Repair of Lionel transformer ZW

With shipping costs it might be less to buy another refurbished unit?

Try: http://www.tranz4mr.com/Welcome.html

If you are on the east cost, Harry Lutz goes to the Allentown Train show (First Frost and Spring Thaw) meets.  I bought a reconditioned Z from him.  He does great work and its guaranteed.  You can also contact him at HarryfLutz at aol dot com.

Describe the issues with your ZW here. Simple repairs are within DIY. Parts are available. I've repaired a few. ZW prices are low enough that shipping a ZW back and forth to a repair venue is almost the same as buying another as stated above, but a ZW with a few minor issues shouldn't be shelved or worse thrown away.

@Jeff T posted:

With shipping costs it might be less to buy another refurbished unit?

Try: http://www.tranz4mr.com/Welcome.html

I second the recommendation for Kent's work, he does a nice complete rebuild and offers them at reasonable prices.  Shipping two ways will add quite a bit to a ZW rebuild if you send it out.  If we ever have train shows again, many times you can find a rebuilder there and maybe even get some trade-in on your transformer.

FWIW, most of the stuff you need to rebuild is pretty straight-forward on the ZW.  Most common are the rollers, followed by the rear connection posts, power cord, and whistle diodes.  All of the parts for those rebuilds are pretty cheap, and the repairs have been described over and over in these forums.  I used to rebuild them for people, but I haven't done that in years, and other folks like Kent have really refined it to an art and certainly are a lot faster than I am at knocking them out.