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Bought these engines at a train show with known motor problems. much to my surprise the motor shaft was seized.Got that loose with penetrating oil.Cleaned and lubed everything and tested the motor before i installed it back on the truck.Only has about half the power it should have on 18 volts.Is there a way to test the brush plate to armature connections because it turned separately from the armature a little when i was loosening the shaft.Hope the connections did not break.E unit works great but the motor has to be pushed with your finger somewhat to get it moving.Any help or ideas would be appreciated

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Do you have a front or rear power truck that you know is good?  If so, install the motor on that truck and see if the motor/truck combo works properly.  If it does, you know the problem is in the truck on the TS A unit.

Likewise, you can take a known good motor, install it in the TS A unit and see it the combo works properly.  If so, you've identified the motor from the TS A unit you bought as the problem.

c.sam posted:
Bill W posted:

I have 2 Texas specials, and they only have 1 vertical Pullmor motor

Odd, I've had several of these over the years and all have had the single rear horizontal motor and all ran fine - nice and smooth when in good shape.

Production started in 1954 with the horizontal motor and sometime in 1955 switched over to the vertical motor.

ALCOCRAZ – I suspect Lou1985 may be correct about the commutator being loose with respect to the pole pieces on the armature. So let’s do an easy test to see if Lou was correct. But first, check out this photo to make sure we are using the same words. Yes, this is the very last frame of your video, just marked up a bit

Horizontal Motor

The part you twisted was most likely NOT the brush plate, but rather the Commutator. The commutator consists of three pie-shaped copper plates (which you cannot see in this view, only the edge of the commutator is visible) sitting on top of the three coils of wire wound around the three pole pieces – all of which combined is the armature. Just want to make sure we’re talking the same language.

Now give this a quick try – hold your thumb against the exposed armature pole piece so that it can’t easily be spun. Now, position your other thumb on the armature solder joint and try to move it (spin it) on the shaft while holding the armature pole piece steady. Don’t try too hard cuz if it’s not already loose, I don’t want you to make it loose. The point is, those two should NOT move in relation to one another.

Let us know the results

George

 

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  • Horizontal Motor

If by brush plate you mean commutator, itis pressed on the shaft. There are three hook shaped terminals that extend off the side of the commutator to attach the wires from the armature coils. Use solder wick to remove all the solder from these terminals, then the two wires can be removed from each terminal. Find the ends and work them off as they man be wrapped around the terminal. The commutator is made out of Bakelite and has three slots cut through it. This makes it fragel and difficult to remove with out breaking it. It can be pulled off with a wheel puller, but have a replacement available in case it breaks. 

When reinstalling the commutator on this motor, the slot should be centered on the lamated pole piece. 

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Start by removing the brush plate, which on your motor is the dark plastic-looking cover held on by 2 screws. Don't lose the brushes as you pull the brush plate off. This will expose the top of the armature, called the commutator - this is the part you said you may have twisted or spun. With the brush plate off, you should easily be able to spin the armature by hand and view all three armature solder joints for broken wires.

You can also now measure the resistance (do you have an ohmmeter?) between all three commutator segments - this will be a key indicator of your armature's health. It should measure between 1.3 and 1.4 ohms between each segment. Also measure between the armature shaft and any of the segments - that should not give any reading (open circuit.)

if you have a broken wire going to the commutator, and it is on the outside of the coil, you can just unwrap a turn to get some extra wire to reconnect it.  One turn will make no difference.  If the wire is coming from the inside of the coil, sometimes you can solder on a little piece of magnet wire on to the broken tail.  if not, it will probably require a rewind.  if you pull the commutator off, you can rewind an armature coil on your own, but it is a pain.  Figure out some way to hold the armature firmly and to hold tension on the coil wire you are winding before you start so you can take a break and not loose the tension.  If all this leaves loose wire on the surface of the armature coils, I use a little varnish to glue everything back down so the spinning does not throw the wires outward and get them damaged.  Jeff Kane, The Train Tender has had usable commutators for sale on his parts lists in the past.  I think he has them as a 2343 part.  All (almost all) the postwar commutators are actually a prewar part, a 226E- something but I have never seen one under that number.  it is all doable if you are clever, persistent, have the time, and your eyes hold out.  Good luck.  

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