2050 maintenance

[Henri]

My old Feueriger Elias (LGB 2050) is almost 45 years old and was very interested to see the stat of the inner works. So yesterday was a good day to dismantle it and open up the drive work. What I found: Copper grease!!! Oh boy... One of the brackets holding the gearbox is broken, but that's not a big problem as all the weight of the body work is pushing down on the gearbox.

Cleaned all and everything and put in better grease. Cleaned the backside of the wheels too.

And the 'carbon brushes' (is that correct English??) needed a serious bit of cleaning too....









Nice & Clean again!

 

[dunnyrail]

Henri, remembering that the Gears are some kind of Plastic or Nylon, did you use LGB or a similar kind of Grease for such things, not the stuff that you might use in a Car.
JonD

 

[Henri]

Yes I did!

 

[Zerogee]

A very interesting thread, Henri, thanks for posting it - I've never actually seen the internals of a "growler" gearbox - looking at the relative complexity of it, with that whole train of gears, I'm not at all surprised that LGB discontinued these gearboxes so quickly in favour of the simplicity of the clamshell gearbox with worm gears on both ends of the motor shaft, each driving directly to an axle-mounted gear.

Is your Elias any quieter now after the overhaul?

Jon.

 

[Henri]

Haven't tried it yet due to the mess of tracks in the garden :-D

I'm in the middle of building up Rabbit Hill Tramways... Almost there!

 

[James Day]

Henri,

You mentioned the carbon brushes. They rarely wear right down, but can develop 'bell ends' (if you and others will pardon the expression). This is caused by sideways movement on them by the wheel, wearing a V in the sides where they stick out. In extreme cases this can stop them moving freely in the tubes and consequently cause poor current collection.

For what replacements cost, I would be tempted to replace them when opening up an old loco. The good news is that on a loco like 2050 or 2060 this is easy to do, far less so on an early Stainz!

James

 

[Henri]

As far as my knowledge goes, I think the brushes are in good shape..? But then, they are VERY easily replaced when I would run into problems with them.

I dunno, how are these 'made'? Is the brush 100% carbon or metal with a carbon tip?

 

[beavercreek]

That 'copper' colouring on the brush is from the copper slip used for the greasing

 

[James Day]

As far as my knowledge goes, I think the brushes are in good shape..? But then, they are VERY easily replaced when I would run into problems with them.

I dunno, how are these 'made'? Is the brush 100% carbon or metal with a carbon tip?

View attachment 213307

Thanks Henri,

I can see slight 'belling' of the ends on some of them. It is a weird effect that can cause the end in contact with the wheel to become wider than the rest!

Ironically, they rarely wear right down, as yours show, in fact they have hardly worn at all! The modern replacements are made to different design for both the spring and the carbon, which has less exposed length. Presumably this was done to combat the effect of rotation discovered with the old ones?

Although I prefer to replace, my guess is that where there has been wear on the ends, the old type could be shortened to remove any 'belling'. And any shortage in length resulting could be made up by tweaking the spring a little.

The key object is to ensure consistant smooth contact with the wheel backs. Vital on those early skateless locos, but very important on all locos, always!

James