Need some expert advice. My postwar icehouse is having issues.
When power is applied, the man lever moves as it should. The big problem is the ice pusher lever won't go out. Nothing is jambed, all parts move freely. When you pull the block edge out that opens the car door manually, it goes back to the station as it should. Cannot figure out why it won't power out to push the blocks into car. What's wrong?
Its not missing any parts, they are all there according to Greenberg manual. Thanks
Push the solenoid plunger in by hand and observe the mechanism. Do all the parts move freely? No binding? If the entire mechanism moves when you operate the solenoid manually, but does not operate properly with the solenoid under power, try increasing the voltage. If this does not help, the solenoid may be faulty.
Larry
Hi Larry
Thanks. I did try that. Maxed voltage on the 1033 test transformer.
Its a station I picked up on ebay since train shows are out. Pretty clean except for the strut breaks and cracks common. I installed 1/4" plywood painted black behind the struts and epoxied in place. Its now solid as a rock!
Plunger works great. Almost throws the man off. After my post, I did remove the washer and pulled the arms off the pin and reseated. It seems mostly fixed. Its pretty dirty on the pin and plunger. Old grease and dirt. Looks like some lube is needed.
Is WD-40 good choice for plunger and the arms where the pin goes through to clean? After that thinking a small amount of white lithium grease? Appreciate response. Thanks a lot Northern
Water Dispersement formula 40 is not a good lubricant for anything, as it is not a lubricant.
Take as much of the mechanism apart as possible and clean everything in Naphtha. Reassemble and lightly oil all pivot points, and lightly grease all sliding parts. Use this Labelle kit for all your model train lubricating needs.
TrainLarryTake as much of the mechanism apart as possible and clean everything in Naphtha. Reassemble and lightly oil all pivot points, and lightly grease all sliding parts.
And the plunger mechanism should dry & free of any lubrication.The dashpot should be lubricated with just the lightest/thinnest possible film of Lucas Red 'N' Tacky #2 forming a decent seal to regulate the actuation speed.
Rob
Thanks, Rob
What's the dash pot?
thanks
On my brother's ranch, he has an old ice box car for a bunkhouse.
No trucks under it but each end has the roof hatch(es?).
The side doors are gone, but the hinges remain. Up the hill a ways, more hinges can be seen among the old machinery.
Half of the ranchhouse was made using another box car, a bit of the original siding can be seen looking up in the basement.
I got interested in this thread because I have some kind of box car that was made to push something out the side door. I am not sure what it is supposed to be...
Cleaned everything. Plunger spring works great now, lots of gunk.
The pusher to the car goes sometimes out but not back. Could the cause of all the trouble be that the flat spring is bad? At my wits end with this thing.
Rebuilding an E unit is easy over this!
northernpikeWhat's the dash pot?
Got the dash pot cleaned and working great.
just don't get what's wrong with the pusher arm.
Going to order a 352 new spring from train tender.
seems like a really neat accessor, hopefully I can get it running
reliably.
Tom
Got it going and it works great! when I repaired the strut damage, the lower arm was very slightly catching on the plywood brace. Dremel and testing it right side up took care of it. Good for another 70 years. Thanks to the team! This forum is the best!
Snip I got interested in this thread because I have some kind of box car that was made to push something out the side door. I am not sure what it is supposed to be...
SnipI got interested in this thread because I have some kind of box car that was made to push something out the side door. I am not sure what it is supposed to be... I checked the attic, this is the box car I was writing about... HO scale
The main drawback for me with H0 was the lack of operating cars and accessories. Where's the fun without them?
Art Young The main drawback for me with H0 was the lack of operating cars and accessories. Where's the fun without them?
Exact same here! I had a lot of HO and the lack of accessories that moved drove me crazy. Some of those Tyco type shown above were sort of OK, but I didn't care for the air hose ones, those were not good at all, IMO. (I didn't have the one shown and can't tell from the picture if it's air hose or electrical. I seem to recall buying one with a bulldozer that pushed a log up an incline into a waiting log car, but that was unfortunately one of the air hose ones)
I do recall having a radar tower sort of accessory, probably by Life Like, if I recall. It had a tower with a rotating radar screen on top and a little house on a base. It was a real motor and I think it worked ok.
But there definintely were not many to choose from!
-Dave
northernpike Thanks, Rob What's the dash pot? thanks
It is sort of like a chamber pot, but far enough away that you end up having to run to get to it before an "accident" occurs!
B^)
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