Lionel 10E motor brushes

Those brushes look correct. The braided copper brush should be a consist diameter and be rounded on the end like the carbon brush.  The bush tubes need to be clean and the springs should have good tension on them.  I would look at the commutator to be sure that it is clean and there is no carbon dust shorting from bar to bar. Be really careful about what solvents you use to clean the commutator and armature. Nothing with alcohol in it.  Check the resistance bar to bar.  It should be about the same and around 2 ohms. The resistance from any bar to the motor shaft should be very high. 10,000 ohms or more would be good.  You can use two carbon brushes, but you will have to watch the commutator stays smooth and clean.  Another thing to look at it the condition of the reverse switch contacts.

Thanks for the reply.  I threw it back together and seems to work good, I guess the cleaning I did helped.  What is the purpose of the copper contact over a carbon one?

I am used to the postwar type e- units with a drum, this one has some linkages that resemble a pendulum movement.  The reverse unit doesn’t appear to have a neutral, it is either forward or reverse, I assume that is normal as well?

Thanks!

Mike

I can't say for sure but it's my understanding that the copper one is "supposed" to help keep the commutator cleaner. You'll see a set up like that on the Rivarossi engines in HO for example...

Mark in Oregon

yes that is a pendulum E unit only forward and reverse. The 3 position E unit did not come from Lionel until they aquired the Ives tooling

Enjoy

Frank

Use the search engine on this site to fine information on the pendulum reverse unit. There is a lot written here on how they work and how to fix them.