Motor Replacement... when it all goes bad

[ta69man]

To go thru a little of the history, I had a motor stuck on an axle of a 2006 Precedent. I had tried everything including the TahoeDawg method of dropping the entire axle on it's side and the motor did not budge. The motor case would rotate easily so I knew I had all bolts out and the case was not frozen to the axle.

I wanted to take you thru some of the other things I did in hopes that it helps someone in the future.

I had exhausted all "normal" methods found on here... so I next thought that maybe the splined joint might get oiled if I over fill the axle and rotate it in many directions. I made a mixture of PB Blaster and ATF and put a few quarts in. I rolled it around and shifted the axle in many angles trying to get fluid every where.... I later found that this did NOTHING as the input bearing for the splined shaft in the axle is sealed and it does not allow oil to transfer into the motor area.... I wasn't sure where the seal was.
NOTE: I did see later that it looks like the vent on top of the axle should allow oil to get into this area. You might be able to position the axle where the vent is straight up and lean the axle to where you could pour in some penetrant oil into the vent hole and it drains down onto the spline connection to help if the motor is just barely hanging on...

At this point I thought I'd just try to get the case off the motor. I found that the bearing on the other side of the motor was clipped into the motor end bell and press fit on the motor shaft. I heated the end bell and put PB blaster on the bearing. After a few days I re-installed the bolts of the motor case to axle and loosened them a few turns so there was space for movement back. I reheated the end bell and banged on the bolt heads until the motor started to move (note: The little bolts bent pretty easily and I had to hit it with a 5lb sledge... Also, one wrong hit and you'd likely break the aluminum casting). I worked with the retaining bolts until I got them out and kept installing new (longer)bolts and banging until I finally got the motor case off the rotor shaft. If you don't thread the bolts into the endbell then as the motor case backs away from the axle mount what ever you are using as a "bolt" to transfer the hammer force will likely bend and shoot out between the case and the axle and you'll have you cut that out...

Now I was looking at only the armature and I could see the splined shaft connection. I put PB blaster on this and waited a week. I worked the armature back and fourth hoping that it would loosen and fall off but it stayed tight. I repeated the PB blaster and waited another week... nothing.

At this point I don't want to kill the axle, but I care nothing about the motor... I stood the axle up on one wheel with the armature pointed straight up. I shielded the axle bearing and took out the torch and heated this coupling for a while. It was not glowing red... but was hot... Every few minutes I'd try to remove the armature, shacking it back and fourth hoping it would loosen... but again.. nothing.

Now I was mad... I had done enough research to know that there was a gap between the end of the splined shaft and the depth of the armature shaft spline that was filled with a rubber piece. I tried to use a sawzall with a long blade to cut the armature off... but found that the shaft is hardened and it just ate the blade. I broke out the big grinder / cut off wheel and started going to town. I had just enough room to get up in there and little bit by little bit jab into each side of the shaft until I finally got the armature off.... I ground the remaining stub down until I found that open area filled with rubber. Now I have only the actual splined connection left to deal with. I grabbed a three finger gear puller and after some effort, finally got the last bit of the motor off... I'm not sure why, but this was tight all the way until the end like it was a press fit.


So, finally I got what I wanted... Now I need to find a good motor to throw back on there and keep diagnosing my issues. Next I'm going to try to rebuild the controller that the bad motor blew up.

[NoleFan4Ever]

Dang that is a lot of headache. Good documentation on what all occurred.

[Swan]

dammmm that was a tight one , mine fell right off.

[jsmith294]

Wow, I'll never complain about having to grind off a nut again. Thanks for the detailed write-up. The axle seems to have a lot of corrosion. What's its history?

[jsmith294]

Excellent write-up, by the way...

[Mooncarter]

Dang that one was a pain.

[ta69man]

Story is: this was my first cart purchase and I got sold what appears to be a water damaged cart. It had a blown up controller and owner said he hooked up something wrong which caused it... I like to fix things so I bit...

[Nsane]

Never seen or had one that bad, good job getting it off.

[TahoeDawgZ71]

I'm surprised the drop method didn't work. I finally recorded it in case anybody wants to see it..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIWnmfVkLIo

[NoleFan4Ever]

Originally Posted by TahoeDawgZ71

I'm surprised the drop method didn't work. I finally recorded it in case anybody wants to see it..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIWnmfVkLIo

Poor Noah got his workout in today!!