be hosed as it may not be the bearings making the noise. Take a look at the attached pic, one side of the magnet is worn through the black coating. Looks like it could be the magnet itself rubbing... what do you all think?

Also, I cannot spot any distinctive markings on the two bearings. I see no letters or numbers and am not sure what size to purchase... assuming I go forward with the bearing replacement. Depending on your opinion on the magnet, I may have to buy a new dry side.

Thanks all!

Andres
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Hilgert. I had scanned, albeit too quickly, over the 18 pages but missed where the size was noted. I was also nervous as I had read that the bearing sizes differ between some mp10's. Well, after actually thinking about it, I measured the ones I have and the do indeed match the size you sent. Thank you for the link!

hilgert said:
The MP10 bearings are mentioned several places in this thread. I believe these are the ones you would be looking for however (2 per MP10):

http://www.bocabearings.com/bearing-inventory/Radial-Bearings/2620/7x14x5-SMR147ZZ5
Click to expand...
 
Note that I have not [yet] done this...but likely I will at some point. I might go ahead and order the bearings now just to have them ready.

***Question for everyone that HAS done the fix with the aforementioned bearings for the MP10: Would you do this proactively (does it help with new units to quiet them down), or wait until it's a larger issue?

Reason I ask is that mine are very quiet from a vibration standpoint, but I can hear them "whine" up and down in speed (I use reef crest mode). It's not irritating...just a noise you get used to. Actually, it sounds kind of cool.
 
After becoming a near expert in opening up the dry side after not one, not two, but three failed bearing replacements on an MP10, the fourth time was the charm.

The first two times, I just thought I got bad bearings. They didn't help with the noise at all. I sold that MP10 for dirt cheap and moved on.

A few weeks ago, I bought another one that was supposed to be quiet, but was loud as all hell. I figured I'd give bearing replacement one more shot and ordered the same bearings as the two times before (from Boca Bearings, SS ABEC 5 shielded), and guess what... still loud as hell.

That's when I really went into read mode. Read through this thread and a few others around the net, and decided to purchase chrome steel ABEC1 rubber sealed bearings from VXB. They came Thursday, and today was the first chance I could get to install them. Popped the dry side open (literally took me less than a minute, I've got it down pat lol), pulled the old bearings off and installed the new ones. WHOA. Silence. :)


Here are videos I made documenting the noise they make.

MP10 without new bearings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FA5YH5cb4s

MP10 with SS shielded bearings from Boca: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mu5N4tJZks

MP10 with CS rubber sealed bearings from VXB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljcu_uboQ1M


The last video picked up the sound a little too well (it was filmed on a different phone), unless I press my ear up to the dry side, I cannot hear it.

Now that I know that chrome steel sealed are what is needed, I'll be ordering two sets to go ahead and replace the ones in my two MP40wES.
 
Just an observation I made. I plan on changing the bearings in my mp40. In the meantime, I took it apart to see what it looked like. After putting it back together, it vibrated really bad. I was looking at the magnet as it was spinning and it had a lot of wobble. I loosened up the screw and reseated the magnet and wobble and vibration was gone. I just wanted to let everyone know when putting things back together to keep this in mind. If I actually changed out my bearings, I would have immediately blamed it on that.
 
What he used is on the first page of the post. If you don't have a mechanical background or understand the types of bearings then it is very important that you read the first two pages in order to get the right equipement the first time. I ordered mine from bearings Direct. :)
And I qoute:

"Lastly, the bearings that I used were

607Z (7 X 19 X 6)

and

698ZZ (8 X 19 X 6)"
 
Last edited:
jedimasterben said:
After becoming a near expert in opening up the dry side after not one, not two, but three failed bearing replacements on an MP10, the fourth time was the charm.

The first two times, I just thought I got bad bearings. They didn't help with the noise at all. I sold that MP10 for dirt cheap and moved on.

A few weeks ago, I bought another one that was supposed to be quiet, but was loud as all hell. I figured I'd give bearing replacement one more shot and ordered the same bearings as the two times before (from Boca Bearings, SS ABEC 5 shielded), and guess what... still loud as hell.

That's when I really went into read mode. Read through this thread and a few others around the net, and decided to purchase chrome steel ABEC1 rubber sealed bearings from VXB. They came Thursday, and today was the first chance I could get to install them. Popped the dry side open (literally took me less than a minute, I've got it down pat lol), pulled the old bearings off and installed the new ones. WHOA. Silence. :)


Here are videos I made documenting the noise they make.

