Actuator Motor - Real Time Help Needed. (1 Viewer)

[GXO]

Well, my legacy continues. I have torn down the actuator and cleaned it back to very good condition...yet I am having a very clear problem with the motor.

Some background:

- Actuator would not fire, no matter what.
- Discovered unglued magnets and rust, corrosion, etc inside.
- Cleaned everything...in the course of which the magnets fell out and were jumbled.
- Reassembly showed no signs of life when attached to 12V or the harness.

So, what I need (if someone knows) is the orientation and polarity of the magnets within the motor housing.

I know there is a specific orientation since the lid is pinned to only go on one way.

Here is a diagram:

View attachment 94857

The magnets need to be evenly spaced on the inside of the circle...but I need to know the orientation to make the motor work.

I have confirmed that there are two pair of magnets within the cup...two repel at the face, the other two repel each other as well...they attract to the other pair.

I have attempted NSNS and NNSS and had nothing happen with NSNS and had a labored "errrrrr" with the NNSS orientation. I am thinking of reversing what I have with the NNSS to be SSNN and see if the motor was simply running backwards, but I would also like to defer to the "minds of mud" to pull in some more cells to think about this.

If someone has an actuator lying around and would like to test polarities and snap pics of orientations, that would be awesome as well.

Worst case...anyone have an actuator for sale?

 

[FJBen]

not much help here as I didn't tear that deep into mine, I'll check and see if my old one isn't corroded to hell on the inside.

I bought my used one from cruiserparts.net for $200 i think and it works great. SOR has them as well. So does Cdan, but thats a little more that $200 ;p

 

[GXO]

Looks like I might be ordering one and then rebuilding the one I have as a spare

 

[fzj80kidpen]

DanKunz,
Sorry to hear that despite your efforts it seems to be dead.

 

[GXO]

I will figure it out in time, but less stress when I have the truck working and something broken on my bench

 

[Tools R Us]

On my spare motor cover they are NSNS, the magnets have never been off on this cover. Are you sure that you don't have an electrical problem?

 

[GXO]

Can you tell me where they are glued relative to the pins?

I have a good signal to the actuator, the actuator has power to the brushes, but the armature doesn't spin properly because my magnets are not aligned properly.

 

[Tools R Us]

The two marked with red are the same, can't think of an easy way of determining the poles? This one is from a CDL.

 

[GXO]

Awesome! I can work with that.

Thanks a ton!

 

[GXO]

I think that since they are indeed opposite (the magnet opposite each other repels each other) it should work with only two possible configurations...

I can live with 2. Infinite is a lot harder, you have narrowed it a bit

 

[Tools R Us]

I think that since they are indeed opposite (the magnet opposite each other repels each other) it should work with only two possible configurations...

I can live with 2. Infinite is a lot harder, you have narrowed it a bit

Agreed, I tested them by using a small magnet, it would stick to the two in red, the other two repelled.

If they are glued in a little heat will release them, warm the steel housing with a torch or put it in the oven at 350-400F?

 

[Rich]

...can't think of an easy way of determining the poles?..

...I tested them by using a small magnet, it would stick to the two in red, the other two repelled...

You can use a compass to determine the north and south poles of your small magnet, and from there, determine the same for the motor magnets.

 

[GXO]

It Works!

Well, MANY thanks to RavenTai for helping me. He gets mega props and will be getting beer next time we meet.

I rolled down to his house today and he was nice enough to do the temp mod to my gauge.

We also tore down the actuator and compared it to the near mint one he has on his LX450. We used his as a template to orient the magnets and actuator wheel.

The most interesting part of this was that once we got it right we still would have it bind up. Turns out that:

1. Sand and grit in the bushing the worm gear turns in is not tolerable in the smallest amounts.
2. Grease in the pockets helps, but will hydro lock the motor if you don't spin the motor once you apply the grease. That's right, if you grease the top and bottom of the armature it will hydro lock from the pressure of the cap being refastened. We spun the motor into position and then slowly spun it while tightening. It worked.

Long story short...Raven and I now know more than we ever wanted to about the front actuator and can probably fix any actuator that is not burnt or rusted.

There is hope!

 

[Tools R Us]

Good to hear it's working!

 

[IdahoDoug]

Man, that's a Mud success story if I've ever heard one!! Now if ALL of you guys would kindly turn your minds to the sunvisor drooping/detente breakage the universe would line up.

DougM

 

[GXO]

hmm, my sunvisor is happy and has about 15 DVDs hanging on it...

 

[IdahoDoug]

Hmm... that could be changed - who lives in the Atlanta area?.....

DougM

 

[GXO]

Raven does, I do, Infojunky does...a few others.

 

[RavenTai]

Dan it was a good day,

how were your temps on the way home?

I am glad we got your actuator running and I am glad I got a reason to tear into amy actuator, the o-rings badly needed lube,

you have great rig there, I really did the all lined rig, your avatar now makes much more sense

 

[GXO]

Temps ran right where you said they would. ~Half when cruising or cool outside, a touch higher in stop and go with AC, etc. Really cool mod

Thanks again!