I lubricated my Lionel 45N Gateman with WD40, all moving parts. The gateman comes out of the shack and the light lights up. After the train passes, the light goes off, but the gateman does not go back in the shack and the door does not close. All parts underneath are in working order. What can I do to make the gateman go back into the shack and have the door close?
Thanks.
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I lubricated my Lionel 45N Gateman with WD40, all moving parts. The gateman comes out of the shack and the light lights up. After the train passes, the light goes off, but the gateman does not go back in the shack and the door does not close. All parts underneath are in working order. What can I do to make the gateman go back into the shack and have the door close?
Thanks.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the reply. Just how do I "tweak" the door upward?
WD40 IS NOT a lubricant. The door should work without oils. Check for binding. Clean off the WD40 it will leave a mess when it dries out.
What exactly did you spray WD40 on? Did you remove the base to do this? I agree with Jim, remove all of the WD40 as you can.
On mine, the bar that returns the gateman to the house can get hung up on a tab on the return swing. A slight tweaking of bar and tab fixed that. Good luck!
I cleaned off the WD40. No luck. The bar that returns the gateman to the house is not hung on a tab on the return swing. Could it be that the spring isn't tight enough and that I may need a new spring?
I had that problem today. It only hangs after activation electrically. If you try to move the door open and closed by hand everything seems to move freely. Traced the problem to the solenoid. The solenoid plunger is sticking inside the coil and there is no way to loosen its travel, and tightening the spring is not a solution either. The solenoid defies being taken apart. I think my gateman is toast.
You might try some spray contact cleaner on the plunger in case there's some "crud" of some sort on it. Also possibly some powdered graphite like is uses in lock cylinders
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