Was Your eBay Scrubber Serviced Inside and Out? Will They Stand Behind It for 3 Years?

The scrubber that runs great today

You found a used Tennant scrubber on eBay. It powers up, the brushes spin, and the price is right.

Then, 50 or 60 hours later, the deck starts tripping breakers. A month or two in, the machine locks up mid-shift. Now you’re looking at a $1,000 service call on a machine you bought to save money.

We see it constantly. And it’s almost always the same part: the lower bearing in a deck motor nobody ever opened.

It runs today. But has that eBay machine actually been processed and serviced inside and out? And if something fails six months from now, will the seller stand behind their work for three years, or even three months?

Here’s the difference. A lot of sellers clean up the outside, check that it powers on, and ship it. The motors never get opened. We take every deck motor apart.

In this video, Josiah and our lead technician Bobby stand in front of a mountain of Tennant T500 scrub deck motors and walk through exactly what we look for when we refurbish a machine. We work on hundreds of machines in our building, and we’re one of the largest Tennant motor rebuilders in the country.

Step 1: The gearbox

A scrub deck is a simple setup. The gearbox sits underneath, the hub drives the brush, and the motor stacks on top. Simple doesn’t mean it gets a pass, even though most sellers never open it.

On every gearbox, we check:

• The hub is secure, with no play.
• The bearing is solid and smooth.
• The seals aren’t leaking any oil.
• The lower bearing shows no wear.
• No major corrosion or damage inside the housing.

This is what years of leaked oil, water, and grime look like inside a gearbox housing. That buildup does more than look bad. As Bobby puts it, it can cause the gearbox to hold heat, and heat is what kills seals and bearings.

Before: grime and old oil packed around the bearing.

After: cleaned down to bare metal, ready for new bearings and seals.

Step 2: The armature and commutator

Next comes the armature, the spinning heart of the motor. We examine the shaft for damage, check the cooling fan, and inspect the windings.

Then we look hard at the copper on the commutator:

• Burrs and burn marks. Not always fatal, but they have to be polished off before the motor goes back in service.
• Gooey oil on the armature. That’s a failed seal. The oil gets cleaned off, the armature restored, and the seal it came from gets fixed.
• Bridging. Oil and carbon dust can bridge across the commutator bars and cause overheating. This is how you get a motor that starts, stops, and stalls.

Some armatures come in clean, with no wear or damage on the copper. But here’s the catch: you don’t know if a motor is good until you take it apart.

Before: armatures as they come out of used machines, the way many get resold.

After: polished commutators, cleaned windings, ready to reassemble.

Step 3: Every bearing comes out, top and bottom

A bearing can look fine from the outside and still be shot inside. It might last another 500 hours, or it might lock up next week. There’s no way to tell without pulling it.

That’s why we remove every bearing, top and bottom. The bottom bearings are a pain to get out, and plenty of shops skip them. We don’t. It’s the only way to know a bearing isn’t full of corrosion and ready to fail.

Remember the machine that locks up 60 hours after you buy it? It’s almost always that lower bearing.

A listing that says “tested and running” tells you the motor spins. It doesn’t tell you whether anyone ever looked inside.

Step 4: Carbon brushes

Carbon brushes ride on the commutator and carry power into the motor. A worn brush has no meat left, no float, and no spring pressure. Leave one in and it will burn up your commutator, turning a cheap part into an expensive rebuild.

We make sure every brush is right before a motor goes back together.

Refurbished vs. just resold

Some sellers move used machines with a 90-day warranty, or less. Then they’re hoping the machine breaks, so you come back for a chargeable service call.

We don’t work that way. We don’t make our money selling repairs on machines we just sold you. When we sell a machine, it goes out with:

• Fully restored commutators
• Brand new bearings, top and bottom
• Fresh, known-good gearbox oil
• Good seals and good axle shafts
• Every component checked and ready to work

When every part has been opened, cleaned, and replaced where needed, standing behind the work for three years isn’t a gamble. And Bobby stands 100% behind you, your machine, and your experience.

A motor that’s never been apart is a rusty truck

Mechanical parts wear out, especially if you run daily in retail stores, grocery chains, or industrial cleanup. Wear isn’t the real risk. The real risk is a motor nobody has ever opened.

Bobby compares it to working on a rusty Michigan truck: every bolt snaps. You think you’ve got a 10-minute fix. It turns into a two-day project and thousands of dollars in extra parts, because that machine was never really serviced.

Ask these questions before you buy a used scrubber

Whether you buy from us or anyone else, get straight answers to these:

1. Were the deck motors taken apart, or just tested?
2. Were both the top and bottom bearings replaced?
3. Were the commutators cleaned and polished?
4. Were the carbon brushes checked or replaced?
5. Was the gearbox opened, cleaned, resealed, and refilled?
6. Will they stand behind their work for three years?

If the seller can’t answer, or won’t put three years behind it, you already know the machine hasn’t been processed and serviced inside and out.

Get the right machine at the right price

If you want total confidence that your machine is the right buy, and that you’re getting the best value for your money, talk to Robey’s PowerKleen.

Erica will match you with the right machine, the right product, and the right price.

• Shopping for a scrubber? Browse our machines or call to talk to Erica.
• Already own one that’s acting up? Get on the schedule now and let our techs take a look.