As with any mechanical repair there are easy jobs and some which are clearly not so. The main motor is one of them. If you are reading this it is likely that your main motor has possibly been through hundreds of roasts and needs replacing. Additionally, your roaster so has experienced many heat and cooling cycles that 'realign' parts. This can make installing a new motor a challenge.
Have a muffin pan or about five or six plastic bags to keep the screws and washers separated so that they can be replaced in the correct locations. This will make this job far easier to complete. Little labels placed with the screws documenting their location will help limit the stress of, "Where does this one go?" and allow you to concentrate on the job at hand.
Before removing the motor take some photos on the current installation taking note of the routes the various wires take:
- Start capacitor of the motor and its wires
- Eject solenoid wires
- Heating element and fusible link wires
- Emergency eject microswitch (only on later models)
When installing the motor, first secure the start capacitor (the little, black rectangular component attached the motor's wires) using the screw and the washer that previously secured it.
Next attach the 'drip pan' that sits over the eject solenoid if your roaster was so equipped. Route the capacitor's wires that the same way they were before disassembly.
MOTOR INSTALLATION
There are four screws that hold the motor's bracket to the framework. Hold the motor in place being sure no wires will be pinched and from your viewpoint from the rear of the roaster. Insert the two screws on the left side. Do not tighten fully them. Tighten until the screw stops using just a small amount of force, then back the screw off one or two turns. Now do the same with the screw on the top-right. The motor should be just slightly loose on the roaster.
The last leg of the motor's mounting bracket is the lower-right one. Looking down on the hole in that leg of the bracket, examine how well it aligns (or how poorly) with its threaded mounting tab on the frame. If you can get it to align with not much effort, go ahead the insert the screw. If it is close, a assistant may be of great help by holding the motor in place or even pushing (or pulling) the two sides of the frame to get the parts aligned. If that cannot be accomplished there are two ways to deal with the problem. Both may be necessary in extreme cases:
METHOD 1
That remaining leg of the bracket can be bent to enable the screw to be inserted and threaded into the frame. If you feel that is the best solution, tighten the other three screws now.
A small adjustable, smooth-jaw wrench or even a pair of locking pliers can be employed. If the bracket gets a bit scratched, don't worry about it. A combination of movements may be necessary. Examine the direction that it needs to be moves, then decide where to bend the bracket and in what direction.
METHOD 2
In extreme cases a slightly more drastic adjustment for proper alignment may be necessary. This trick also works when you have no helper. I have had roasters which had changed alignment to the point that I had to use a woodworking style clamp to carefully pull the sides of the roaster together to get the motor's mounting bracket aligned with the sides of the frame to allow me to get that last screw in. I caution you to try the previous alignment trick of bending the bracket before applying a clamp to the roaster. Moving the sides in more than one or maybe two millimeters puts a lot of stress on that last screw and can lead to stripped threads. If that happens the only solution would be to employ a machine screw, lock-washer, and nut in place of the machine screw alone. It is not an elegant solution, but it is effective and a lot easier than replacing the side frame member!
When inserting that last screw (or any screw or threaded fastener for that matter) use this 'old mechanic's trick.' With the screw ready to have its threads engaged and the screwdriver properly aligned, first rotate the screw as if to loosen it (counterclockwise). If you pay attention you will feel the screw rise upwards a tiny distance, and then you will feel it sort of 'click' and drop into place. These distances are fractions of a millimeter. When that 'click' feel takes place that is the time to rotate the driver in the 'tightening direction' (clockwise). That trick aligns the threads and avoids cross-threading. Now tighten that screw fully, then go back and tighten the other three.