It is warm and raining here 40F. Everything was working fine, but suddenly, my Meyers motor started making a low moaning noise and now it will hardly lift or angle the blade and is taking a heavy draw off the battery. It was working fine up until now. I don't see any obvious problems. I need to get this fixed before this slush freezes up again or I am going to have a big mess. Help! :<
Fiddled with it some more. It is an E-60. The contections are good. The oil is full. It won't lift at all now unless we increase the engine RPM a tad, and tap on the electric motor. I have never changed the brushes in this (got it second hand this fall) and I have never changed the brushes in any other. What is the procedure for doing so. By the time that I sign on to the forum again, I will have the motor off (if all goes well) and I will contact Meyers. I will also search this forum to see if I can find anything. Thanks for your help.
check that hot lead going to the terminal with a voltmeter,it should as much as your battery= -.2volt any more and you won't get good performance out of the motor,you want as close to zero resistance in the wire as you can get,good clean connections and good brushes= strong motor=you happy....
Took the motor off. Had a look inside. Lots of corrosion inside. What's the best way to seal this up. It's heavily exposed to elements. Brushes look to be in bad shape as well. Taking it to a local electric motor shop. No snow in the forcast for a week. Thanks for your help.
My brother picked up his new E-60 motor for $147. It has a ground lug in addition to a + lug. Even with new brushes, it's only a matter of time before the ground problem arises again. Even a new motor will give you trouble with a bad ground.... ~Chuck
Thanks for the reply Chuck. I see what you mean about the ground problem. It appears to be grounded to cast or aluminum, neither are good conductors. I'm a little confused though. Did the ground problem cause your brother's motor to crap the bed? Is that why he had to buy a new one instead of rebuilding the existing? Or did he buy a new one because you were under the gun do get your accounts plowed? In the off season I will address the ground problem. I will find or make a better quality ground.
He replaced it because he couldn't afford for it to "act up" again. One of these motors he had the springs that hold the carbon brushes snap from rust. Like yours, his was full of corrosion inside. In fact, all three he has had, had extensive corrosion inside. As you said, the aluminum is a poor ground. There is an aluminum base plate on the motor, which mates to the cast aluminum base (the pump mount). The copper wires connected to the carbon brushes on all 3 of his motors were green with corrosion. When he spoke to the dealer, he mentioned I was going to weld on a nut to the motor housing, to attach another ground to it. The dealer said it wouldn't work, unless it was attached properly to the inside of the motor. Perhaps Finnegan can tell you where to attach a ground lead to, internally on the motor. I like to work on things, but the time frame here was too short for me to make sure he would have no trouble, and the snow was waiting to be plowed. He plowed from 10 PM, until the dealer opened at 8 AM. I can go over the old motor, and weld on the nut, and keep it as a spare. I think because the E-60 mounts sideways, it allows moisture in easier. There is no seal or gasket on the "end cap" of the motor. The old E-47 mounts vertically, so moisture is not as much of a problem. ~Chuck
I was told that newer E-60's were supposed to have a drain plug built in to drain the moisture out. The old ones definitely have a design flaw in that moisture can easily get in, but there is no way to get it out easily. So the water sits inside like a puddle & corrodes everything. Replacement motors that you buy must not have this new feature added. This info came to me from a dealer the first time I had to take one of the E-60's apart. He suggested carefully drilling a small hole in the bottom to allow the puddle to drain out. I also sprayed some kind of clear coating (maybe a silicone? I think its really for sealing electrical connections) around the motor seals, caps & pumps on mine & haven't had a problem in 2 years. Please knock on wood at this point, thank you. I'll try to find the can & let you all know what it is, because it seems to have made a big difference.
Yes, Definately knock on wood. The man that repairs all of my electric motors is somebody that I consider to be an expert among experts. He says that there is no way to effectively prevent rust from building inside these motors. There are a few things that can be done to slow it down. His primary recommendation for the off season was to remove the pump from the frame and store it indoors in a dry room (not a damp basement). These units are exposed to some heavy elements there is not much else that can be done. He didn't say anything about a drain hole, but I will ask.
WhenI put my motors on I take a small amount of silicone and put it around the exterior with my finger right where the top and bottom parts meet the middle section.Although there are gaskets there it seems to help over long term.
Polymer Pump Covers Try one of those new 'polymer' pump covers. They are very durable and are kind of like a 'wet suit' for your pump...I sold a few of them this year for E-47's and E-60's. You can get them for about $36.00. Try Mill Supply... Ted Landisburg, PA '77 Dodge M880
