I did a post of this topic about a year ago, regarding a special Tuff Ones build I did for The Road Crew. In that post, I discussed the quite significant performance changes that can be made to old Aurora chassis just by changing the brushes. In this here post, I’m revisiting the issue from a different perspective: that of saving an old T-Jet that appears to be on its last legs.
Several months ago now, the motor on one of my most valuable original cars, the “olive green” Riviera, began to smoke. Any T-Jet fan knows that once you see smoke, the motor is pretty much done. But I cut power immediately and once it cooled, I took it all apart and cleaned it. I wondered if there was a chance I could keep it going by replacing the brushes with a set of brand new ones. So I did so. Now, almost a year later, that car is still running, it’s running great, and I haven’t seen it smoke since!
You can buy brand new Thunderjet brushes from numerous vendors online. They are not very expensive, and usually ship in small plastic bags in whatever quantity you buy. I keep a stash of them handy at all times, but I also keep a stash of used brushes around as well. Some of these are in such bad condition that they probably should not be used, but others can be saved with a good cleaning. There are cases where you may actually want to use a pair of used brushes that have been worn down some and thus are shorter than new ones, especially if you have a motor with electrodes that are bent upwards enough to put enough pressure on the commutator that the friction is slowing the motor down or causing it to labor. As we know, bending the copper electrodes on an older T-Jet is a very delicate operation, and if they break off, you can throw your valuable vintage chassis in the trash, so if you commutator surface is deeply grooved, this is indication that there is more pressure on the brushes than is good for the motor, and a pair of worn down brushes may provide a little clearance and reduced that pressure! So keep a few used ones around, provided they are not pitted or so dirty that they can’t be effectively cleaned!
Recently, I had another original begin to display the same signs of wear: my yellow ’67 Ford Galaxie XL500 began to bog down on the track after a few laps of running and when I picked it up to examine it, it was so hot it burned my fingers. It wasn’t smoking, but I now know the signs. Time to take her apart and see if another brush replacement could improve this situation before the motor was (literally) toast. This time I elected to utilize a pair of used brushes that appeared to still have a lot of life left in them, but I had to clean them, and the chassis, thoroughly, before installing them. Once I did so and put the car back together, VO-EEE-LA! The overheating and slowing problems were gone! So it was the brushes that were at fault! And now I can run this car without burning up the motor! That seems like a good thing, yes?
So, did I get lucky with my olive green Riv? Maybe, but I think this points out that cleaning your T-Jets and making sure the brushes are well maintained and in good order is about the most important thing you can do to keep them running right! And I know that the Galaxie was headed for the same smoky fate, and it seems I headed that engine fire off before it started! So, Thunderjet racers, always, always check your brushes! If they are dirty (and they will be), clean them; if they are excessively worn, replace them; and if you have performance or overheating issues, look here first!
Smoke and heat is never a good think in a situation like that! I’ve had a couple of locomotives burn up on be though that was electrical rather than the motor. This is a great point about maintenance! Very important on an investment like you have in these cars. It’s probably time for some on my trains as well!