Replacing Marx 490 brushes?

If you post some clear pictures of both sides of the motor assembly, that would be a help.

Larry

The folks on the Tinplate Forum might be helpful, also. The Marx 490 is thought of as tinplate by a few, go figure .

Larry and Pappy, thank you for your interest.  I'm happy to report that I got the brushes out.  My wife had some Glue Dots bought at a yard sale.  I squeezed one into the brush tube and lifted one brush out using the blunt point of another tool pushed down in.  It took a few tries, as the contaminants on the brush end had to come off first.  But the other one still wouldn't budge after 12 or so tries.  I finally coaxed it out, sliding it using the backside of an X-Acto blade.  I guess the blade was just enough sharper than the tiny screwdriver, dental pick and small nail mounted in a pin vise that had failed to dislodge the brush.

Here is a picture of a Marx motor that has been disassembled. The wheels need to be pulled off and there are 4 nuts to unscrew. This seems to be the way to service these motors.

Larry

On the motors with metal sides, removing on driver and the brush plate is usually enough to service everything well except if the e-unit needs to be taken apart. It the e-unit needs to be removed, you will need to remove both drivers and slightly loosen the nuts holding the case halves together. This will allow the e-unit to slide out of it's slots. If you have a really thin 1/4 ignition wrench you can loosen the nuts without removing both drivers. One driver still needs to come off to get the armature out if it needs to be removed.

The lower end one way motors are a bear to get the brush out as you just found out. Other than splitting the motor in half, I know of no secret to getting them out easier. I just sacrifice them and put in new ones.

Steve

With the springs out of the way, I've had some luck using a can of "compressed air" for blowing dust out of computers to get the brushes out.

First use a screw driver in the brush slot to move them around and break them loose from any dirt, etc.

Next, with the plastic tube in the nozzle, blow a stream of air across the top of the brush holder opening. Venturi effect will create a lower air pressure on the top of the brush. This should lift it enough to snag with an X-Acto blade or scribe tip for removal.