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Lionel MiJack lubrication

JK Joe KOGR Forum Member

I have purchased some tacky red lubrication for the mijack gearing, as recommended by OGR. I have added the grease to the upper gearbox. The mijack goes up and down well.

 

However, I cannot figure out how to grease the gears for the traverse motion (for moving side to side). There is nothing about how to grease the gears in the instruction manual. In one direction the motor sounds OK and the movement is good. In the oposite motion, the motor sounds like it is labouring, and often stalls. You can still hear the motor trying to turn, it just can't overcome the friction. It will move again if I give it a shove, but it stops again.  I am not sure if this is a lubrication issue or a motor issue.

 

Also, I weighed a Lionel trailer with wheel set attached, and it measured about 5oz, which is within specs. This is the smaller Lionel truck trailer, not a true scale truck trailer. Is the truck with the wheel set OK to lift with the MiJack?

 

Thank you for any help or ideas?

 

Joe K

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gunrunnerjohngunrunnerjohnOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

I found that for my Mi-Jack that I had to lower the values of the resistors for the side to side motion to give it a little more power.  I also increased the value of the resistors for the wheel drive to slow it down a little, it's hard to position it when it wants to take off like a race car! 

 

All these resistors are on the control box PCB.

 

I pickup the containers and the trailer with the unit, no issues here.

gunrunnerjohngunrunnerjohnOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

Actually, I'd have to take it apart to look.  I know I just shunted another one across the existing one for the traverse motor control, and replaced the other ones for the wheels.  They're pretty low value resistors, in the 10-20 ohm range.  I'm actually thinking of doing a fancier circuit that uses back-EMF from the motors to control the speed, like the ERR Cruise Commander.  This would allow you to get slow speed performance and much more prototypical operation.  Right now the unit is a bit "jerky".  You could get away with a single circuit if you limited yourself to one axis of movement at a time.

 

Yep, I used Lithium grease on the gears as well.  I greased everything first, then started with the mods.

 

As far as the wheel drive, I'm optimizing it for a level location, I'm not planning on any hills for the MI-Jack.   I'd like it to go even slower than I have it now, I think that will take a fancier circuit.

 

I'm not finished with mine by any means, I just wanted it to work well enough for my grandson to be able to use it.  As it comes from the factory, IMO it's not usable!

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