Berkshire "Noise"

Wheres FarmerBill ?, he might know.

Unless you had a bent motor shaft in both, which seems unlikely, I doubt the noise would be form the drive gear. It sounds to me like what ever is making the noise has to be something that is cycling. Likely suspects are the smoke piston assembly or the side rods. If the smoke piston assembly the noise could be normal. If the side rods check to make sure they are free to move and check the position of the eccentric crank. This is often out of place due to a loose or inproperly tightened screw.

Al

When LTI took the 736 frame / motor and mounted them under the larger boiler for the 18003 4-8-4 they exaggerated the noise due to the larger open space inside. Some engines have more noise than others. As a kid I had the last 736 Lionel made in the mid to later 1960's. It was quiet as a mouse. Years later, LTI placed an adjustment screw under the motor that the instructions warned the owner not to touch. I have never been able to reduce the noise by much on any of these regardless of shims etc. The UH UH UH UH noise is produced by the magnetic action between the field and spinning armature not being quite right. Whether it's poor installation of the original bushings or the motor casting not being square with the armature shaft I could never tell.

Thanks for the responses so far. Ive checked the gear mesh and it seems to be OK It rotates freely and is well lubed. Motor and shaft are Like New. The sound its making can be somewhat duplicated when running any postwar at a slow speed. However These early PW 736's get louder growling as speed increases where other PW steam seems to fade with increased speed. Somewhat frustrating.