Servicing the Milwaukee 3.25HP router 5625 motor brushes

Servicing the Milwaukee router 5625 motor brushes couldn't be easier. The motor cover screws are of the Torx type (T-25). Four (4) of them you need to remove (green arrows) to gain access to the brushes.



Once the motor cover is removed, you can view the 'Electronic Feedback Module' (speed feedback control) and the brushes tubes assemblies.
The 'Electronic Feedback Module' is retained by only one (1) screw (green arrow); Torx type (T-20) and aligned with a pin underneath (red arrow). Before pulling the EFM, it's better to unplug the two (2) black wires connectors point by the yellow arrow (see next picture too). You may want to mark them now to avoid any confusion upon reassembly even though they cannot really be connected anywhere else.



Now swing the EFM to free the working area to reach one of the motor brushes that under the EFM. At this step, I keep the big white wire connected. The two motor brushes are now easy to reach for.



The motor brushes tube assemblies are held down with two (2) screw each of the Torx type (T-20) point by the four (4) magenta arrows. Removing them will allow you to pull up* the brushes tubes assemblies.

*See the text accompanying the next picture regarding the note...

It's interesting to point out how the brushes connect to the circuitry (red arrow).



Once the brushes tubes assemblies screws are removed (cyan arrows), you can now get the brushes tubes out of there. I have personally experienced some difficulty (minor breakage) to pull the brush tube; I have founded it more easy and less prone to breakage to gently pry the brush tube from under with a pointy tool.



The motor brushes should be service BEFORE they are wear out and not pushing any more on the armature's contacts. While pulling or prying them out, you should observed that they still have some spring pushing the brush (they pop out as they are removed). Once removed, you can check the amount of brush material there's left. From the previous pictures, you can see that the brush material is normally almost completely back in the tube assembly. On this picture, you can see that there are still a viable brush. Ideally, you shouldn't wait for the brushes to be completely wear before servicing.

While the brushes tubes assemblies are removed, it's a good idea to blow some compressed air around to clean the area...



The brush assembly are retained in the tube with clip which are very easy to disassemble.



Here are the old brush in the tube assembly and the new brush on it's left. Go on to next picture...



... the two brushes assemblies; above is the new one and bellow the one that need to be replaced. At the right the brush tube assembly.

From that point is pretty much going backward the previous detailed steps. A word of caution regarding reassembly; don't over tighten the screws. Those screws screw into plastic so it would be easy to strip the "thread". Anyway, nothing here need high torque load. When pushing back the brushes tube, take care for proper alignment, especially the electrical connection.

That concluded this post about servicing the MK5625 motor brushes. I hope it'll serve some one some day. Even though it's fairly easy to perform this task, I believe that the pictures might help visualize the process before anything.

Keep in mind that this is not any kind of "official Milwaukee service" procedure. I'm not neither an engineer nor a qualified electrician but rather the "average do-it-yourself handy guy". I only wanted to share this easy (for me) procedure to service this Milwaukee router motor. The brushes are fairly cheap and can be obtained from your local Milwaukee service center. The whole procedure take around half an hour.

Let me know if something doesn't seem right or doesn't make sense (leave a comment or use the Get in touch link in the Links section) and I'll make it up to your suggestions and recommendations.

I may, sooner or later, get to the point where I need to service the bearing so stay tunned!