Geared hub motor key broken, how do i replace the key, or is it better to replace the whole motor?

[RD_D3ADEYE]

I am using a 500w geared hub motor, along with a vesc.

This problem occurred when i was riding at a speed of about 15 mph. My BMS suddenly cut off power to the vesc causing the motor to stop spinning and i felt a big braking force when that happened. When i finally got back home i realized that there was an issue with the BMS that caused it to cut off but when i tried spinning the motor back up i could hear it spin but the wheel had no spin. so i opened it up and immediately i saw the grease have a metallic color. when i fully disassembled the motor i see the key is broken and the surround metal is also damaged, i don’t know if i could just replace the key and be confident it won’t affect the motor that much. Help is really appreciated

 

[fechter]

I’ve never seen that happen before. The controller must have shorted the phase wires when it powered off.
I think you could just replace the key but have no idea where to get that one. It needs to be hardened steel. If you can find a bigger one you could grind it down to fit.

You don’t have much to lose by attempting to replace the key. If it doesn’t work you needed a new motor anyway.

 

[neptronix]

I think you could get away with another key. They are sold in tons of different sizes, so you should be able to find an equivalent sized one online, or maybe file down a slightly larger one.

 

[RD_D3ADEYE]

I think you could get away with another key. They are sold in tons of different sizes, so you should be able to find an equivalent sized one online, or maybe file down a slightly larger one.

Ok i just ordered a variety set from amazon, Thank you so much

 

[neptronix]

Cool, here's another thought, you might be running too much battery/phase amps through this thing, that's why the keyway probably got destroyed.

Good thing the gears survived; i think in this case, the keyway is probably designed to act like a fuse to protect the gears. I'd advise turning the phase amps down at a minimum and also keeping the keyway about as close to the previous size as possible so that it hopefully retains it's fuse-ness.