Last week I purchased a 1981 Lionel 8150 GG-1 locomotive, new in box, never run. It's been running beautifully ever since -- until today. This morning, I sent it for a run around the track, then came back a few hours later to run it again.
This time, it wouldn't move.
I took it apart, and found that the E-unit drum had sheared off one of its mounting pegs. Kind of unusual for a new locomotive, but such things do happen. Fortunately, I had a new replacement handy. I removed the old drum, installed the new one, put things back together and applied power.
The lights come on. The E-unit works just fine. The plunger moves just as it should, the drum cycles correctly (yes, I installed it in the right direction), and all contact fingers are touching the drum. But neither of the twin motors will so much as twitch.
I've been working at this for hours, looking for broken, damaged or loose wires and shorts of any kind. Haven't found a thing. The E-unit is still working fine, but the motors still don't turn over.
I'm going crazy trying to track this down. Can anyone shed any light on this? Thanks in advance.
Found the problem. When the old drum shredded itself, it bent the lower E-unit contact fingers just enough out of shape to keep them from contacting the drum. When doing my testing, I was able to verify that the upper fingers were making contact, but the lower ones only appeared to be making contact.
I've bent the lower fingers back into position. Now all I have to do it put the whole thing back together -- again.
The only job worse than having to disassemble and reassemble an E-unit is having to disassemble and reassemble an E-unit twice.
Did you notice the color of the drum?
I ask because I recently became aware that some Modern era e-units were made with clear e-unit drums, but I don't know when this was done. Identifying some engines that have those drums might help date them. A Lionel service station repairman told me that those drums were troublesome because the the ends broke off.
The old drum was clear, and so is the replacement.
For whatever it's worth, the only other time this has happened to me was on a PW 2026, which did not have clear drums. The clear plastic 1981 drum definitely has a more brittle feel than the older ones.
Yep the clear ones are no good. Many broke in new engines. Even worse as they say, Lionel sent us clear ones as replacements. No we didn't use them.
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
Do you recall about when?
I have some NOS clear drums, and a few complete e-units with clear drums. The fellow who sold me the complete e-units had an authorized service station and got them from Lionel, but he did not remember when.
I was already thinking I should get another couple of spare, non-clear drums. Hearing what you guys had to say has made up my mind for me.
Any idea when and/or where you got the clear ones?As I have already posted, I don't think they are too common, and would like to figure out when Lionel made them.
Actually, I don't remember. I only had one spare, and it was just laying in my parts box; I might have picked it up with a pile of assorted spare parts. If I'd had a non-clear drum handy, I probably would have used that instead.
But according to what I've read, my 4935 GG1 was made in 1981, if that helps.
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