Chicken/Poultry Car Fix

[BigJim]

For those of you that haven't used your Chicken/Poultry Car for a while and now find out that it doesn't work, there is a fix. Two as a matter of fact!

Someone on another forum was having trouble with his and wanted to know where the rubberband went inside of the car, so I thought that I would try and help out. I opened one of my cars up and found that the rubberband had dry rotted to bits.

It took me a while to figure out just how it worked. The rubberband is held in place by a tab at the bottom of the bracket, makes a twist in the middle and around the tabs, then goes over the tension arm at the top. The rubberband that I used is bigger than the stock item so it took me an extra twist or two in order to take up the slack. What a cheap way to do things, Huh? BUT WAIT! There is another fix.

I spoke with my LHS Mechanic today about the problem and he quickly told me that Lionel came out with a service bulletin about these cars and has a new and better fix for them is available. The new kit has two metal springs and a new bracket to replace the old abomination. So, check out your cars and talk to to your LHS to get the fix.

[pbjwilson]

Thanks for the info. My Foghorn Leghorn car hasnt worked in years because the original rubber band had rotted. May just fix it with another rubber band, but the metal springy dingys would really solve the problem.

[luther_stanton]

My wife got me one of these for Christmas.  It is the one that also clucks when the door opens - I assume that this was made relatively recently.  It has the metal wire piece factory installed.  Seems it will have more longevity than the rubber band!