Lionel Docksider has developed an internal growl?

Okay, I got the shell of, easier than I thought.

Growling definitely coming from motor area. Bad motor or remove motor and lube?

Nothing to lose by removing the motor and greasing the gear-train. While the motors out, oil both ends of the shaft where it meets the bronze bushing... Hopefully the gears are not ground-up into shavings.
Larry D.

Same thing happened to mine; in fact, I think I posted about a "whiney" docksider here before. It definitely sounded like a dry armature; postwar engines will do this if the armature ends aren't kept lubed. So, I opened it up and put a drop of oil on the top motor bearing (just below the flywheel) and it seemed to fix the problem - for a while, at least. The problem seems to come and go, but the oil definitely helped. So much for maintenance-free motors...

well, in an attempt to remove the motor (which I ended up not doing) I exposed the drive gear to the smoke unit. Put a little oil on it and it went away. Put the shell back on it and it started again. Maybe the shell is pushing down on the smoke unit? Trying again after dinner ...

Hi Chip,

You and I may be talking about two different things. To oil the motor's top armature end, you don't have to remove it from the frame. Try and see if that works, but if the problem's in the smoke unit it's definitely something different than what I experienced.

The piston for the smoke unit is driven by a gear, which is non metallic, but a touch of lube won't hurt. Make sure the piston is free in the smoke unit, as a common problem is the pin on the gear which pushes the piston will shear off, if the piston gets stuck. If you actually want to remove the motor, you have to take the pickup roller assembly off the loco, and remove the two screws holding the motor in place.

First post.

 

I found this problem in a used Docksider I bought on eBay.  Went ok in forward and had a slight stickiness in reverse.  Eventually it started to squeak a bit.  I determined it was dragging the piston in the smoke unit.

 

I used my Dremel to buff and polish the smoke unit cylinder and the chuffer piston. 

 

Problem solved, I would do this to any Docksider I came across because it will reduce overall wear in the drivetrain due to the decrease in friction.

I had the same problem, although mine was more a coffee grinder than a growl sound.  It was not the motor but the smoke unit.  In my case, since I never run smoke anyway (wife would kill me) I just disconnected the smoke unit and reassembled - problem solved.

Man I love the smoke unit on these things.  I would hate to disable it.

 

Adding a few accessories and lighted cars causes me to have to increase voltage to maintain speed, which drives even more current into the smoke unit without driving off the tracks.  Lots of smoke at low speed.  Love it.  No complaints from the station master here.  

You can also stick a few back-to-back diodes in series with the motor to get more smoke at low speed without needing a large load.

Once I get new smoke pistons from Lionel with good reed valves in them I may consider this diode option.  If it lets the whole train run much slower and would keep smoke unit, lighted and action cars into higher voltages I'm all for it.

The diodes will simply allow higher track voltage for slower motor speed.  Each back-to-back diode pair will drop the voltage to the motor about 1/2 a volt or so, the exact drop is dependent on the current through the diodes.  If you add about three sets, you'll probably get a lot more smoke for the same engine speed.  You can also use a bridge rectifier to substitute for two diode pairs.  For the bridge, you connect the + and - of each one together and connect the ~ pins in series with the motor.

If you want to really increase the smoke in your Docksider, check out the photo below. I noticed that the opening from the piston chamber is at the bottom of the smoke fluid chamber. The batting ends up obstructing the opening and airflow up to the element. So, I cut a small piece of aluminum tubing short enough so it didn't contact the element and pushed another piece of slightly smaller diameter into it and pinched the opening a bit. It smokes like crazy! Rivals some of my fan driven chuffers.

 

Roger

I have seen Rogers Docksider and for such a little modication, it will smoke you out.

 

Bill

Thanks for the tip - will try that out.

And not only did Bill "see" my little Docksider, last week, he repaired it. We thought it was a burned out reverse unit, but as it turned out, it was a bad motor.

 

Boxcar Bill.....great guy and excellent repair tech.

 

-Roger

Roger - I saw your Docksider at Bill's, what a great little unit!! He showed me the motor issue and I think he may still have the blister on his finger!!

 

Good to see it working for you!

Jeff,

 

I think it  says "LIONEL" on his finger now. Ah, the smell of flesh burning. 

 

As for the Docksider.....it was one of my first purchases when I got back into trains after a 40 yr. absence. The salesguy at Trainland told me that it was a great unit and can pull about 5 cars. Nonsense.....I've had 19 behind it and it's still not the limit. Stupid whistle, though. 

 

Roger

I'm a great fan of the Lionel Dockside.  I have 2, one I've heavily modified to better represent the Reading shop switcher #1251, and one PP&L one that I've left bone stock.  I never had the piston squeak with either of them, and both smoke up a storm, even after I cut about a 1/4" off the smoke unit to shorten the smokebox on the modified one.  I'm not sure if it's the smaller chamber or the brass replacement stack, but it blows smoke rings now.