(ET) lift motor thoughts

[Christopher Zach <czach computer org>]

Ok, I'm getting together a few Delco motors and am thinking of going 
into the "fix the $#@&& lift motor" repair business. :-)

It looks like the major sources of failure are torched armatures/fields, 
 burned out circuit breakers, and burned common wires. The last one 
seems to be everywhere; those wires use el-cheapo insulation and are 
just too small a gauge (14-16 or so) for 30 amps. Some motors actually 
get to the point of wearing down the brushes.

So here's my thought: I'll replace parts with Delco parts, and replace 
the long ground wire runs and the little jumper wire to the field with 
10 gauge THHN-2 wire. THHN-2 is expensive, but unlike normal wire (40 
degree C rating) and THHN (60 degree C) THHN-2 has a 90 degree 
insulation rating. That coupled with being 10 gauge should stop the 
smoking wire problem. On the ones with Delco frames I can just put a 
hole in the back, seal it with epoxy, and run the common wire to a nice 
connector. On the Elec-trak motors I suppose I can just put a connector 
on the back.

Now for the question: What is it worth to the list? Anything? Probably 
be an hour a motor, so my time is never going to be compensated (labor o 
love, whatever) and there is the cost of parts. But what would people 
reasonably pay for rebuilt lift motors?

Or should we just find something else?

Chris