How Maintenance Free are the "Maintenance Free" Williams/Bachman Can Motors?

Never heard of one breaking, how's that ?

They're DC driven sealed units I think. Someone else here probably has more info on them.

I suppose if you cause it to overheat though, it might get ruined.

The motor has a worm gear that needs to be greased about every 100 hours. Other than that, leave the motor alone.

The armature bearings are oilite sintered bronze which are infused with oil when manufactured. They last a longtime but not forever. Wouldn't hurt to put a drop of oil on those 20-30 year old bearings.

Pete

Don't the carbon brushes eventually wear out and need replacememt?

They were Pittman motors at one time, new ones are Mabuchi, others have been some unlabeled brand I don't recognize. There is no scheduled maintenance on these sealed motors, but as others have said you can soak the oilite bearings with a drop of synthetic oil every few years. Once the brushes are consumed, their life is over.

@ADCX Rob posted:

Once the brushes are consumed, their life is over.

Ouch! Imagine if the Arnold Rapido N scale locos I bought 50 years ago had come with sealed "maintenance free" motors. I couldn't be running them still today. I have spare motor brushes for almost every loco I own. I guess the motor manufacturers make more profit selling "drop in" replacement motors instead of replacement brushes.

@West Side Joe posted:

Ouch!

The motors in my Williams engines will outlive me and probably my son.  The MTBF is quite extended for motors in this specification range(unlike the recent Lionel tiny can motors in the starter set locos - Polar E. & PRR Flyer as examples).

Thanks for this info.  They do indeed sound maintenance free.  I don't care if they run 20 years from now anymore than I care if my $200 microwave runs 20 years from now.  As long as I know what to expect when I buy a product, I am fine with it wearing out. 

Actually, I've had a number of Williams steamers come in for upgrades with bad motors, so I wouldn't take to heart the "lifetime" comments.  Most of the bad motors would draw 3-4 amps with minimal load, way more than they should.  I have replaced a number of them with Mabuchi RS-555 motors in the past.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Actually, I've had a number of Williams steamers come in for upgrades with bad motors, so I wouldn't take to heart the "lifetime" comments.  Most of the bad motors would draw 3-4 amps with minimal load, way more than they should.  I have replaced a number of them with Mabuchi RS-555 motors in the past.

All that maintenance free means when it comes to a mubachi or any of its competitors is if don’t work, toss it in the garbage, cause it’s “ maintenance free” and you ain’t fixin’ it,......box shouldn’t say “ maintenance free motor” .....should say “ equipped with a SOL motor”

Pat

Correct Pat, I don't try to fix them.

Damaged motor are usually because of operator error not the motor expending its life after so many hours.  Keep a dc can motor powered up while restricting rotation.  Jammed gears, linkage, etc...  Or pull way more then it is designed for and the stall turns the rotor into a resistor wire and it poof melts the insulation and shorts.  G

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Actually, I've had a number of Williams steamers come in for upgrades with bad motors, so I wouldn't take to heart the "lifetime" comments.  Most of the bad motors would draw 3-4 amps with minimal load, way more than they should.  I have replaced a number of them with Mabuchi RS-555 motors in the past.

With all due respect to all commenters, I too have had a number of Williams (WBB) steamers, and every one of them was geared so poorly that motor abuse was nearly impossible to avoid. That delightful smell of a hot motor was all too common. I have had no trouble with the WBB diesels, however.

While "maintenance-free" motors do in fact have a limited lifetime, applying them incorrectly makes them look much more troublesome than they truly are. I have no doubt that a better motor choice would make the WBB steamers more robust.