Practicality of Williams Motorizing Kit in Postwar Lionel F3 and changing whistle in CC Steam Locos

[Cheese]

Hey All,

I have a set of Postwar Lionel 2343's that look great but run awfully and sound like a blender. Before I ship this off to a person who can repair it (I don't trust my skills with it), I thought of seeing about replacing the motors entirely with one of the Williams F3 Dummy motorizing kits. I'm an operator, so I'm not concerned with keeping it original, nor am I interested in the recent Williams or Lionel 2343 remakes. I never use the engine's horn so I'm flirting with replacing it (if possible) with a Williams True Blast or one of the Lionel horns ala the current CC products. 

Also, I've been considering the purchase of the Lionel CC 646 Hudson freight set. I love the Postwar Style packaging and new features like the backhead but I detest the whistle. Would fitting the CC 2046 tender shell on a Postwar 2046 frame be an easy swap?

Thanks

[rtraincollector]

Cheese 1st there not a quiet engine set 2nd even as a opperator I cringe at the thought of converting them to a williams set of power trucks. not sure what all comes with the set but you will need the board to switch it from ac to dc ( your reverse board) the reverse board is $38.00 the geared truck is $24.00 for the 4 wheel truck is $35.00 so to do both trucks your looking at $24.00 x 2 = $48.00 + $35.00 x 2 = $70.00 + the reverse board $38 = $ 156.00 + shipping.

Not sure what who ever you want to send it to to clean relube it and check it out charges But I can give you a guy that does it on the side and I know he use to work part time at a big lionel repair/store in maryland but name skips my mind at the monent he is reasonable just PM me. I'll give you his contack info. 

[tinplatacis]

I'd suggest selling it to someone who will apprieciate the historical and personal value of the piece and do that to a mid eighty's duo instead.

[ADCX Rob]

Cheese

I have a set of Postwar Lionel 2343's that look great but run awfully and sound like a blender...

They just need to be lubed properly. These are older than yours and have hundreds of hours on them:

I can almost guarantee you most of these horizontal motored F3s out there are being run w/o proper grease & oil regiments, making them quite noisy("growlers"). Mine do not growl, they just breeze by.

[Cheese]

tinplatacis: Not what I was asking, but since you brought it up, do you want them?

rtraincollector: Thank you very much! I'll pm you tomorrow. 

ADCX Bob: Thanks for the video. I'll look into it. :) 

 

 

 

[tinplatacis]

Just go ahead and try either the classifieds or else an internet retailer, i have an interset but not the funds.  That's the problem with doing things on a budget of only $500 a year

[phillyreading]

I have some older Lionel and some Williams before Bachmann, the change over on a Lionel diesel to a Williams motorized unit is not going to happen very easy. It's easier to change out the whole frame and motor assembly with a Williams and put a Lionel shell on it, just drill new holes in the Williams frame to mount the Lionel shell.

Williams and Lionel diesels don't mix & match!! Sorry.

However it may be any easy swap for a Lionel steam tender and a Williams steam tender to change out the tender shell, just be sure the mounting holes match up or drill new ones.

Another note about Williams horn units is that the True Blast 2 may take a few seconds of holding the whistle button on a post war Lionel transformer.

[rtraincollector]

Cheese PM you a couple of days ago 

[phillyreading]

The Lionel post war diesel motors were mounted differently then the Williams diesel motors. The Lionel have the armature inside the truck assembly and the top plate gets taken off to access the motor area. The Williams that I have seen need to have a screw taken out from the bottom of the truck assembly which holds the can motor inside the frame, take the motor off a Williams and the truck assembly is also free.

I have seen a photo of an older Williams diesel engine that was from the time Williams first started out and it looks like a Lionel post war type of motor was used. I can not verify that it was a true Williams because I have only seen the photo online on another forum.

[lionelsoni]

"The Lionel have the armature inside the truck assembly..."

I don't think so.  The entire motor, including the armature, is above the truck assembly.  There is no way that a 2343 horizontal motor would fit into the truck.

[rtraincollector]

Good news he told me he sent them out to be repaired decided not to do that to them

[tinplatacis]

Cheese, how all did things turn out with the pair?

[TRAINCAT]

If this comes up again you should be aware that  Frank Timco makes a can motor kit for horizontal engines. It bolts right onto the trucks.

Roger