Remotoring a couple locos

Motors and gears

flyerrich said:

I have two locos that I want to install new motors in. Both have stopped working. They both appeared to burn out. Both were running fine then they started to slow down and smell like they were shorting out and quit. This happened over time and I kept them to remotor at a later date. Although they are not expensive locos I just have an attachment to them and would like to try and refurbish them. The Union Pacific is a Life Like with a motorized truck. The Sante Fe is Model Power with a can motor with the drive shafts. Looking for help on what/where I might find replacement suitable motors. Thanks

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flyerrich;

Before you replace either motor I suggest trying to turn the gears and wheels by hand. There should be very little resistance with the motors out of the locos. If you feel resistance, it's quite possible that congealed grease or dirt has clogged the gears and that drag resulted in the smell of overworked motors, and ultimately caused them to overheat and fail. If that's what happened, then the new motors might end up the same way, unless you take the truck assemblies apart and clean & lube the gears. An old toothbrush, dipped in alcohol will do a good job of cleaning, and a little Labele plastic-compatible grease will handle the lubrication.

As for motor sources you can try these three. www.micromark.com www.allelectronics.com or www.nwsl.com

Micro mark sells a can motor, suitable for HO-scale, with the drive shafts, and universal joints, included. It might work for the loco in your 2nd photo.

All electronics has many different sized motors. Some would possibly fit that second loco. I don't know if they have pancake motors, except for stepper motors, which will not work for a locomotive.

Northwest short line is going through a sale of the company. Otherwise it would have been my first choice. I don't know if they're back on line yet or not. If they are, great! They specialized in motors and gears for model locomotives. They also sell a powered truck assembly called a "Stanton Drive, which might work for the first loco, instead of using a pancake motor. You could even put one power truck at each end, doubling the pulling power of the locomotive. However that might be too expensive.

Good Luck;

Traction Fan :smilie_daumenpos: