My Thumper 6WD burned out a few motors when it stalled out against the house. (I didn’t get it from Pololu but did order a new one using the 12/12/12 sale!) I am going to replace the motors on the bad unit. (Also ordered motors using the sale.)
Any tips on getting the motors out of the holders? I got one bad one out just by continuously pulling on the motor shaft. They are in very tight but eventually it pulled loose.
Does taking the plastic holder out of the chassis help? It doesn’t look like it would since only the tube holding the motor is split. It also seems that it is the gear drive that is gripping the plastic. At least I had a difficult time getting the gear head back into the tube putting a motor back in place.
I think it is easier to remove the motor with the entire bracket assembly free from the chassis. The technique I’ve used in the past has been to:
Loosen the screws that pinch the bracket around the gearbox. (it’s just being held in by the friction of the gearbox against the bracket)
Remove the screws that hold in the bracket end caps and then remove the end caps themselves.
Insert a screw driver or some other long implement into the opening made by removing the end caps and use it as a lever to push on the bottom of the motor. You should be able to get the motor to protrude maybe half an inch out of the bracket, at which point you can probably just pull it all the way out.
I am not sure why those holes are there. They do not have any function on the Wild Thumpers as far as we know (e.g. they are definitely not for set screws since the hole is not threaded).
