I Loinel Culvert Unloader Problems

Ed

I have a similar problem.  Did anyone provide advice?

thanks

dave

Since I've posted this I have taken the whole assembly apart and put it back together again three or four times (each time in fear that I would never get it back together again). I finally got it running pretty well but I just now went down to try it once more before I replied to you and it is no longer working properly.

I have found that you can run it through its cycles while the assembly is apart and thus try to synchronize it. Sometimes this seems to work and sometimes it does not.

There is a little spool on which the thread is coiled up.  I think that sometimes one or more turns of thread slips off his spool. Also the whole thing seems to get out of synchronization at times. This seems to happen when you stop the operation during the up-and-down cycle as opposed to the back-and-forth cycle.

Dave, I have not had any replies except yours. Could it be that we are the only ones having this problem?

Nope, add me to the list. Mine would only screw up if I stopped it

at the bottom of the stroke. Then had to disassemble rethread

and restart.

Finally gave up on it. No room for it on the layout anyway....

I had a similar problem with mine and sent it back to Lionel under warranty and they sent revised instructions back with it. They now say not to shut it off unless the magnet is in the up position. They also want the left transformer terminal connected to the "u" common terminal and the right one to the positive. THey say you can destroy the PCB if you don't wire it that way. According to the tech's notes my PCB failed during testing.

I wish someone would put out specific instructions regarding the synching of string, the micro switches, and the gears.  There are several threads related to the unloaders but no solutions. 

Has anyone had success sending their unloaders back to Lionel?

thanks

dave

Here is a document that helped me- Lionel service sent it and it describes the timing of the raise and lower switches. 

It is not perfect, maybe there are other steps to add which make it more complete to all users and solve more problems.  I'll be glad to send it as a word doc if anyone wants to add to it.

PS- David, sorry my last information did not help. 

There's a great Service Video on the Lionel website regarding operation of the culvert loader and unloader. Very lengthy and informative. You'll like it.

big-daddy-george, Can you post a link to the service video or suggest how to find it?

Lionel.com......top of page...Customer Services...Instructional Videos

Thanks for the link to the video. It deals with a lot of issues but not with the problem of what happens when the up and down motion gets out of sync. The attachment from Hokie is also helpful.

I think my issue now is this: if there is slack in the thread, a turn or more slips off the side of the spool. Has anyone found a way to prevent that?