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I recently picked up a used Legacy Mogul not so much that I needed another Lionel Mogul but to satisfy my curiosty as to what was going on with these engines. I was told up front it didn't run. I had no idea why and assumed it was due to whatever is wrong with these. It was obviously used and was missing some paint and railings were off.  It also had a broken front side rod which is likely the main reason it wouldn't run.

Early on when folks noticed problems I recall one forum member saying he used the siderods from his TMCC mogul to fix his Legacy version so many months ago I ordered new rods and wheel sets just in case I came across one or to fix my TMCC moguls. I have taken both my TMCC engines apart to replace the chuff cams so was familiar with them.

I disassembled the engine to replace the rods and was going to replace the wheelsets as well but found the gears are different. One of my replacements had a bent axle so that was out. Only the front drivers with the traction tires was replaced. I removed all the white sidewalls with lacquer thinner. Not a fan of those. Then checked the play between the worm and worm gear. Backlash seemed OK so I put back together and ran it. As you can see it runs just as you would expect a Legacy engine to run, slow and smooth. 

The good news is I have nice running engine. The bad news is I have nothing to report as to what the problems might be.

Pete

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Last edited by Norton
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Norton posted:

Gary, I can tell you these are identical to the TMCC ones mechanically other than the motor and worm gear. The mystery remains as to why some don't run right.

The NYC has sent a buyer and a few engineers to decide if they want to add this to the roster.

Pete

I still don't have mine.  No word from Lionel on when

Pete,

This is interesting news. Good job on the rebuild. I was looking for an Everett RR Mogul. I did not see any at York.

There was never really a root cause pin-pointed before, and from Dave Olson's report the motor gears and reprograming the motor driver board replacement was the plan of  action. So acquiring those parts were not accessible or feasible. 

Thus I have given up.

So if the Rods were the root cause, what was the difference between the two?

I was lead to believe that only a few Moguls had this issue less than 15 percent were returned. Can anyone verify that?

Every Legacy Mogul I saw had issues at slow speeds.

Last edited by J Daddy

J, I am pretty sure the rods and bushings are the same. The main reason I swapped all of them out is the TMCC rods are bright and the Legacy are blackened and one of the blackened ones had broken off.

Tonight I am going to look closer at the crank pins on the center drivers. One may be too short as when I tightened the screw it locked all the rods in place. This on the same side where the broken rod was. You guys that still have yours check that you have some play in the rods at their mounting point.

If the crank pin is indeed too short Lionel's fix would have been to swap them out, especially on a warranty repair. The TMCC drivers would not have worked as the gear is different requiring pressing off a driver to swap gears then having to requarter it. 

My fix will be to simply cut a spacer out of brass tubing to prevent the shoulder screw from bottoming out.

The engine runs OK as seen above if that screw is loosened some to give the rods room to move.

Stay tuned.

Pete

 

Last edited by Norton
superwarp1 posted:
Norton posted:

Gary, I can tell you these are identical to the TMCC ones mechanically other than the motor and worm gear. The mystery remains as to why some don't run right.

The NYC has sent a buyer and a few engineers to decide if they want to add this to the roster.

Pete

I still don't have mine.  No word from Lionel on when

Mine is on that same slow boat to China.

Arthur posted:
superwarp1 posted:
Norton posted:

Gary, I can tell you these are identical to the TMCC ones mechanically other than the motor and worm gear. The mystery remains as to why some don't run right.

The NYC has sent a buyer and a few engineers to decide if they want to add this to the roster.

Pete

I still don't have mine.  No word from Lionel on when

Mine is on that same slow boat to China.

Hopefully, it's at least the slow boat from China !

D, its on the docket but it will be more involved than hoped for. I will have to pull the drivers and make new tires. I am trying to clean up some smaller jobs first.

As for the Mogul, the mystery continues. I found out why the eccentric screw was bottoming out and clamping the rods together. It was not because the driver crankpin was too short but that the remains of the old eccentric bushing was still there pushing up on the new bushing.

As it stands now all the original drivers are back in place. The only things new are the rods and I am pretty certain they are the same dimension as the Legacy rods.

Any speculation that this engine is having problems because of a major redesign is not true. Only the motor, worm, and worm gear are new and they appear to be fine.

Maybe one reason Lionel only received 12% back for repair is many are not having issues but I have yet to see any postings from those that say their engines are OK.

Pete

It looks like the NYC buyer made a deal. Actually it will work on one of the subs and keep its old number. Plus the ten wheeler behind it could use a little help.

Front air hose added as well as a coupler lift bar and chain and new silver and black headlight number plaque replacing the brass and red one. Plus relettering engine and tender.

Bell rope pull added.

Finally cab curtains and cab deck added.

I thought I was finished but a new issue has cropped up. The headlight has become intermittent. Initial troubleshooting found a flakey connector on the RCMC. Connectors were resoldered and contacts cleaned with contact cleaner. Seemed to be OK for a while but its coming back on me.

I know some love these RCMC boards but they seem to much more problematic then the old modular setup. So its off with the shell again. Still runs just fine though and runs lock step with the 10 wheeler.

Pete

 

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