Advice on cleaning/repairing an old American Flyer O gauge loco?

[Dave Farquhar]

I just picked up an American Flyer 3110 locomotive and matching cars. It's a nice set. The engine doesn't run, which doesn't surprise me. The lubricants have pretty much gained the consistency of tar over the years, and there was an incredible amount of junk inside.

I sprayed it down with TV tuner spray and that helped a little. I also reached in with a dozen or so cotton swabs dipped in alcohol and now you can finally see that yes, a lot of that black stuff is actually copper.

I also got brave and pulled the screws that hold the armature in place. I cleaned the mounts and cleaned the armature up as best I could with what I had to work with. I found two very small bits of copper that were held in place with springs that pushed up against a copper surface on the armature. I am assuming those pieces are the brushes and the copper surface on the armature is the commutator. I cleaned those up, and I put a drop of oil in the places in the mounts that hold the armature in place.

When I apply power (very briefly), the motor does try to turn over but seems to be stuck. It also seems to be working very hard so I turned it right back off because I don't want to burn up the motor.

The wheels do turn, albeit with more resistance than I'm used to, so the motor doesn't seem to be seized up or anything.

I guess the next step is a bath in mineral spirits to see if it can get rid of some more gunk? After I do that, what places do I need to oil and grease? Aside from minor cleanup on Marx motors, I've never done anything this extensive before.

Any advice?

Thanks!

[mersenne6]

If there isn't any binding and if everything is properly lubricated the geared wheels on the engine should turn very easily. If they are stiff or hard to turn then something, somewhere is binding.

One source of binding I've noticed on a number of prewar Flyer engines is the springs used to hold the brushes in place. For whatever reason I've found that many times they are much too stiff and cause a lot of drag in the prewar Flyer trains. To check this, turn the wheels manually so you have a sense of how much resistance is present. Next, remove the brushes and springs and turn them again. If there is a noticable difference in resistance you will need to replace the springs with new ones. Don't bother trying to bend the springs or shorten them - it's more trouble than it is worth. You can use almost any replacement springs from almost any manufacturer. Some of the replacement springs have carbon brushes attached which is no problem.

[Dave Farquhar]

Thanks! There is definitely a difference when I turn it without the brushes. But in addition, I think at least one of the wheels must be binding, because when I put it on the track and roll it manually, it's easy to see they aren't straight.

Time to find a wheel puller...