[busnut]

I recently performed the same task. Also tried to remove blower motor, but gave up and remove the blower assembly.

The reason the motor failed was the bearing went dry. In fact the motor mfger says to lub them every two years. Ya right!! But I may remove the other three and relub them this winter.

Anyway had no luck in finding a new bearing and the shaft was slightly worn also. Anyway the bad bearing was on the blower end, so I removed the bearing on the other end and swapped them around. Did it work? Appears to have, but I put in a new motor anyway. I will keep the garyrigged motor in case I need it.

It is my opinion the this motor should have had needle or roller bearings, but it appears price won again and they used a bushing bearing.

As luck would have it, it was A/C number four which is mounted in the bay by the entrance door back in the middle of the bay. Lots of work to get this fat body back in there.