Originally Posted by Donovan Nickel:
Yes the plastic fiberboard is broken and needs to come out as well, the copper shoe itself is undamaged so I'm not quite sure how the damage occurred.
To replace both the shoe and the plastic insulator piece. Two ways to do this:
1. Remove motor from shell and disconnect the drive rods from the smoker link, and pull the drive wheels using a wheel puller - also available from Grossman. First lift the brush springs clear of the brushes, Loosen the top 2 nuts on the brush plate, and loosen the nuts, one on each side of the brush plate. Remove the ground screw at the bottom of the brush plate. At this point, you should have enough room to spread the two halves of the frame enough to allow you to dismount the complete pickup assembly. If you want to completely disassemble, you can simply remove the four nuts and separate the frame. Unsolder the old and replace with the new one you have. since you have the wheels off, go ahead and remove and throughly clean the commutator.
2. Another method that does not require removing the wheels is to use a thin ignition wrench or other very thin wrench (sized to fit the nuts on the brush plate) to slide between the drive wheels and the frame in order to loosen the nuts that are behind the drive wheels. Takes holding your mouth just right, but can be done. Once those two are loosened, loosen the two at the top of the brush plate and gently spread the frame enough (It does not take much) to remove the pickup insulator and shoe. Re-tighten nuts and go play.
Someone can fill in any details I may have overlooked. It's actually easier to do than describe!
