ivesboy wrote:Glad to hear shes running good again. Just wait until you have to deal with the slders on the late 1939 box coupler trucks. They get stuck on every track joint, and forget switches.
Ah, that's the loverly bit. She's been redone with postwar trucks and couplers, so no worries with siders. :)
Mitch
Glad to hear shes running good again. Just wait until you have to deal with the slders on the late 1939 box coupler trucks. They get stuck on every track joint, and forget switches.
I've used a very very small drop of light machine oil on an eunit to help the pawl swing freely, the engines have run for many miles with no gum up. Just use common sense, the brushes do throw dust as they wear.
Never use oil in a Reverse Unit as carbon & dirt from running the engine will build up inside the E-Unit & mix with the oil gumming up the works in the process. Now, it will have to be cleaned again to remove any oil residue to avoid gumming up the works.
Odear. Well, live and learn.
A 1688 will still have pulling power with clean wheels. Did the motor just buzz or did it buzz & the drive wheels were turning also?
Spinning, as if something were stuck. One thing I noticed a few minutes back that helped considerably was that the slides were wearing on the corner. I bent them a bit so that they were riding flat on the third rail and the 1688 took off like a rabbit and is pulling the cars just fine now!
If you want to, send your motor to me & I'll go over it so that it will run right for you.
Why, bless you! I may just take you up on that...
Hello Mitch!
Never use oil in a Reverse Unit as carbon & dirt from running the engine will build up inside the E-Unit & mix with the oil gumming up the works in the process. Now, it will have to be cleaned again to remove any oil residue to avoid gumming up the works. A 1688 will still have pulling power with clean wheels. Did the motor just buzz or did it buzz & the drive wheels were turning also? If you want to, send your motor to me & I'll go over it so that it will run right for you. Take Care.
Rather singular thing happened today.
My eBay 1688 was cheerfully trundling around the layout, tender and two prewar cars in tow, but I noticed that it sounded a bit ragged (and the E-unit wasn't working smoothly).
So, off to the workbench, out with the mechanism, clean the brushes, polish the commutator, clean the wheels, drop of oil here and there (including the E-unit plunger) and back together it went!
Except all of a sudden it wouldn't pull a durned thing. The motor buzzed with revitalized power, the light shone bright, the wheels spun until the siderods blurred, but near zero forward movement! Wiped the track down, cleaned with a Bright Boy, zipperoonie. Same thing in reverse. The E-unit was nice and perky now, but it didn't do a bit of good.
Went over the tender, boxcar and caboose. Oiled the wheels, they spun freely. Still no traction. Hooked a 6110 Scout (well known for anemia) to the tender, and it walked away with the consist, no trouble atall!
Conclusion: Too clean can be bad for your pulling power. At the moment, the 1688 is buzzing about my layout in reverse with just the tender until the wheels gunk back up again sufficiently for adequate traction... ;)
Very trolley yours,
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