I got the piston on the left in a smoke unit piston kit. The one on the right was in the old smoke unit. On the left, the spring is outside the cup. On the right it is inside the cup. Which is correct? Does it matter?
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Correct method
The spring's job is to PUSH DOWN on the piston- where the lever and or cam system pushes UP on the piston.
This is definitely NOT correct and would just interfere with operation
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Thank you, Mr Barry. This may be part of my smoke unit problem from previous posts.
I now have the engine on some Micro Mark rollers and am able to run the engine at various speeds. HOWEVER, the bar (cam?) that should move the piston up and down does not move at all. Thoughts?
@POTRZBE posted:I now have the engine on some Micro Mark rollers and am able to run the engine at various speeds. HOWEVER, the bar (cam?) that should move the piston up and down does not move at all. Thoughts?
Possible cracked or slipping cam on the shaft- a very common and frustrating problem. I had this engine 6-18003 and it's brother (6-18001)- Rock Island versions and went through this exact cam replacement issue. Factory might have used plastic cams, I replaced with metal ones. Total pain in the neck because of the wheels overlapping, you have to pull not just the front axle with the cam- but the next one in the middle with blind drivers too. Note, there are both metal and plastic versions- I strongly recommend finding the metal one if you can. And, you have to get the wheel quartering exact when pressing the wheels back on- not cracking them or being loose if you reuse parts.
Example https://www.lionelsupport.com/SMK-CAM-POWDER-METAL
Possible cam follower (AKA push rod) worn to the point it's too short even when the cam is at the high point.
The exploded diagram I have for the 18003 shows a push rod (600-0726-100) but no cam on any of the 3 pages of diagrams.