How to increase vibration on Lionel stock car

[richardm47]

Hello all.  I have an operating stockyard accessory.   It was an ebay purchase, and not too expensive -- some cosmetic damage to the yard rails, but works... sort of.   

I have isolated the siding it is on and can control it with a small "starter transformer".  The horses and cows (I have both) move on the yard just fine, but not when they enter the car.  O , they eventually make it thru, if I turn up the transformer, but then jump all over the place when they get back to the yard.  I took the car shell off to see what was holding them up.  I have cleaned the chute, but the car barely vibrates.  It only has one "shoe" which, I assume,  operates the magnet to make to doors open and close. I don't see any "vibrating mechanism".

One of the two cleats connecting to the track is very tight on the rails, the other is not. Is there something else that needs to be done to make the car vibrate stronger?

Thanks. 

[servoguy]

Here is a link to a post I did on another forum about fixing the cattle cars & pens:

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=15882&highlight=cattle+pen

The car should have two shoes.  Otherwise, no current through the coil unless someone has modified the wiring.

[richardm47]

Thanks for the reply.  I did check the link, but it was mostly about the yard.  Mine is not the rectangular old version, but the "sweeping W".  The cattle and horses travel through it ok.

The car only has one shoe  connected to the coil that raises and lowers the doors.  The other truck has no opening for a shoe.  The unit did not come with track connectors -- I ordered the exact ones the manual listed.  It seems that the car picks up vibration from the yard? 

I tried to up load/past pics, but could not.

[TrainLarry]

Here is a link to the service manual instructions. It explains why the car has only one sliding shoe, and how to adjust the coil mechanism to vibrate. Here is an exploded view of the car mechanism. These cars can be finicky, so have patience.

Larry

[richardm47]

I had downloaded the manual for the stockyard, which had a lot of info about the car, but not the detail included in your link.  It clearly tells me that the coil is vibrator and lifter.... and how to adjust.   That should solve the problem.

Again thank you for the prompt and excellent information...  I will visit old posts when Oregon winter rains set in and no outside yard work is possible.... in between train times of course.

Thanks again.    Richard