I've read most of the posts here about repairing and adjusting the original postwar 342 Culvert Loader. One of the best posts was by GEOPEG in 2018. Anyone looking to repair one should read that first. But I would like to address one adjustment that has not been explained on this forum. This deals mainly with the conveyor assembly travel, either not dropping culverts squarely into the gondola, or dropping them immediately at pickup from the ramp. The Lionel postwar service manual makes brief mention of bending the sweep arm pivot bracket. I have found this to be the key to solving this issue. I currently have TWO 342 loaders to experiment with and spent a FULL DAY fiddling with both of them! FIRST, I did the alcohol cleaning treatment of the cord and roughing up the pulley with sandpaper that others have suggested here. The sweep arm pivot bracket is a vertically mounted flat bracket that moves the conveyor side to side. Do not confuse this with the HORIZONTAL sweep arm that you can see when it is operating. This one needs to have the red cab removed to see. My problem (on BOTH my units) was either dropping the culverts off center in the gondola and/or dropping them at pickup from the inclined ramp.
The solution is to bend (twist) the sweep arm pivot bracket with two pairs of vice grips in order to adjust the movement of the sweep arm, thus adjusting the travel limits on both ends. But the twist adjustment is VERY SLIGHT! Just adding a small twist to that bracket will move the travel too far in one direction so then you have to twist the other way. I went back and forth on this for hours until I got it right. Grab the bottom end of this bracket with the first pair of vice-grips and the top with the other pair. The first adjustment will probably be too far and then you'll find yourself twisting in the other direction. On the inclined ramp end (pickup) you'll want the leading hook of the grappler to go no further than the outer edge (backside of the unit) of the waiting culvert. And on the other end of travel, you'll of course want it to drop the culvert dead center in the gondola. Track placement affects this as well. After I compromised to a final adjustment,, I found a happy medium and left it alone. Incidentally, you'll need to reassemble the building and ramp each time to test, because all these parts interlock. Unless it's fully assembled on test, there will be too much 'play' in the ramp. But it still tended to drop a few culverts at pickup. The solution there was in the SPEED of the conveyor assembly. A faster speed allowed the trailing hook (non movable one) of the conveyor to get a better grip as it 'collides' into the waiting culvert. To my units that meant a higher voltage applied. Once I raised the voltage (on both my units), they successfully grabbed the culvert every time. On one unit, that was at 14 volts, and on the other unit, it was closer to 16 volts. I have yet to determine what I might do with the spring adjustment to get the 16 volt unit to operate at a lower voltage. Open for suggestions.
I hope this post adds to the wealth of tips already posted here on this ornery but fun accessory!
