E20 Lift Motor Replacement
My front lift motor was bad, it lacked power, sometimes locked up and drew significant amperage. I used the lift motor from my rear lift (WheelHorse) as a substitute but now I was without a rear lift.
I had taken my motor apart and noticed that:
- one of the wires was discolored and another melted
- the thermal switch in the motor was fused/welded together
- there was excessive carbon dust and a distinct burnt smell
It seemed like a tedious task to redo the windings and I had read somewhere that these motors are power window motors that were used in the 70s in GMC vehicles. So off I went to the local junk yard. The guy there recognized the part immediately but the only one he had in stock was in an inverse casing (from the wrong side of the vehicle). He told me to go look at some 70s Chevys, GMCs and Caddilac (apparently up to 1978).
I eventually found a CHEVROLET IMPALA (197?) convertible that had the motors in there. At least some that looked alike. It would have saved me some work to know up front that we need the DRIVER SIDE motors. I took the motor from the rear window as I guess that that probably was used less than the driver's window.
The motor worked fine, but needed to be isolated from the casing. To do so I drilled a hole in the casing and added a little wire. I did not solder the wire as I thought that crimping it would be better because of the (possible) high temperatures in the motor. Here some pictures (click on the pictures to see larger versions):
the two motors, left the one from the junk yard, right the original ET motor |
the bad motor in pieces |
the motor from the Impala |
here you can see how the graphite is attached to the casing. |
the old assembly there the graphite was attached to a (third) wire |
the new motor with a third wire |
I noted that while the casing is exactly the same as that for the GE E20 front lift I have, it differs slightly from the casing that the motor for the WheelHorse rear lift has. The difference is in the little corner sticking out from the sproket casing. That one is not present on the WheelHorse model and must be cut off if installed in the rear lift. |
here another view of the casing with the corner (top right) |
motor with corner cut off. |
It works fine so far. It seems to have less power than the rear lift motor from the WheelHorse (which is now my front lift motor, it lifts the mowing deck with power to spare). Maybe there are different power ratings for the motors.
Hope this helps some others.
Note: At one point I got a pointer to a newer ('94) Chevy S10 window motor as a possible replacement. Turns out that these motors do not work. The mounting holes and gears are different and the motors are permanent magnet which can't provide the torque needed.
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