Electric Skateboard Motor Casing – How to Swap

How to swap an electric skateboard motor casing 

This is the fifth in a series of maintenance blogs and videos we will be posting to help you look after your electric skateboard. Here’s how to swap an electric skateboard motor casing.

Should the worst happen and you manage to badly knock the motor of your eboard – Here’s instructions on how to swap the motor casing.

Take the wheel nut off using the skate tool. Slide the wheel off then take the belt guard off using an Allan key. Take the drive belt off.

You should now be able to see the metal drive pulley on the end of the motors shaft- pretty straight forward so far! Slide the top C shaped silver clip from the end of the motors shaft. You can do this with your nails or help out with a pair of pliers.

Once this piece has been removed you should be able to slide the metal drive pulley off the motors shaft. This can be quite tight and you may need to prise it off with a screw driver. Once the pulley is off you’ll see a small silver bar on the side of the shaft. Pull this off with a pair of pliers. It’s this which stops the pulley freely rotating on the shaft.

You’ll now see on the motors shaft – 2 Clips (like a washer but with a gap and 2 holed handles) You’ll need a pair of C clip pliers to get these off easily. You can pick them up for about £5 on Amazon or your local handyman should have some too. Take the 2 C clips off the shaft and you should be able to slide the black motor casing off the motor itself. The electric motor is made of strong magnets so this can be tricky to pull off. Careful also when sliding the motor back on, keep your fingers clear of the motor to avoid trapping them when it pulls itself back on.

If the casing has been badly knocked you should be able to see that the shaft doesn’t run centrally to the casing.

Replacing the Casing

To replace the casing make sure that the internal bearing is in place or you have swapped the old one in to the new casing. Also make sure that the bearing closest to the drive pulley is in place still. Sometimes when the shaft slides in to the motor housing it can push it out.

Once the casing is in place it should act like a spring. So to put the first C clip in place you’ll need to apply some pressure to allow you to see the groove/insert in the shaft. Once this is in, it’s really a case of reassembling in the reverse order. Make sure to squeeze the C Clips tightly shut and that they have correctly slotted in to the groove on the shaft.

Replace the small silver bar on the edge of the shaft then lightly tap the metal drive pulley on with a mallet or leather hammer making sure to brace the end of the motor casing. This will ensure that you don’t knock through the shaft or damage the C clip holding it in place. The final half clip needs to go on to keep the drive pulley in place.

It’s a good idea to test the electric skateboard motor at this point to check you have installed it correctly. Check for any noise, rubbing or grinding noises. If none then move on to the next steps…

Replace the drive belt, wheel pulley, wheel and wheel nut and you’re done! You’re electric skateboard motor should hum nicely but not rub or clank at all. Test for any rubbing or noise and happy esk8ing.

Check out our range of electric skateboards here