HH Torquemaster Expert 35t hanging up.

[Red04Cobra]

The motor will just kind of stall and you have to give it a nudge to get it going again. Cleaned everything the best I could multiple times. Now this last time after cleaning and reassembling the motor, as I take the motor up the full throttle it just kind of clicks and goes WOT even after letting off the accelerator and stays there until I unplug the battery.

I took lots of pictures of the motor apart. Any ideas would be helpful.



































I'm using a BR-XL waterproof ESC that i'm guessing wasn't so waterproof. See my thread here - Dead BR-XL. Anyhow after it dried out for a couple of days it started working again. I've tested the stock 27t axial motor and it doesn't exhibit these same issues.

[micro racer]

It looks like you have some corrosion on your brushes and comm. Get a comm lathe and shave off the top crap (or get a new armature if you don't want to buy a lathe) and new brushes.

[801RYAN]

Brushes look suspect to me, HH will rebuild with new brushes for 10 bucks.

[fatroofus]

I have had good results with just getting a piece of scotch bright and cleaning it good and getting the crusty off every thing, then spraying off any extra debri and replacing it all. everything looks good from the pics to me.

[EddieO]

Everything looks fine? Uh no...

Motor clearly has been ran in water....and then not cleaned afterwards.

Brushes are about 1/3rd their normal length and the comm is hammered. The brushes are probably struggling to make solid contact because of the comm condition, along with the length being so short, the springs are not pressing very hard.

Assuming the comm cleans up well from a cut, you will need to replace the brushes and all should be fine....do not use scotch brite to clean the comm. Find a person with a lathe, buy a lathe or send it in to Holmes for a rebuild.

In the future, clean the motor out with some motor spray or compressed air after you run in the water.

Later EddieO

[Red04Cobra]

Originally Posted by EddieO

Everything looks fine? Uh no...

Motor clearly has been ran in water....and then not cleaned afterwards.

Brushes are about 1/3rd their normal length and the comm is hammered. The brushes are probably struggling to make solid contact because of the comm condition, along with the length being so short, the springs are not pressing very hard.

Assuming the comm cleans up well from a cut, you will need to replace the brushes and all should be fine....do not use scotch brite to clean the comm. Find a person with a lathe, buy a lathe or send it in to Holmes for a rebuild.

In the future, clean the motor out with some motor spray or compressed air after you run in the water.

Later EddieO

Yep, it had been ran through water a couple of times BEFORE I read the guide on how to care for your motor. This last time out I was in the water when it started messing up. I ran it pretty darn hard too.

Did lots of reading between this weekend and last night and troubleshot it to the point where I was thinking the same thing as you. So i'm happy to have that reaffirmed. Guess i'll be shopping for a comm lathe and some new brushes!

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by EddieO

Everything looks fine? Uh no...

Motor clearly has been ran in water....and then not cleaned afterwards.

Brushes are about 1/3rd their normal length and the comm is hammered. The brushes are probably struggling to make solid contact because of the comm condition, along with the length being so short, the springs are not pressing very hard.

Assuming the comm cleans up well from a cut, you will need to replace the brushes and all should be fine....do not use scotch brite to clean the comm. Find a person with a lathe, buy a lathe or send it in to Holmes for a rebuild.

In the future, clean the motor out with some motor spray or compressed air after you run in the water.

Later EddieO

+1, comm cut & new brushes. If you do it, run the motor at low load for ~5 minutes on a ~5VDC supply to seat the brushes.

Now, none of this explains the, "Now this last time after cleaning and reassembling the motor, as I take the motor up the full throttle it just kind of clicks and goes WOT even after letting off the accelerator and stays there until I unplug the battery" comment. Sounds like you still have a ESC issue either in the ESC or with the RX. If you're not feeding power to the motor, it won't run.
What do the ESC LED's show when the motor is running but you're not giving any throttle??

[Red04Cobra]

Originally Posted by Charlie-III

+1, comm cut & new brushes. If you do it, run the motor at low load for ~5 minutes on a ~5VDC supply to seat the brushes.

Now, none of this explains the, "Now this last time after cleaning and reassembling the motor, as I take the motor up the full throttle it just kind of clicks and goes WOT even after letting off the accelerator and stays there until I unplug the battery" comment. Sounds like you still have a ESC issue either in the ESC or with the RX. If you're not feeding power to the motor, it won't run.
What do the ESC LED's show when the motor is running but you're not giving any throttle??

That is a very good question! I did not think to check that last night since I was in a panic trying to figure out how to unplug the battery while holding this crawler going full tilt boogie on it's own. I sent an email to HH to see how to proceed with a warranty claim since the ESC is new and haven't heard anything back yet. I just hate to send everything back and be down for a couple of weeks.

[Charlie-III]

Double check and see what the LED's on the ESC show. You "may" just need to recalibrate the ESC to the RX.

[Red04Cobra]

Originally Posted by Charlie-III

Double check and see what the LED's on the ESC show. You "may" just need to recalibrate the ESC to the RX.

I'll do that this evening and then post an update. I may just go ahead and pull the ESC and motor and send them back to Holmes and have him rebuild the motor and troubleshoot the ESC for me. I think it missed the epoxy coating or something. I was easing into a small stream and as soon as it touched water it died. Darndest thing i've ever seen.

Thankfully i've got plenty of spares, I just hate to send back my good stuff :( I will just have to put a lot more thought into what i'm doing in the future. It's definitely a good learning experience!