I finally have some closure on this topic. Until recently, the motor in question has been working just fine. So I assumed it was some form of user error.
Recently that same motor stumbled. Upon inspection, I found that the motor would work fine but if I touched the wires near the entry to the motor, it would stumble.
Unfortunately the leads are hard-wired into the motor so this is not something I could repair without dis-assembling the motor.
The good news is that I finally have resolution and this one was not my fault. All of that practice crimping made the replacement with the new motor uneventful.