Stuck in reverse

[Anonymous]

Hey guys and gals,

I got a real stumper for everyone maybe someone can help. I just got an old Lionel 2026. It ran fine when I got it, then the drum went. I put a new drum in and it works fine when the shell is off. It works fine in foward and reverse until I put the shell back on. When I put the shell back on it will only go in reverse. Can anyone help me on this one?

Thanks,

Angelo

[lionelsoni]

All I can think is that one or another of the fingers is barely touching the drum, and that, when you put the shell on, the wiring moves the finger assembly enough for it to lose contact. Could you have bent a finger out a little in changing the drum? It wouldn't be hard to do, I can tell you from experience. You might take the drum out and re-form the fingers to get better contact pressure, unless someone else has a better idea.

Can you verify that the e-unit drum is turning? That is, does it run backward every fourth time you turn the transformer on, or every time?

[Anonymous]

Thanks Bob,

I took a look. I found that not only was one of the fingers bent, but the drum was backwards. [Oops!!!] The motor went in both directions with no shell because there was no weight on it. As soon as I put the shell on, the drum had to catch to move the extra weight. The bent finger made it worse because it only went in reverse when it did make contact. Thanks for the help!!!

Angelo

[daan]

The drum can actually be put in in every way, as far as I've seen are the contact strips on both sides of the drums identical. What you should watch very carefully is that on BOTH sides of the drum needs to be an isolator ring. If you forget to put the isolated ring between the frame and the drum, ther drum will in some ways short-cirquit the train. I have had a real big fight with a 2036 which only went one way when I bought it, also only backwards. After a very long search, I discovered the short-cirquitry in the drum because someone also changed the drum and forgot the isolator ring on one side.

[lionelsoni]

Daan, I assume that by "isolator ring" you mean some sort of insulating washer. I have never seen such a thing in a Lionel e-unit. I don' t have a drum here to look at; but I think that there is a plastic shoulder around the drum's axle, which keeps the metal of the drum from touching the e-unit frame.

[Anonymous]

Yes,
Bob is right - the replacement drum I put in had plastic shoulder on on both sides.

Angelo

[daan]

My 2036 had the metal switch surfaceses on the drum all the way to and over the end of the drum. An Insulating washer (that's the word lionelsony) on bith sides prevent short circuitry. By the way, these e-unit's won't get apart until you drill out the spotwelded joints, but that can be the older model of it. (or a european thing from another manufacturer?)

[lionelsoni]

The side plates of Lionel e-units are held in place by a couple of steel rods, whose ends are turned to a smaller diameter, inserted flush into holes in the side plates, and slightly upset. The side plates are fairly easy to pry off the rods and then will bend out enough to let you remove the brush assemblies and the drum. They can be reattached simply by pushing them back together. The trick is to get all the items into their proper holes in the plates at the same time and to avoid bending the fingers while doing that. There is no welding and no need for drilling.

The metal on the drum does extend to the end of the drum and around the corners. But it then stops at the shoulder, which protrudes past the surface of the metal, to keep it from touching the side plates.

[Anonymous]

I'm going with Bob again on this one. That what the situation was with my 2026. I used a plyer and a flat screw driver to seperate the side plates. When I put them back together I aligned every thing and squashed them back together. The 2036 was probably different.
Angelo