This is a bit of an older thread but thought I'd share my experience.
After someone ordered one of my replacement 7829-B battery holders, they got in touch stating that one of their contacts was broken. Super nice lady so I took pity and offered to swap one of my motor units for her damaged one.
My Nephew's motor unit is similarly affected so I'd geared up to repair the contacts anyway.
I wouldn't call it a mistake making the offer but boy was this thing in bad shape. It also had missing connecting rod pins, a damaged aerial, missing aerial tip and a fair bit more corrosion than I was expecting (I didnt ask her to send a picture before making my offer
) The drive gear has clearly seen some stuff and the slop in the axles is considerable.
The contacts took some persuasion to remove. They are held in by a small metal tag which is part of the battery contact. This needs to be depressed with a shim down the back of the contact and then the contact strip can be gently pushed up from below through the holes in the housing. Bullnose plyers pulling from above may also be required and a quick soak in contact cleaner prior to the repair helps soften the corrosion. I would also advise to desolder the terminals first.
You can clearly see the holes in the housing as well as the retention tabs at the back of the batter contacts.
AA battery contacts are a bit too wide to fit in the recesses at the back of the battery holder but AAA contacts are the perfect width.
Lots of flux and lots of solder. Both contacts were of course thoroughly cleaned of corrosion down to bare metal and tinned before soldering together. Both the underside and backface of the new battery contact are soldered.
The battery contact repair isn't perfect however. Although the replacment contacts make a good connection with my 7829-B Playmoparts battery unit as well as the 7829 Playmobil battery, it doesn't work as well with the original black Playmobil 4392 battery.
This is because the original battery contacts in the motor unit were very "springy" and so had a greater range of motion. The 4392 battery has more deeply recessed contacts which is where the problem lies.
The replacement contacts you can see in the picture aren't nearly as "springy" so don't reach out far enough to make a reliable connection for the older style 4392 Playmobil battery.
I will continue to look for the "Goldilocks" battery contact to replace the original Playmobil contacts, however the original contacts will always be the best.
To avoid the need for this repair in the first place, always remove the battery holder from the motor unit after each use, and never leave it in place when storing away for longer periods.
I suspect that last bit is preaching to the converted.
I did manage to make replacements of both the connecting rods and pins. I've tested this with the additional gold link arms and pins found on some locomotives and its working beautifully.
The pins have enough retention to still work with the varying degrees of slop found in the receiving hole in the wheels caused by general wear.
In instances where the original pin might fall out, the replacement yields a nice positive click.
Admins - I saved over my unbranded images so if this counts as advertising, let me know and I'll photoshop my logo out and re-upload.