I recently bought a used Mehano Pacific, and set about trying to clean it. I have some experience with disassembling and cleaning Mantua motors, but this one is giving me grief. I was able to remove the boiler/cab assembly, but cannot figure out how to
a) remove the motor without unsoldering the leads
b) remove the brushes to clean them
I poked around on the web, but was unable to find any detailed instructions on how to do this routine maintenance.
Gene, the picture does not come through. If this is an IHC era Mehano from the last 10 years or so, it is going to have a sealed can motor. I not sure it would actually be possible to access the brushes without destroying the motor?
There’s a U-shaped clip on the back of the motor, holding it to the frame. Once you remove that, the motor will slide backwards a little and lift out. The brushes are held in by little plates (which the wires are soldered to), and those simply slide out. The brushes and springs drop right out after that. These motors are fairly easy to service once you figure them out.
I have a few Mehano made engines with these motors. They run quiet as long as they’re clean, but the commutator gets dirty pretty quickly and will often start to squeal. I think the brushes may be too soft.
Thanks for the detailed instructions. I was able to pull the motor out after some jiggling. Removing the plastic cowling over the worm gear seemed to help, but in retrospect I don’t know why.
I wasn’t able to pull off the brushes, but cleaned the commutator by putting power to the motor and applying alcohol with a small plastic bristle brush. That seemed to make it shinier. I also oiled the axles on either end. Seems to run much better now, although still not as smooth as I’d like.
