In our living room we have 2 ceiling fans with lights. One day last week, they just quit. Went to flip the switch to turn them on (both are on the same switch) and they will lurch a little bit like they want to start spinning then nothing. Turning the switch on and off and they will keep that little lurch but never start. The lights work just fine.

I replaced the switch for the fans on the wall, no change. I flipped the reverse switch on the fans and they started but soon stopped. Maybe turned for a minute is all.

It seems odd to me that both went bad at exactly the same time.

Any ideas before I spend valuable bronco parts funds and replace them both with new (damn... That is going to be a pain in the ass)

Likely that the motor capacitor(s) has gone out. Most single phase AC motors need a capacitor to help "kick it over". When they go bad, the motor may not start or have difficulty starting.

My guess is that one of them went bad and limped along on the other's cap (since they're wired together) until both were bad.

One way to test is to flip one on and run over and give it a good spin, in the correct direction, by hand and see if runs. Caps are cheap and easy to replace. I've done it before on my outside A/C unit. Fan motor was just humming when the power came on with no motion.