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1966 Charger Headlight Motor Disassembly Help

hgufrin

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Hi -

My headlight motors do not work as they should. The motor will only rotate in one-direction. So I am trying to take apart and see what the problem is.

Step 1 - I melted/removed the hard rubber adhesive that holds the two halves of motor housing together.
Step 2 - I removed the "snap-ring" if that is what you call it. With a little twist the two halves come apart (see Pic #1 and Pic #4)
Step 3 - In Pic #2, this part was seized so I removed, cleaned-up, and now it rotates as it should
Step 4- In Pic #3, i removed the two long bolts (that I thought was holding internals in housing)

Question - how do I remove the windings, axle, commutator out of here? If I gently pull on the axle it will not come out. Do i need to cut the two 12v black wires?

Sure would appreciate your input.

Merry Christmas.

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Thanks for the help. Nothing looked burned broken. Are windings something that go bad? Or break internally? All solder connections appeared really good. Any tips on what to check for before i decide to send it out to someone to just re-wind everything? Appreciate any thoughts

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sorry last thought… there doesnt appear to be any magnets in here? Is it because it needs 12v to be magnetized?
 
Before you disassembled the motor, did you try using a stiff 12 volt source such as car battery or battery charger to operate the motor on the bench ?
These motors draw quite a bit of current, many amps. Motor case is ground (-), + would go to one or the other leads, as there is one for each rotation direction. The halves of the motor must be together to properly align the armature, otherwise the commutator will not be properly aligned and centered with the brushes and may make not contact the brushes properly and won't work.
It's been my experience that the part with the blue O ring binds up in the bushing it passes thru in the front of the housing creating very slow movement and causes the motor to draws more current than normal. I have used emery cloth to slightly reduce the OD just enough so that part rotates freely in the bushing in the housing. But you have mentioned you figured that out.
Did you measure the resistance of leads to case ground ? In a working motor, the measured resistance of the windings you will find is not the same and is slightly different, that's normal. Inside my motors, there is a small whitish package that's a thermal protector that will go open in the electrical path if motor would get stalled and heats up to prevent cooking the windings. I don't see that I your pictures.. And yes, needs 12 volts to generate the magnetic field.
 
Twecommm-

Yes i did test it on a bench and it would only run in the “opening” direction. When i tried the other lead, “closing” direction, it just locks up.

After inspecting and cleaning, i then tried to run it with top half of the case off, and it would run in both directions but would lock up, exactly like you said, armature not aligned.

So i will try to put it back together like you said, and then bench test it. problem is… How? Upon looking at it.. it appears as though the shaft,axle,armature will just spin freely inside the 6 weights, planetary gear looking thing and white bowl? Is this picture the correct order of assembly? Howis it possible the shaft is just not spinning freely inside to there?

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Before you disassembled the motor, did you try using a stiff 12 volt source such as car battery or battery charger to operate the motor on the bench ?
These motors draw quite a bit of current, many amps. Motor case is ground (-), + would go to one or the other leads, as there is one for each rotation direction. The halves of the motor must be together to properly align the armature, otherwise the commutator will not be properly aligned and centered with the brushes and may make not contact the brushes properly and won't work.
It's been my experience that the part with the blue O ring binds up in the bushing it passes thru in the front of the housing creating very slow movement and causes the motor to draws more current than normal. I have used emery cloth to slightly reduce the OD just enough so that part rotates freely in the bushing in the housing. But you have mentioned you figured that out.
Did you measure the resistance of leads to case ground ? In a working motor, the measured resistance of the windings you will find is not the same and is slightly different, that's normal. Inside my motors, there is a small whitish package that's a thermal protector that will go open in the electrical path if motor would get stalled and heats up to prevent cooking the windings. I don't see that I your pictures.. And yes, needs 12 volts to generate the magnetic field.
I haven't been in one of these motors in years, but my first thought was wheres the thermal breaker. Seems like someone has been in there. What's that black wire go to on the other side of the brush plate
 
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