# LGB Stainz Motor Block Repair



## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

My third and hopefully last gear fix this month is for a track powered LGB Stainz from an LGB Circus Set. 










The cog wheel was stripped as is evident by the plastic shavings surrounding the clean worm gear and the groove worn into the cog wheel. 




























Replacement cog wheels with axles were already here as I had ordered them when I order the Genesis idler gears from Joane at Train-Li USA last month.
New cogs in place but not oriented - yet.










Per George Schreyer’s website - 

“THIS IS IMPORTANT. When comes time to reassemble the brick, the two axles MUST be correctly oriented with respect each other or the connecting rods will not fit. The axles are keyed on each end. Make sure that the keys are parallel to each other.”

When I disassembled the motor block halves a ball bearing fell out. Luckily it fell onto the towel on my work bench. Note to self – do not drop it or lose it. Not knowing where it went, I figured it was to prevent excessive end play on the axle shafts. When I put the motor back in, - I dropped the ball bearing.







It is now lost never to be found somewhere on the floor of my garage. What was I to do. Well as luck would have it I happen to have various sizes of ball bearings from my mountain bike riding days (20 years ago). Sure enough these fit







.


Since I didn’t know if the motor block had 1 or 2 ball bearings, I put 1 at each end of the motor shaft and applied LGB Gear Lubricant.










Reassemble the block, bench tested it and it ran great. 











Put the loco back together and took it out to the track to run.
Well it ran but not right.







With my Bridgeworks controller set to forward it ran in reverse with the front headlight on. With the controller set to reverse it ran forward with the rear light on. 

Back to the bench to be taken apart again. This time I took apart the running gear as a unit.











Crack opened the case, turned the motor 180 degrees, put the whole thing back together and success.
We are back in business and I will be running a circus train tomorrow.










Tommy








Rio Gracie


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## Curmudgeon (Jan 11, 2008)

There is a retainer on the brush end with two pegs. Holds the brushes in....and the pin aligns the motor in one way only. 
If you can invert the motor, something is wrong with the pin...that also assists in keeping the motor from rotating and working the contacts out of mesh with the strips. 
One more thing.....replacement motors for older clamshell Stainz blocks aren't right. 
One end does not fit the housing. Gears are partially meshed. 
You have to use a razor saw and cut the plastic hub off the old motor, clean it out, press it over the new motor to get the mesh right. 
You haven't seen that, as you have an original, externally thrusted motor (ball bearings on the ends). 
Just remember it if you have to change a motor out later on. 
TOC


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## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks TOC for confirming the ball bearing locations. This is my first clamshell motor block. It's been taken apart before me. I picked up this Circus Stainz (set) awhile back from a LGB Dealer whose kids grew up playing with it. I was planning on taking it apart again and checking my rebuild this weekend. Now I'm going to see how I was able to put the motor in 180 degrees off. 
Tommy








Rio Gracie


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## Curmudgeon (Jan 11, 2008)

I didn't think it was physically possible and still get it all screwed together. The peg sticking out one end plate (brush end) may have been cut off. 
The brass contacts are at each end...if the block has been notched, or the pin removed...maybe. 
I used to work on so many of those things. 
30 years ago I did repairs for a restaurant that delivered food by train....man, you talk about wore out. 
At that time, the only way to get spare motor blocks out of LGBoA was to have a situation like that....public display, restaurant. 
Never knew how they confirmed you were legit, but we kept new blocks on hand and swapped them out, then fixed the old ones.


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

The ball bearings are there to limit the shaft movement on the old motors.
The newer replacement motors have bearings which do not allow the shaft to move and the bearings are not needed and could create issues.

Only the frr replacement motor needs 1 bearing and the new motors come with a new ball bearing.


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