Wiper motor ballbearing

[ianwayne]

Opened up my wiper motor because it's very slow. As I turned it over, a ballbearing fell out as seen in the photo on the black cloth. I can't see where it came from. Any ideas?

It doesn't go under the motor cap, it won't bolt down far enough. And it doesn't seem to go between the end of the shaft and the case:

[ianwayne]

Found one of the brushes had a large piece broken off, the yellow wire. It may have been me but I was careful ish taking it all apart. May have been cracked:



A replacement brushbox is £15 so I'll try that first.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lucas-14W-27W-29W-Wiper...

I see there is an upgraded motor at TVR parts but it's £174 + postage....

Still not sure where the ballbearing goes?

[Penelope Stopit]

I am as sure as can be that it fits into the commutator end of the armature, put some grease on it to hold it in

[Penelope Stopit]

The yellow cable connects to the second speed brush and that brush should have a piece out of it, it is more like half a brush and does wear away quicker than the other two

[N7GTX]

^^^^ this. The second speed brush is only half as wide as the others but if it is worn down and not sliding in the housing then a new brush set should cure it. If there is plenty material left then a good clean and it should be sliding freely again.
Fairly sure the end cap is a plain white metal bush so don't know where the ball bearing is from.

[TwinKam]

The ball is for end thrust of the armature, given that it has a worm drive gear. You should see a dimple in the end of the shaft where it goes, as Penny said, a blob of grease will hold it in place.

[ianwayne]

Penelope Stopit said:

The yellow cable connects to the second speed brush and that brush should have a piece out of it, it is more like half a brush and does wear away quicker than the other two

Thanks all. I realise the yellow brush has a sort of 'L' shape profile but the big chunk missing was the bit that should have normally be touching the slip rings! So only a tiny part was touching in a sort of reverse 'L'. And the brush spring was unshipped so it may have been fouling motor movement. However, the motor was ridiculously slow even on normal speed before I stripped it so I hope new brushes and a clean up will do it.

Yes, the armature end has a dimple in it but when I trial fitted the end plate with the ballbearing in there, it seemed to sit proud, but I think there was crud in there.

[Penelope Stopit]

ianwayne said:

Penelope Stopit said:

The yellow cable connects to the second speed brush and that brush should have a piece out of it, it is more like half a brush and does wear away quicker than the other two

Thanks all. I realise the yellow brush has a sort of 'L' shape profile but the big chunk missing was the bit that should have normally be touching the slip rings! So only a tiny part was touching in a sort of reverse 'L'. And the brush spring was unshipped so it may have been fouling motor movement. However, the motor was ridiculously slow even on normal speed before I stripped it so I hope new brushes and a clean up will do it.

Yes, the armature end has a dimple in it but when I trial fitted the end plate with the ballbearing in there, it seemed to sit proud, but I think there was crud in there.

Good luck with it, check there is no carbon or dirt build up between the commutator segments, I think the commutator insulation material sits flush to the segments and isn't slotted/undercut which means there should not be anything building up between segments so the commutator will only need a quick fine emery paper polish and away you go