I got some new brushes today!
$50 for four of them from a place that rebuilds motors. They had like a warehouse of forklift motors there!!!
The guy was pretty nice. He told me how to clean the grooves on the commutator and gave me a "commutator stone" as well.
I put in the new brushes.
And then put the whole motor back together again.
I rigged up a 50 amp ammeter to it and then braced the motor on the floor (it could fall off a workbench, and it is REALLY heavy to lift anyways!)
I used one of those portable jumpstarter devices as my 12 volt power source.
I hooked up the jumper cables and.....
IT SPINS!
THE WRONG DIRECTION I THINK!!!!
It also sounded pretty noisy and I could see some arcing from the brushes. I rubbed the commutator stone in there and right away the arcing stopped, it sounded quieter and the motor sped up a little bit.
The ammeter read 25 amps while spinning with no load. That sounds high to me. Has anyone else ever hooked up a big motor like this and checked how many amps it was pulling at 12 volts with no load?
I am pretty sure it is spinning the wrong way. When I bought the motor, I hooked up a 12V source and it barley spun. I actually had to give it a little push to go - but I thought it spun the correct direction!
Do I have to replace the Metro with a Honda? Or just
always drive in reverse!?!? (scroll down for "Reverse" lyrics...)
