I have an older Lionel conventional FA that rattles and buzzes very loud. What do the pros on the board here do to quiet them down?
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Most likely motor truck has loose stakings, making the engine noisy and rough running.
I'm sorry, but what are the "stakings" you refer to please?
Could also be the e-unit. They inherently buzz some amount, but some can be overly obnoxious. The correct "factory-like" fix is to clean and check the tolerances of the e-unit plunger & pawl assembly and adjust/replace as necessary. I find just taking a smidge off of the little tab on the pawl (not even 1/64" or less). It is thought that the small tab keeps the plunger from fully seating in the coil. Just don't take too much off or this will allow the pawl to travel too high and cycle the drum too far.
You will find others on the forum that will replace with an electronic unit like the Lionel 103-100 (or similar), an ERR upgrade, or run the e-unit off of DC. All those are sacrilege in my book for anything of value.
Lastly, you can disengage the e-unit locking the position of the locomotive.
Lots of educational information here at these links:
http://www.agtta.com/Tech-Tips...p-Buzzing-E-Unit.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/result...ilence+lionel+e-unit
http://www.olsenstoy.com/searchcd31.htm?itm=615
Thank you all for your replies. I have the Greenberg manual and will refer to the section referenced above. I will also investigate the e-unit suggestions too.
Again, thanks for your comments.
If you very gently and very slightly bend the angle of the pawl that will also affect the buzz. And if you don't like the result you can always bend it back.
Dale
Ever been around an older - or even some newer - real diesel locomotive? Talk about buzzes and rattles! As a kid, I used to stand next to the L&N E-6 units when they would bring the Pan American into Mobile and stop at the station, idling. There was noise and rattling sheet metal all over the place.
So, turns out, your Lionel loco's noise is actually a "feature" - not a problem....
The staking I'm referring to is the aluminum tabs that are staked together to form the motor body. If you can hold the motor top and move the motor body from side to side the stakings are loose and need to be tightened with a small ball pein hammer.
@Chuck Sartor posted:The staking I'm referring to is the aluminum tabs that are staked together to form the motor body. If you can hold the motor top and move the motor body from side to side the stakings are loose and need to be tightened with a small ball pein hammer.
For clarity's sake @Chuck Sartor, you are referring to the four "tabs" circled here?
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Yes, exactly. If any of those are loose, you'll get noise, vibration and generally poor running.
