Repairing worn out contacts on legacy 9V train motors

[legoman666]

Thought you guys might be interested in this.

Items you will need:

Phosphor bronze wire: http://www.hobbylinc...tic/tic1105.htm is what I used

Soldering iron & solder

Small needle nose pliers

Small dikes

9V train motor with worn out contacts

1) Open up your train motor. If the contacts are good, but the motor still doesn't spin when voltage is applied, I'm afraid this procedure will not help. Here's one of mine opened up.

You will notice that the right set of contacts are broken/worn off. In the rear of the photo, you can see both sets on the other side are also worn off.

2) Remove contacts. These just rest in there and come right out.

3) Cut and shape a piece of the phosphor bronze wire to match the shape of the original contacts. Cut off the remaining portion of the original contacts too.

4) Solder them on the outside of the bracket. The bracket will not fit back in the motor if you put them on the inside.

5) Put back in place. You may have to fiddle with the tension to get the wheels to spin freely. You might try a thinner wire if you have problems. The stuff I used is borderline too thick.

6) Test:

[Rail Co]

Thankfully my motors are all in good working condition, but I will use this once they do decide to give out! Great and simple fix!

Good creative thinking love the quick fix!

-RailCo

[JopieK]

Thanks legoman! Nice tutorial.

[codefox421]

Thanks for writing this up (especially the link to the wire!) If one were to use thinner wire, would .025 be the size you'd suggest?

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Great work and useful topic!