Smoke unit from K-Line Crusader

You may want to see if an American Flyer Smoke unit would work.  Someone told me the K-line smoke units were American Flyer copies. Otherwise contact Brasseur trains as they purchased the last of the K-line parts.

Let me check my parts, I used to have a couple of these, and I did an upgrade of the Crusader to fan driven smoke, so one of them should be that unit.

John, if you have no luck, I also did a Crusader and I keep everything. 

I have not turned up the box of smoke units yet, so if you have one, I suspect that will be quicker.  I know I have one, just don't know which box it's in!

Thanks for looking--keep me in mind if it turns up. I can get a few parts from Brasseur Trains, including the resistor board. I'll have to fashion a gasket.

Marty, let me know if you have one for sale.

I don't know if you still need this unit, but I did find my box of smoke units.

It appears the resistor was mounted too close to the board. You could probably fix it just by replacing the resistor and gasket. If you get a complete board check to make sure there is some space between the resistor and board. Also lube the piston O ring or better yet replace it. These swell and cause a great deal of resistance and rob your engine of power.

If you have the smoke unit out now, see how many cars you can pull, then check again after you replace the unit.

Pete

John, I managed to fix the smoke unit using parts from Brasseur, so I'm OK for now. (My smoke unit looks like the upper two in your picture, as far as connection to the stack.) The smoke output is anemic, which I think I read is typical of the K-Line units.

I'm more interested in an upgrade to a fan-driven smoke unit, which you mentioned you had done. Do you still do this type of work?

I'd also like to add some type of cruise control for better low-speed performance, if possible.

Does your Crusader have the command upgrade?

It has TMCC. I understand that K-Line upgraded a number of the original sets.

In that case, you'll want to grab the Cruise Commander M for steam at 3rd Rail to add cruise.  In order to do fan driven smoke, I use the Super-Chuffer, and to get 4-chuffs/rev, I also use the Chuff-Generator.  I expect to have them back in production later in the summer.  For smoke units, I typically use the MTH smoke unit, though at times one of the Lionel ones is a better fit.

This engine was made in 1998 and might be pre modular. K-Line was using LCRUs back then. Might want to pop the hood before ordering Cruise Ms.

Pete

Thanks for the information. I don't think I'm up to doing the electrical connections myself, let alone fitting the new components inside the engine and/or tender. Would you be available to handle a paid upgrade, including obtaining the components? Or, could you recommend an individual or company to do the upgrade? I'm in no hurry and can wait for your boards to be available.

I don't know how to tell if the engine is pre modular.

If you can remove the shell of the tender and take a pic of it and the engine minus its shell that would help.

Pete

What he said.  We just need to see pictures and we can tell you.

I will take pictures later today or tomorrow.

Attached are pictures of the Crusader engine and tender with shells removed.

HearnCL, you are in luck. That is Lionel modular. A Cruise M should be all you need to convert to Cruise. It will replace the board mounted horizontally on the left.

Pete

The only "wiring" is to connect the two plugs to the new board, and run the one wire (normally blue) from the 10-pin connector on the CC-M to pin 24 of the R2LC socket.  A little heat-sink compound for the drivers bolted to the heatsink and you can program it up and go.

That looks like something I could do. I'll plan on ordering the Cruise Commander M from 3rd Rail. But it looks like it will not be available until October.

I'm still needing someone who can upgrade the smoke unit.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Well, "upgrading" the smoke unit entails also having something to control the chuffing unless you just want continuous smoke.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I don't know if you still need this unit, but I did find my box of smoke units.

I’m looking for a replacement smoke unit for my K-Line PRR Torpedo. It looks a lot like that top unit on the right.

Do you just need what is pictured, or are you missing other parts as well?