Toms hideaway headlight motor thread

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I decided to make a thread with pictures to help other members diagnose and repair their headlight motors by themselves. If I can do it....anybody can! While I do have the added benefit of a blasting cabinet, that is more to the benefit of the cosmetics.

To start off.....I think it is fair to say that the most common issues are stripped plastic gears, deteriorated thrust bearings, and seized up lower bushings.

Here is a stripped gear....



Here is a bad thrust bearing





And here is a motor shaft that has seized up to the lower bushing...

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By comparison, here is a good thrust bearing. Notice the 5 little balls...



This is the Torrington bearing that I use to replace the factory thrust bearing. The part number is NTA-512 for the bearing itself, TRA-512 for
"washers" that surround the bearing.

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Disassembly......this is a motor that I had previously started a cosmetic (outside only) spruce up. Unfortunately, it did not work well and was intermittently binding up. Sometimes it worked....usually not.



I start off using a small 2 jaw puller to pull off the end knob.



Then I de-solder the two wires going from the head plate into the motor body.....remove screws from head switch plate....and remove the switch plate assembly. I believe it is best to center the motor if possible..before pulling the switch plate off.

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Pull out gear.....



remove two long screws that hold body together



Pull the head off

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Gently work bottom plate off of end of motor shaft...Be careful not to damage the brushes or brush plate...

Once the plate is off the shaft, you can remove the one brush that is attached to the body, from the brush holder. No need to cut any wires here.

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pull the motor shaft out of the body



That is pretty much the full dis-assembly process. If a person wanted to, they could remove the magnets and coil windings remaining inside the main body. I chose to leave them alone as no issues were noted.

[brock]

Lookin good Tom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I use a piece of fine sandpaper to clean up the magnet surfaces inside the main body... (not shown)

then I use the sandpaper to clean up the commutator? and lower shaft on the motor shaft. The shaft area where it enters the lower housing (brush plate) is prone to rust and corrosion. clean it up nice and smooth.

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to be continued

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Got the blasting cabinet fired up this morning. I believe I have the pieces/parts to do 4 more motors, so I am going to blast out 4 housings.

Pile of parts to be blasted. I am using glass bead.



Bottom pieces blasted



Right...wrong...or indifferent, I am painting the bottom pieces. I thought about clear coating them, decided to paint instead. I just grabbed some silver metallic off a nearby shelf and gave them a light dusting. Kind of chilly out this morning. Not optimum temperature for painting...but I am not waiting!