Hobart FD4/125-2 garbage disposal/food waste disposal

I swapped out an older Hobart disposal for a brand new disposal. The bearing was going out on the older, so I took it apart to see what parts I needed. Once I knew what it needed, I called the nearest Hobart dealer to get the parts. Was quoted an incredibly high price for a new seal ($630) and not in stock, a new bearing which I thought was reasonable ($15). The decision was made at that time to replace with a brand new for $1700 (only a 1 year warranty from purchase date). The lead time was 2 weeks to ship from the factory. I had a used Salvejor disposal laying around and installed it, hoping the kitchen ladies could get by with it for only 2 weeks until the new one arrived (But of course they couldn't, "You need to do something about this, it's throwing food back out at us when we turn it on & it's throwing food halfway up the wall"). So at that point I looked through the new bearings I had laying around and found one that would fit the Hobart (the original bearing had metal shielding, the new bearing I installed was plastic shielded). I cut a notch in the piece that hangs over the grease zerk so that I could grease it in the future. So I swapped disposals once again and it was working perfectly, and the kitchen ladies were happy. The new disposal finally arrived. I had to swap disposals again due to the 1 year warranty period starting from the date of purchase (makes sense to burn up the warranty coverage while it is in actual use and not sitting in the box).
Replacing the #6205 bearing in a FD4/125-2 is fairly simple and really cheap!.
#1 lockout/tagout the power supply, # 2 disconnect the wiring, #3 disconnect the drain(1/2" head bolts), #4 remove the 4 bolts that secure the upper housing to the grinding chamber (7/16" head), #5 remove the flywheel from the shaft (3/4" nut), then use a 3 jaw puller to remove(may need a torch to heat the flywheel to loosen it), #6 remove 4 Allen head bolts(1/4") securing the grinding chamber to the motor end cap (make sure to memorize the order & placement of seals and rubber bushings, etc. at this point!), #7 remove the 2 screws holding the bearing backing plate (5/16" head), # 8 remove the grinding chamber, #9 use a 3 jaw puller to remove the bad bearing from the shaft. When putting the new bearing on the shaft, make sure you put the backing plate on 1st, and make sure one side of the bearing is open and facing the motor end cap. Something you might consider at this point is cutting the weep channel a little deeper(using the edge of a file) on the top side of the motor end cap. It seems too high to me, (by the time the water is high enough to run out of this weep channel, it is puddled up around the shaft ready to work it's way down to the bearing. Now just work backwards to step #1.
On the new disposal (NIDEC motor), I had to rotate the motor stator 180°, to make the junction box accessible, which involved removing the fan shroud, then removing the four long bolts that hold the motor together. I wrote the model and serial # with permanent marker where it could be read easily, since the actual nameplate would be facing the corner.
I wanted to make a video about these Hobart disposals since th
ere are none on UA-cam that I could find, hoping that it will save someone else some of the figurative headache and literal back ache I've had over the last few weeks (it is not fun wrestling with these in a kneeling position under a dishpit counter). I really wanted to keep the brand new disposal as a spare, but the warranty would be expired by the time it was needed. Get yourself a right angle zerk installed for the top bearing( If your disposal has rhe Baldor motor), and give it a couple pumps every few months to keep fresh grease in it, (I think you would really have to get carried away to affect the motor, you would most likely be replacing the entire disposal motor for $2000+ anyway if the bearing goes out). I really hope this helps someone!