Postwar motor help please!

I am not entirely familiar with servicing the late Alcos as shown in the pictures, but the core servicing tips apply to most, if not all, postwar motors.

• Clean or replace the brushes, polish the commutator with either a pencil eraser or isopropyl alcohol and clean out the three slots with a tooth pick.
• Grease the gears with some white lithium grease or Lucas Oil Red 'N' Tacky #2.
• Oil all axles and the wicking that is marked "OIL".

Reassemble everything the same way it was disassembled, in reverse of course, and you should be good to go! I suggest picking up some useful literature such as Greenberg's Repair and Operating Manual for Lionel Trains. 

*Edit*  This link courtesy of Olsen's may help you:      http://www.olsenstoy.com/cd/ho/d200b.pdf

What was wrong?

Assuming nothing, just wipe the old grease out, and clean/wipe everything else too. It's not a fast job doing that. Oil on a q-tip, wiped across all bare metal surfaces will stop rust (just like cleaning a gun)

    That gear gets inspected, then a blob of fresh grease spread along it's center, even if you don't remove the old stuff this round. All axles (gear shafts on steam too) get oil. I clean wheels and rollers and oil them now too. Done here.

 On the armature shaft, the plate side gets only the lightest of oil drops, to prevent fouling. The wick present on some models does that area to keep it very light. It cuts down on the brush dust collecting in the oil & making gunk.

   1st clean the 3 copper plates with an eraser. If they look grooved, dress it by spinning with fine metal sandpaper up against the plates, till smooth again. There is seldom  a need for more than a drop of solvent on a q-tip here if at all. Don't wet the coils and windings with solvent. Clean abrasive dusts away by dry paint brushes, and then wiping the shaft well with a lightly oiled rag. I lightly drag a pin tip along the gaps between the plates to ensure no dust or gunk has fouled the gap with hardened conductive dust, (lightly to not scratch the wire coating if the windings under there are touched.) Final dry dust brushing of gaps, and a dot of grease on the gear ends tip is done for final assembly too. Done here. 

   Brush tips should be flat and square to the length. They will have less pressure if short, taller is better. Or the if springs are too weak (from overheating). Pressure has direct effect on contact efficiency. Dress the brush tip with fine sandpaper or buy new. Clean the inside of the caps brush holder tube with a q-tip dampened with Naptha or alchohol (finally...solvent ). If old and tarnished, sand the brush tube on the inside. Done here.

   I forget if the little thrust washer goes on top or bottom, Olson's trains likely has a parts breakdown though.

   .Also, in the shaft well (or boss) of the truck, there is a very very tiny ball bearing, that provides a nice low friction surface for the shaft tip to sit on. Don't loose it, or skip checking its still there (I feel for it with a pin). When done, the adjusting screw on top should be tightened till there is no vertical play, but still has free spinning action.

First, loosen the adjuster a little(1-2 turns normally) before re-capping motor, & then re-adjusting it. (till it stops, then back off just a hair, till it spins 99% free of drag). Now lift the brush springs, and insert brushes.Done here, run train

   If you use solvent to clean, do it sparingly, on the rag/towel/q-tip. And keep it off the windings. Naptha is plastic safe; alcohol nearly so; but wire coatings and plastic aren't the same thing, and it's not often needed either

If the grease is not solid, I'd say just clean the commuter, lube the end for the brushplate, and put that sucker back together.

Adriatic posted:

What was wrong?

Assuming nothing, just wipe the old grease out, and clean/wipe everything else too. It's not a fast job doing that. Oil on a q-tip, wiped across all bare metal surfaces will stop rust (just like cleaning a gun)

    That gear gets inspected, then a blob of fresh grease spread along it's center, even if you don't remove the old stuff this round. All axles (gear shafts on steam too) get oil. I clean wheels and rollers and oil them now too. Done here.

 On the armature shaft, the plate side gets only the lightest of oil drops, to prevent fouling. The wick present on some models does that area to keep it very light. It cuts down on the brush dust collecting in the oil & making gunk.

   1st clean the 3 copper plates with an eraser. If they look grooved, dress it by spinning with fine metal sandpaper up against the plates, till smooth again. There is seldom  a need for more than a drop of solvent on a q-tip here if at all. Don't wet the coils and windings with solvent. Clean abrasive dusts away by dry paint brushes, and then wiping the shaft well with a lightly oiled rag. I lightly drag a pin tip along the gaps between the plates to ensure no dust or gunk has fouled the gap with hardened conductive dust, (lightly to not scratch the wire coating if the windings under there are touched.) Final dry dust brushing of gaps, and a dot of grease on the gear ends tip is done for final assembly too. Done here. 

   Brush tips should be flat and square to the length. They will have less pressure if short, taller is better. Or the if springs are too weak (from overheating). Pressure has direct effect on contact efficiency. Dress the brush tip with fine sandpaper or buy new. Clean the inside of the caps brush holder tube with a q-tip dampened with Naptha or alchohol (finally...solvent ). If old and tarnished, sand the brush tube on the inside. Done here.

