Hi, I just bought a reissue newsstand 6-14085 new in a sealed box. Made in 2001. Has a can motor, not the old vibrotor. It works but the motor & large gear make an odd screeching sound at times. I took it completely apart & lubed all, gear teeth, gear shaft, motor bushings. No help. With the drive belt off it still makes the noise. With the gear off the motor is silent. There is no play in any bushings/shafts. However... The large gear center hole is not quite centered making gear mesh uneven as it rotates. Not too far off as it still has some backlash at the tight point & is only a little loose on mesh at the loose point. To be clear, when screeching the gear is still meshed & not slipping. I can feel a vibration from the sound when I put a finger on the motor, but not the large gear shaft. I let it run a few hours, & it helped very slightly.
Kind of sounds like the screech/chatter that a Lionel 2037 would make when it needs a lube, or a noisy old Lionel vulcan.
If I pull the white plastic bearing piece under the pinion in the base that keeps motor pinion from dropping down the pitch changes, quieter, but still there.
A web search shows the large gear is unavailable. I'm not so sure the out of true gear is really causing the problem as it can screech anywhere on the rotation of the big gear.
I'm using Labelle white plastic grease on gear teeth, Labelle oil on bushings. Tried grease on gear shaft also. No change. With the lower bearing piece installed in base the motor has aprox. .002" end play, which seems ok. With the bushing out the end play is about 1/64". Push spinning shaft down to make zero end play, no help. My feeling is it's quieter with bushing out due to it transfers more noise to base.
Anybody experiance this or know what the real cause is?
Oddly, I bought the can motor reissue because it was reported to be smooth & quiet.
One more thing I found is the white plastic link piece that goes up the newsboy's leg to make him wave his arm had a piece of plastic sprue near his ankle causing binding which caused lifting of the whole boy instead of his arm. I trimmed off with a razor blade & he now raises his paper as expected. Now if I can just get the noise under control...
Very best, Don Johnson
