EldoradoFJ60
July 16th, 2011, 04:12 PM
Decided to take out my heating/cooling motor and clean out the fan. Lots of debris can get caught in them and make noise and decrease efficiency.
Unbolted the motor and took off the fan. The fan was actually free of debris despite a few pine needles. I cleaned off the black dust and set it out to dry. Then in a moment of genius I decided to take apart the motor itself. :cool:
The motor was full of nasty black dust which I blew out. Then I realized the brushes had been pushed out. Great. Now I had to find a way to compress the brushes and get them back over the armature.
First attempt was a success! But wait. The electrical connection is on backwards. :erm: The motor needed to be rotated 180 degrees in order to be plugged back in. Got it rotated but it still wasn't fitting properly. The piece that attaches to the vent tube seemed to be blocked. Tried to open the motor slightly in order to realign it. In doing so one of the brushes popped back out. Decided the easiest way to compress the springs would be to drill 2 holes in the motor cover. Then I could insert paper clips to hold back the brushes and just pull them out once they are over the armature. During this process I managed to lose one of the springs :thumb:
So now I have one spring. I took an old spring off the bolt on my old Ruger 10-22. Same diameter but stronger rate so I had to make it much shorter. I put the crap back together and put it back in the truck. But not before getting pissed and slamming the motor on the floor which bent the mounting plate.
The motor works, but it's loud as hell. So I got on Ebay and picked up a new motor off a 1989 FJ62 for $35.
I guess it's all good because those brushes didn't have much life left and the armature was getting worn.
Unbolted the motor and took off the fan. The fan was actually free of debris despite a few pine needles. I cleaned off the black dust and set it out to dry. Then in a moment of genius I decided to take apart the motor itself. :cool:
The motor was full of nasty black dust which I blew out. Then I realized the brushes had been pushed out. Great. Now I had to find a way to compress the brushes and get them back over the armature.
First attempt was a success! But wait. The electrical connection is on backwards. :erm: The motor needed to be rotated 180 degrees in order to be plugged back in. Got it rotated but it still wasn't fitting properly. The piece that attaches to the vent tube seemed to be blocked. Tried to open the motor slightly in order to realign it. In doing so one of the brushes popped back out. Decided the easiest way to compress the springs would be to drill 2 holes in the motor cover. Then I could insert paper clips to hold back the brushes and just pull them out once they are over the armature. During this process I managed to lose one of the springs :thumb:
So now I have one spring. I took an old spring off the bolt on my old Ruger 10-22. Same diameter but stronger rate so I had to make it much shorter. I put the crap back together and put it back in the truck. But not before getting pissed and slamming the motor on the floor which bent the mounting plate.
The motor works, but it's loud as hell. So I got on Ebay and picked up a new motor off a 1989 FJ62 for $35.
I guess it's all good because those brushes didn't have much life left and the armature was getting worn.