I recently became brave enough to pull apart my original 1946 Lionel 671 Turbine's motor for cleaning, lubrication, and brush inspection in the hopes of determining why it ran so poorly last year under the Christmas tree.
I failed to look up the repair manual for the motor before doing this.
As soon as I pulled the rotor shaft out, the sound of all the little balls from the bearings hitting the floor of the basement and scattering told me that this was a poor decision. Ends up they are not captive - just a few little steel balls held between washers.
Does anyone know how many of these little balls there should be in each bearing (front/back)? And maybe more importantly, where do I find new ones? Looks like I may also need some front washers to properly shim things. Any thoughts on where to source these? Ebay was no help, shy of a new $75 motor - which is a hard sell when I just need a couple of little balls and a few washers.
Thanks for any help!
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