The motor in my Mikado fried yesterday, and I am heartbroken. Upon inspection, it is apparent that part of the motor assembly was broken, and I believe this caused the shaft to be slightly off center, creating heat and wear that caused it to fry. With that said, is changing the motor difficult? Are 5-pole replacement motors expensive? I found on eBay a 3-Pole motor on eBay that looks like it would fit, but what are the major disadvantages of 3-pole motors? If I could even get the thing to roll again, I'd be far happier than if it had to be retired to display duty. Any help would be appreciated.
Justin, send it to Sandy and Glenn Stykas. You are looking at $45 if you dont need a motor, and around 90 with a motor replacement. It may not need a new motor. Let them check it out. Also, some of the motors on ebay may not fit your engine. Make sure it has the same motor number as your engine. Good luck.
www.ajckids.com has a motor replacement chart that might be of help. Also, go to John web site www.ztrains.com click on links and go to a site called do it yourself z scale. There is an article that explains step by step how to do it.
By the way, you can take the motor out without disturbing the wheels. Thats the way to go, but if the wheels come out, then is a pain in the neck to put them back in the correct order. I still have one that wont run correctly after taking out the wheels. It only runs right one way. Here is a link to a motor replacement site. http://www.zscale.org/articles/fivepole.html
I have purchased 5 pole motor from ajckids, and installed them in a few minutes. You have to unsolder the contact strips from the frame to the capacitor leads, but it is easy with a pencil type iron. Cost goes down to under $50 for do it yourself with new motor.
And some of the 3 pole / 5 pole chassis reportedly have different gearing for each other so reportedly if you replace a 5 pole with a 3 pole (motor only) the speeds will be off but I haven't researched the part numbers to be sure.
Thanks for all the help. I've pulled the motor out of the Mikado, and it looks fairly easy to do the swap, though the brushes look tricky. I think I can figure it out though, the resources listed above look like they will be invaluable help. Thanks again!
