Starting the Journey

[bearhawg]

Hello all!
Thank you for adding me to the forum. My name is Ernie and I live in Georgia, USA. I joined because I want to save the windmill on our family farm. I've, hopefully, attached two photos to tell you more about what I have. I know very little about windmills besides the more common brands. This windmill is original to the farm that was established in the 1930's. The farm is in a very rural area of East Central Georgia. To give you an idea of how rural, the farm did not have electricity until the early 1940's after the establishment F.D. Roosevelt's Rural Electrification Act. The windmill supplied all water to the farm and to the nearby families. I've added a picture of the original home which still stands today, just in much better shape.

I have been angsting over saving this windmill for years but don't know where to start. From my research, I can not find any companies or craftsmen who would know how to do a restoration. I'm not quite sure how tall the tower is but it is beyond the reach of anything other than a heavy duty crane. My son studies unmanned aerial systems and as soon as he has his commercial drone, I hope to have more detailed close ups.

All that said, I'd do my best to use the search function and keep the repetitive questions to a minimum but I'll need all the help I can get.
Thanks Again, Ernie

[mtblah]

Ernie , you are one lucky son of a gun !!!
That Aermotor looks REALLY good and complete , including the water tank base most of us would "kill" for .
Looks like just reattach the tail spring onto the kook and let her go .
Oh yah , change the 2 quarts of oil and then add 2 quarts of red atf for lubrication and she should be smooth sailing .
Mike B
New Brainfels TX

[windybob]

8 foot Aermotor. From 1933 to present. There are later ones, 802 parts interchange. Original tower from Aermotor also. Parts are all over, new and used. Probably the most popular and sold windmill in history.

Ok. Before getting too far forward, someone needs to climb up there, or take it down with or without the tower, and give it a lookover. Seemes to be an early one, so it's been up there weathering for eons. It may or may not be good to go. Need to check the gears, quick look for fell of the bearings, rust or oil inside. if water has gotten in thru a hole in the helmet, probably wasps have too, be careful. It doesn't take long to get to the ground if wasps are swarming you. But you don't want to get down that way, you want to climb down. No need for better pictures, now you need a crane from a sign company or something to get it down. When you are ready for that, holler back. We can help you in anyway you want. I can bring mine down there, and pull the head off for free. Unfortunately, the service call will wipe you out. lol

[windybob]

Careful Mike! Your enthusiasm is showing.

[PaulV]

Looks like a big mill. The tower has an oiling platform. V spokes, so 602 model?

[CTXmiller]

12’?

Welcome to the forum.

[windybob]

Guess it had a tank in the tower? I saw screw in spokes. After a second look, I can't really tell for sure.

602 is the earlier model than the 702. Made from 1916 to 1933. If you can get up there, Aermotor has numbers on the cast parts. Like B602. Or B702. The letter is the size, the number is the model. The 602 or 702 will be on the case itself, front I think, there are other numbers on each cast part. The letter remains the same, for the size of the mill. Aermotor had every size from 6 foot (across the fan, or 'wheel' ) up to 20 foot, excluding an 18 ft.
An oiling platform is a higher place to stand, due to the 'wheel' hitting the first platform, then you step up to the smaller, higher 'oiling' platform to perform maintenance on the head. Otherwise, you cannot reach the head from the lower platform. Unless you're like 12 feet tall. lol

[bearhawg]

Wow. I should have known y'all would id a windmill from a couple of amateur iphone pictures. My knowledge on this subject has quadrupled in the past few hours. Thanks to everyone! we are headed to the farm for the new year festivities. I'll stare at the ladder on the tower for an hour or so then decide its cheaper to hire someone to check it out or lower it. besides, the closest ER is a good 45 min away. if you can tell from the photo, the tail and the blades have been roped together. I'm not sure who made that climb. thanks again.

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

If you decide to get a crane to take the mill of the tower someone has to be up there to take the hood off and disconnect the pump rod from the yoke.its just a pin you knock out.then you need to take the nut off the top of the stem that the gear box sits on.

[Ron Stauffer]

It is a D602 on a 53' tower. All the characteristics of the motor are not visible but it is circa 1916-1921 because it doesnt have plugs for small gear pins and does have correctly installed J bolt clamps for the V spokes. It is hard to tell by the perspective of the pic but could be a squashed "O" vane. That would make it very early and also have a bottom oil drain plug.

I know you have more humidity there but if that mill was out here I would say it was run dry of oil for a good while. There is something about the rust staining from shavings of metal running on metal that I dont like to see. Not a good omen

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO