So, back in October 2024 my Wide Wheel wouldn't go, the back motor made a lot of noise and felt almost "seized" inside. I suspected rust and I suspected in it where it was found: between the stator and the magnets).
Keep in mind that I've had this scooter since 2019 and its seen a lot of use.
Accordingly there were lots of delays (what, with postage from China, two other motorcycles that needed work and changing tyres on the MX60 so that I still had an electric scooter), but eventually it all came together.
Firstly, I struggled to get the wheel apart. I looked at would I repair or replace the whole thing (after quite a few goes at trying to get it apart. The price of a the price of a whole rear hub wheel ($300 of course with a tyre fitted) vs just a tyre ($50) and a set of wheel bearings ($14 for the pair). I thought "ok, I'm willing to give it a go"; and so I decided that we had to go the hard way of cutting the tyre off.
To achieve this we (it was a two man job) used a good sharp knife, a pair of pliers to pull up what had been cut and some "penetrating oil" (spray can) to lubricate the knife as it cut. You can see the rust stain there where clearly some water (one doesn't need much) had made its way into the motor some how. I have a few ideas on that front, which I can't verify, but either way.
With the tyre off I was quickly able to remove the screws from the "right side" of the hub (sides being usually discussed from the perspective of the rider on the bike or scooter) and it came apart easily and pretty cleanly. You can then see the windings, the steel laminated metal sheets that form and hold the windings.
The problem was rust and tiny bits of broken magnet debris. Here you can't see is how tightly the magnets around the outside of them hold that stator in, meaning that just a little bit of surface rust becomes a problem. Probably not having used it for 3 or 4 months helped that rust expand (which is what rust does).
Extracting the stator requires the left side of the hub to be supported and a strong back (and a good grip on the shaft; so put the nut back on and a couple of big washers for grip) to pull it out. Do not pull on the wire.
The outside of the stator had some surface rust as well as the magnets. I used an abrasive bit on my cordless drill (also with very sparing use of penetrating oil) to clean up the outer of the stator and the inner of the magnet area.
Do pay attention to the wires and don't abrade / clean anything off the sides (there wasn't anything anyway).
You can see (blackened area to the right) that one of the magnets has had some of itself smashed off (by the build up of stuff that was in there) and its a hell scape in there if any bits break off because they'll be kept in dangerous places by the magnetic fields.
From there I decided to replace the bearings too, they tapped out nicely with a socket and the new ones tapped in cleanly too.
I thought that before ordering a tyre I'd check that nothing was wrong, inserted the stator and closed the wheel up gently.
So with everything prepared I re-fitted the motor (without the tyre) so back on the scoot and "test fire it" to see if it still worked.
All went perfectly.
However I want to take the time to reiterate a few things that are unexpected to those inexperienced in working with this type of motors.
- just as the stator resisted being removed, it is strongly attracted to the hub, so care and strength is required when inserting the stator into the half with the magnets as it will suddenly and strongly get pulled into place. Be prepared for this and have a good grip and make sure the wheel side is held for this.
- you MUST leave clearance under that wheel side for the axle to protrude through.
When my tyre arrived some other things became apparent
- its a real tight fit and I should have used lubricant
- you really need some long screws of the right type to insert into the holes in the steel frame to accurately line up with the screws that you'll replace
- some sort of clamp system (big G clamps will do the trick) to pull the two sides together
- some large washers to form a stack to keep the shaft pulled snugly against the other side and prevent it from moving back up
I didn't do 4 above and somehow my friend who was helping decided to use a spanner on the axle and turn it; and the stator had slid up ...
This quick movement (he's used to the oil drilling industry and heavy machinery) and ruined my motor. As the stator spun and the wheel half hub dragged on the wires that go to the hall sensors (a critical component in a brushless motor) and totally fucked those delicate connections.
Sigh ... so lesson here is "don't work like a gorilla, work like a watchmaker with electromechanical things."
I have tried to get the hall sensors out, but they are glued in and thus I'll never know what they are (to order replacements) or indeed be able to get new ones in.
The motor is now toast :'-(
By this time, when I went back to Ali I found that rear motors were not available (and they are physically different to the front).
The entire project sat in the shed until a few weeks back when I found another 2019 Wide Wheel in Facebook market place with a stuffed battery (seriously it was only good for 2km) for $200 and I decided to buy that to get a rear wheel.
However when I got the scoot I found that it was almost totally new, with very little apparent wear (well, the rims were bashed on the edges, because people don't know how to corner on) and so I decided to transplant my battery into it instead of just moving the wheel to my scoot.
The scoot had been put into ludicrous mode (explaining why the battery was stuffed) and almost none of the usual pre-ride prep work had been done (please see
this article and its linked ones). Indeed the owner had done the classic 1980's bicycle brake cable adjustment which is both wrong and dangerous (see
this article for how to properly adjust the standard calliper).
So, now I have a new 2019 model Wide Wheel (as well as a bunch of spare parts still on my old one) and it feels great to be still riding one. Getting a (basically) new scooter has been interesting to see how much (not much) my scooter has aged and experience a few small differences (such as the controller seems a little different on this model).
Lastly, I've written a lot about Wide Wheel scooters, so rather than list it, everything is here (all articles).
Happy Scootering
