Dropped $80 on a carbon brush kit and it saved my old Vacuum truck

My old Vacuum truck has been making this weird grinding noise for weeks. I thought for sure it was the motor going out and I was looking at a couple grand in repairs. A buddy in the trade told me to check the carbon brushes first, they are like 12 bucks each and you can swap them yourself. So I got a kit for $80 total and spent maybe an hour taking the motor housing apart. Sure enough the old brushes were worn down to almost nothing. Put the new ones in and the thing runs smooth as butter now. Has anyone else had a cheap part save them from a huge repair bill like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

anna4913d ago

Exactly like how a bad ground wire makes whole house lights flicker.

paulw533d ago

The part where you said "carbon brush kit saved my old vacuum truck" is exactly the kind of thing I see all the time. It's almost always the small, cheap parts that cause the big failures. People assume the whole machine is shot when really it's just a $12 piece of carbon or a $5 belt. I've fixed a dryer, a lawn mower, and even an old washing machine this way. Once you learn to check the simplest things first, you start seeing this pattern everywhere. It's like how a loose screw can make a door stick, or a dirty filter can choke a furnace. Most people just don't stop and look before they panic.

christopherh793d ago

My 2003 Ford F-250 started bucking like a rodeo bull a few years back, and I was convinced the transmission was toast. Took it to a shop, they wanted $3,000 for a rebuild. I towed it home in a huff and on a whim replaced the 8 dollar crankshaft position sensor. Truck fired right up like nothing ever happened. Makes you wonder how many perfectly good machines get sent to the crusher over a two dollar fuse or a loose wire.