MP10 without new bearings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FA5YH5cb4s

MP10 with SS shielded bearings from Boca: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mu5N4tJZks

MP10 with CS rubber sealed bearings from VXB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljcu_uboQ1M


The last video picked up the sound a little too well (it was filmed on a different phone), unless I press my ear up to the dry side, I cannot hear it.

Now that I know that chrome steel sealed are what is needed, I'll be ordering two sets to go ahead and replace the ones in my two MP40wES.
Click to expand...

Hey, how are these bearings working out for you? If well, do you have a link for them? I need them for an MP40 so will try and find the right size in your style. Thx
 
After running on my 80g tank (3/8" glass) for a few months at 50% constant mode, no noise at all, it was wonderful. I took down that tank and put it on a temporary 40g tank (1/4" glass) on 100% short pulse mode. Within two days I started hearing the typical grinding noise. The MP10 manual says on page 9 that for 1/4" to 3/8" glass no spacer is required - but after putting the spacer on, the unit is much quieter, but is still loud. The dry side is also so hot that it is very unpleasant to hold my hand to it. I believe a combination of the thinner glass putting more forward pressure on the bearings and the heat may be burning off the lubrication are playing a part in that.

I have two MP40, as well. One has a new wetside and has always had some motor noise. No grinding, just an audible spinup noise. I replaced the bearings with the same style as I used on the MP10, and there was no change at all - meaning that for this particular unit, the noise is actually from the motor, not the bearings. The MP40 also has a metal shell, so it stays much cooler than the MP10 does, I can hold my hand to it no problem on 100% constant mode.
 
Everyone's info has been extremely helpful. I have two secondhand MP40 pumps. One is very quiet but the other is considerably louder. I ordered these bearings from eBay.

vu5a7e7a.jpg


I replaced the bearings in the louder pump and was very happy with the results. The louder pump was now almost as quiet as the second pump. When I say quiet, I mean you need to be within about five feet to really notice anything but even with my ear up close to the pump it's still pretty quiet. Even though the pump with the new bearings was almost as quiet as the second I still wanted to trying to find the reason they were a little different. I found the pump with the new bearings was vibrating more than the other. I then switched the magnets on the two pumps and sure enough, the pump with the new bearings was now even quieter and it did not vibrate as much. Long story short, the pump with the noisy bearings has a magnate that is a little out of balance which I feel attributed to the bearing failure. I ordered a cheap prop balancer which will hopefully allow me to balance the magnet.

I don't know how well these bearings will perform over time but they are less than $1 per bearing. I think the key to long bearing life is to make sure your dry side magnet is balanced and the pumps dry and wet side are lined up properly.
 
Another satisfied customer. My dry side (mp40w es) was loud enough to hear it two rooms away (approximately 40 feet) and chattered when at the lowest rpm setting.

The bearings pulled bearings from dry side were - nmb 607z and nmb R-1980KK.
I replaced them with Boca Bearing MR607-2RU TH9/C3 and X-MR698-EPS.

I just did a slight test and while not silent they are significantly quieter. While testing the pump I could not hear it on the high setting from 6 feet away.
 
jlv0lpk said:
Another satisfied customer. My dry side (mp40w es) was loud enough to hear it two rooms away (approximately 40 feet) and chattered when at the lowest rpm setting.

The bearings pulled bearings from dry side were - nmb 607z and nmb R-1980KK.
I replaced them with Boca Bearing MR607-2RU TH9/C3 and X-MR698-EPS.

I just did a slight test and while not silent they are significantly quieter. While testing the pump I could not hear it on the high setting from 6 feet away.
Click to expand...
The ones that I've replaced have gotten a little quoted over a week or two, so the bearings probably have a sort of break-in period, so if you're happy now, you might be even happier soon :)

Dmorty217 said:
What's the bearing numbers for the MP60?
Click to expand...
Interesting, are your MP60s bearings loud? They should theoretically not have this issue due to better build quality and active cooling. I believe heat is the main cause of bearing failures, mostly in the MP10 since it has a plastic housing and no vents, the MP40 at least has a metal housing which usually makes them last longer.

I've never seen someone replace the MP60 bearings before that I have found, so you will need to pop yours open and measure them as well as you can.
 
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