I have two N-scale Life-Like SW1200s that I purchased used. One of them is quite noisy, and I assume it needs adjusting/tuning up. I'm handy with small tools, but I've never refurbished a loco before. What should I be looking for to improve the performance of the SW1200? Can you recommend a list of common problems and fixes or a step-by-step procedure for refurbishing this (or any other) loco? Pitfalls to avoid? Please point me in the right direction. All advice will be appreciated. Thanks, Jeff
Not sure if this will help you or not. I'd first remove the shell and run it to see if the noise continues. If so, then you know the cause is in the mechanism (sometimes the way the shell seats on the mech is the cause). I'd then give it a lube job to see if this eliminates the noise. You certainly won't hurt anything by doing this even if it doesn't eliminate the noise. I use Labelle 106 for the gears and Labelle 108 for closer to the motor. Always use sparingly. A little goes a long way. If the noise continues, then I'm afraid you've got a problem that is beyond anything I've addressed before. I'm certain there are others here that have far more experience troubleshooting this sort of an issue. I own own one of these and recently had to take it apart to fix and unrelated issue of electrical pickup in one truck. A caution on shell removal, be careful as they are delicate.
I "second" Bruce-in-MA." I am also careful to see everything is clean. Use a visor to check it. Move gears as they mesh and check for binding. Remove any edges from the gear teeth. I also think it is important to get it running well without the shell, tightening and loosening the frame halves for best operation. Do a search om TB for other threads, too. Seems like you can replace the SW1200 gears, but I would get this one running well first.
you really can't run these without the shell. The problem is most likely one of the plastic worms. Replace them with brass worms from a Kato lokie and you will be very amazed at the difference
Oops, you are correct John. The brass contact points are part of the shell. I must have been thinking of my LL GP20's.
Rats! Forgot about that. It is a fragile pickup. Here is a link to a mod for improvement. For more check this thread. OTOH, that doesn't help with the noise issue.
Thanks for the responses. I will start with a careful visual inspection. Since I also have an SW1200 that runs well, I may be able to compare the internals between the two for any obvious differences. The pickup contacts are a separate problem that I'll address after I attempt to fix the noise problem. I can troubleshoot computers and radio gear, but digging into N-scale locos is new territory for me. - Jeff
Good answers. One other thing to consider is dirt sucking up into the gears. You would need to take the trucks apart and examine the gears to see if ballast or a small piece of lint has gotten into them. Sorry, no place I know of to send you, for an example or picture. Edited add on: As I read on down through the responses that follow, it occurred to me this may be a new unit although bought used. You may have a situation where you have flash from the plastic molding, still left on the gears. A file and the time it takes to remove the flash will usually quiet down any locomotive.
Did you give it a break in period like let's say one hours worth of run. Cause I had the same issue mine was as loud as a coffee grinder so I ran it for about half hour then I put a little oil on the gears and worm and ran it again for another half hour now its smooth and quiet.
I've run the loco for about an hour. In addition, I bought it used, so it may have been run a bit before I got it. Cosmetically, the loco looks like new. I'm going to carefully disassemble it, probably next week, and see if anything looks amiss. I'm fairly experienced in taking apart electro-mechanical devices and getting them back together again, but N-scale locos are smaller than the stuff I usually tackle. My usual procedure is to take it slow and carefully document each step. I make lots of notes, sketches, and often digital photos whenever I undertake a project like this. Is there anything I need to be particularly careful about, such as spring-loaded parts that may launch themselves? I already know about the fragile electrical pickups. Thanks, Jeff
noise is in the out-of-round worm gear. Replace with a brass gear. Just don't bend the motor shaft. Have you ever replaced a worm before?
So this is why some engines are noisy and some are not? Some have the out-of-round gear and some do not? I have two of these that are wonderfully smooth after several hours of break-in.
Another quirk of the LL is that the trucks have a lot of vertical play, dependent upon the springing of the electrical pickup tabs under the walkways. In other words, if the four electrical tabs under the walkways are bent down significantly, it can cause the tower gear in the truck to barely engage the respective worm, alternately if they are bent flat against the walkways, the tower gear may also be riding too deep into the worm. The LL motor is press fit into a black plastic cradle. One of the most sucessful noise fixes was to shim up the motor by inserting a small shim between the motor external bearing and the plastic holder. Using shims, you can adjust the engagement of the worm with the tower gear. An old post I did for Tony shows the LL with the KATO worm, about half way down it discusses in more detail the shims. Do the shim adjustment, and the KATO worm and it will become very very quiet. Just be very careful removing the shell as to not bend the pickups under the walkways and make sure all four are adjusted evenly. http://www.tonystrains.com/tonystips/2007/010707.htm Cheers, Bill
Jeff, The first step is to snap off the fuel tank. You can then rotate/pivot each of the trucks a bit and they should drop right out. The contact system of getting power from the rails to the motor on the Lifelike SW1200 is rather fragile. They use thin brass wipers that are heat bonded to the shell. As you slip off the shell these wipers might get bent, so please take it slow. The chassis itself can get bent if you apply too much force to it, so, again, please be gentle. When you get the shell off, you will see that the screws are covered by plastic caps. You can remove them by "impaling" them on an X-acto #11 knife blade (again, gently) and prying them off. I eventually lost some of the caps, but I don't think that they affect the way the loco runs. I hope that this information is helpful to you. Good luck and Merry Christmas,
I also recommend that while you have it apart, using a good two-part epoxy on each of the four brass pick-up wipers, as they are only heat staked to the frame. If there was not enough plastic left above the wiper after it was heat staked, they can come loose or fall off.
