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I have the new Lionel Legacy Alco PA A-A set (New York Central #1933180). I have been raving about it on the forum since I got it...really love this set. However, there is one annoying issue..a fairly loud ticking sound which has been there since day one. I had just assumed it was a contact roller needing oil. When I finally took a look I found something else which might be the cause. Before I try the E Z lube on the roller, which some people say you should never do!...let me know what you think. The sound appears to be emanating from the front roller on the front truck and upon inspection I found that the pin on that roller has a ton of play. The other 3 roller pins on the engine have zero play...they don't move at all. Could this be the cause of the ticking, and if so how would I go about tightening it? Thanks everyone for listening. 

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trnluvr posted:

Did you try removing the roller and see if the noise went away? Is this the same truck you had problems with before?

Doug

Good idea Doug, this is a quick test if the rollers are the source.

 

Ted S posted:

You could order a replacement roller assembly from Lionel (when their parts department reopens next month.)  But if it's not getting snagged on the track, I don't personally hear anything in the video that would give me cause for concern.

Ted,

If it turns out to be the roller, I'd just exchange it for another. The risks in sending the pair of units themselves back to Lionel would be way too high.

trnluvr posted:

Did you try removing the roller and see if the noise went away? Is this the same truck you had problems with before?

Doug

Doug, I'm afraid you are dealing with someone with 2 left thumbs! Never even took off a roller before. I see just one screw...is it as simple as just removing that one screw and the assembly comes off? And it's ok to run the engine with the assembly removed to check if the ticking goes away?

Yes I think that's it. And I thought I had proof that it was the roller but now I'm frustrated. When I took off the front roller which I thought was the culprit the sound didn't go away completely. Then I took off the second front roller and the sound seem to go away but on closer inspection it was still there but seem to be coming from the back truck! I ended up taking off each roller one by one and the sound never completely went away in any case. So either there's a problem with all the rollers or it's not the rollers at all! I am not a very good detective! Here's a close-up video. Can anyone figure it out? By the way the rear unit makes no noise at all when I put it on the track by itself so even though you still hear the sound and the video when the rearunit passes buy real unit passes by it's not coming from that unit.

 

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Finally some good news..since I couldn't figure out which roller was making the noise,or even of it was the rollers, I decided to go ahead and oil all of them.  I was expecting a bottle of Bachmann conductive lube today but the UPS truck broke down. All I had was a bottle of the light oil that comes in the Lionel maintenance kit, so I applied just a tiny amount with a toothpick to each roller.  The problem did not go away completely, but is no longer constant or as loud, so I think I'm on the right track. When the Bachmann comes I might just give them a touch of that too.

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J Daddy posted:

James,

well I lubed up the rollers and no joy. I popped the shell and the source of my ticking is the timing wheel hitting the board sensor.

 

20190620_093033

The black timing / sensor wheel is hitting on the inside sensor. I lifted off the flywheel by loosening the allen head screw and had to bend the sensor a slight amount so the wheel would not hit it.

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  • 20190620_093033
Last edited by J Daddy

Update! Ticking sound slowly but surely returned.  Another drop of Bachmann conductive oil silenced it again.  But it came back again. So I did a little experiment...I switched all 4 rollers of the ticking engine with those on the non-ticking rear engine and....voila! : front engine is now super quiet and rear engine ticks! So the ticking sound is undeniably caused by the rollers.  Unfortunately, the response to oiling them us temporary. I have asked Dean at Lionel to send me a new set of rollers at no charge since it is a brand new engine. Haven't heard back, but I understand he is very busy at the moment so I will be patient. At least I know for sure now there is nothing more complicated causing the noise.

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
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