   I forget if the little thrust washer goes on top or bottom, Olson's trains likely has a parts breakdown though.

   .Also, in the shaft well (or boss) of the truck, there is a very very tiny ball bearing, that provides a nice low friction surface for the shaft tip to sit on. Don't loose it, or skip checking its still there (I feel for it with a pin). When done, the adjusting screw on top should be tightened till there is no vertical play, but still has free spinning action.

First, loosen the adjuster a little(1-2 turns normally) before re-capping motor, & then re-adjusting it. (till it stops, then back off just a hair, till it spins 99% free of drag). Now lift the brush springs, and insert brushes.Done here, run train

   If you use solvent to clean, do it sparingly, on the rag/towel/q-tip. And keep it off the windings. Naptha is plastic safe; alcohol nearly so; but wire coatings and plastic aren't the same thing, and it's not often needed either

There is usually a washer on the top and bottom. 

MattR posted:

There is usually a washer on the top and bottom. 

So be it! Two washers

That means I've never disassembled a "virgin" diesel motor

I always thought any thrust washers was sort of curious since the bearing and adjustment screw, when adjusted right, should carry that load anyhow.

This is about the time CW Burfle comes on. He give all the proper specifics. Wait about 20 minutes. He'll be here. He can describe things better.

There are two other very important things to do on the motor nobody mentioned.

After cleaning the 'brush contact plates' on the armature, continuity check one plate to the other then the other.  ALL three plates must show continuity.  Next - touch each plate to the armature shaft - they must not short.

Also - clean the brush/spring channels on the rear cover - the brushes MUST be able to move in and out freely.

Also test the motor on the bench prior to reassembly.

bruce

I am a little short on time right now, but I will make a few comments. Some of them will repeat what others have written. (There is some good stuff up above)

The washer pictured in the original post looks to me like its either a 671M-19 or 671M-23. Neither of these washers go in that motor.
It looks like the original poster has a 210 Texas Special.

This motor uses that black plastic plate at the bottom of the truck as a lower bearing. That plate should have a small ball bearing in the socket for the tip of the armature shaft. I cannot count how many of this style motor I have serviced. I don't think I have ever run across a motor with the bearing missing. I think a person would have to intentionally force it out for it to be missing. Still, it's not a bad idea to check. When it comes time to lubricate, I suggest using a toothpick to put a dab of grease in that socket. Typically I use Labelle 106. It's good stuff, and I purchased a bunch of it from a defunct hobby shop long ago. Occasionally I use Lucas Red N'Tackey.

There is no washer at the bottom on this motor.

There should be one or two washers at the top, one metal and one plastic. They fit tightly on the shaft. See the Lionel service manual page for the part numbers and the order. They are thrust washers, and should not be left out. Postwar Lionel motors do not have an adjusting screw to limit armature travel (up and down).

Personally, I do not care for that black grease. If the engine was mine, I would do my best to clean it out, and relubricate with Labelle 106. I would use a knife to clean out the grease between the teeth of the worm wheel (gear) and the worm. I like to just fill the teeth with grease. Honestly, that is probably a bit much.

To clean the commutator:
- clean out any goop between the segments with a round toothpick.
- clean the surface of the segments with a rag MOISTENED (not soaked) with pure mineral spirits.
- if it still needs attention, a fine fiberglass burnishing tool would be best. Some folks use erasers, others think erasers leave a residue. 
-clean again with the rag / mineral spirits.

Wipe out the inside of the brush plate with your rag AFTER the commutator is clean.
Clean the brush tubes with a QTip moistened with mineral spirits. If you are careful, and rotate the qtip as it goes in, the springs will move out of the way, and not snag. You may need to just pull the qtip all the way through, pulling it out from the top to avoid snagging the springs.

By the way, I like to unsolder the wires from the brush plate to make cleaning easier. If you do not, there is a good chance the wires will break anyway. I suggest unsoldering the field wire at least. It is not meant to be flexed.
I would put a drop of oil on the brush plate bearing. Currently I am using Unicol turbine oil from a Zoom Spout oiler.

If the brushes are oily, replace them.
If not, you can rub the end on an index card to burnish the end.
Generally, the first time I service a used engine, I replace the brushes.
Anything that comes to me for repair gets fresh brushes.

In my experience, you can clean oily brushes, and they will work for a little while. Then the oil that soaked deep into the brushes comes to the surface and fouls the motor. I have had to redo other peoples work because of this.

Note that there are other postwar ALCO motors that do have different washer/bearing configurations. And many Modern era motors are a bit different too.

Don't forget to put a bit of oil on the axle and worm gear shaft bearings, and on the spur gear studs. And a little grease on the spur gear train.

I guess that is enough for now.