Lionel No 68 Executive Car Issue

I would spray all the pivot points for the gears with WD40, let it soak, and try turning the armature or the drive gear by hand. I would be very careful turning the wheels, as this might be detrimental to the gears and other moving parts. I have taken the brush plate off on these, and cleaned the brush holders and commutator; after servicing the motor and the WD40 soaking, try running it again, it should move somewhat better. If the motor runs and it seems better, oil all the bushings and gear pivots (pins), and grease the gears with a light grease such as LaBelle.

A good soaking with WD 40 loosened the gears - thanks!  The motor though is still running pretty rough and probably needs a good cleaning.  Looking at the way the motor is mounted, how do you remove the brushplate?  It looks like the entire motor needs to be removed from the car body to get those two nuts off?  Any suggestions, as the Lionel Service Manual parts breakout (see below) doesn't really show how to get in there?

http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/cd/locos%5Cloc68p2.pdf

Any tips you could provide would be appreciated.

It has been a while since I worked on one of these, but I don't seem to remember any difficulty getting the motor out to clean the armature/commutator and the brushes and the brush tubes. If I get over to my friend's house, will see what it takes to do the job correctly. I do remember that after greasing and oiling and motor service it ran a lot nicer than the reissue from the '90s.