Need help with 601 Sea Board switcher

I believe there is a washer that goes on top of the armature.

( around the shaft. ) it keeps it from going up into the brush plate...

my 616 switcher did the same thing.

Bruce..

Hey Rob, there is a small nylon washer that goes on top of the armature, this will keep it from riding up and jamming the gears.  With it installed, you should be able to roll the wheels back and forth with relative ease...

Marty

The washer is there as I said before. There is that large gap that seems to be a problem. Maybe I should add another washer? Update: just tried another washer, no dice. You can roll the wheels fairly easily by hand in the forward direction, but reverse the armature comes all the way up and jams making turning the wheels difficult.

My engine would only run correctly in one direction because of the washer.

With the cover off energize the motor. If the armature rises it's the washer.

( it should a little but not much )

You may have one, but is it the right one ?

I'm with Marty on this one.... OR  it's not seating in the gears right.

double check that.....

Just another thought. some brush plates have an adjustment screw over the armature.

See if it has one. If so, a slight turn on it may also help....

The armature rizes too much on start up and it jams the motor. Is there supposed to be a 1/8 th inch gap between the brush plate and armature?

Rob

There should be 2 washers, a con-8 metal washer, then the nylon washer on top of that. If the armature still strikes the brushplate, remove it from the motor and gently tap the bottom of the shaft, with the face of the armature resting on 2 wood blocks. this will pull the armature commuator further from the brushplate, but I suspect you are missing the spacer washer.

The staking that holds the motor fields in place may have loosened up, and need to be restaked. This requires removing the motor from the frame by taking off the 2 quik nuts (replacements are available at local hardware stores), and following the directions in the Greenberg Lionel repair manual. IF the staking is loose, the motor will run in one direction and electrically jam in the other. Also, test the armature to make sure the three segments have continuity, and no continuity to ground.

All good tips!

In my experience, if the engine runs fine in one direction, but in the other direction is jams up, sometimes breaking free suddenly, then the problem is a loose underframe.

I would make certain that both washers are there before doing anything else.

You can test for the loose underframe by turning the engine upsidedown, and moving the lower bearing plate (black plastic cover) from side to side while the motor tries to run. If it starts running (or runs smoother) while holding the plate to one side, then it's a loose underframe. The plate does not have to move much, you may not even see the difference.

There have been several techniques posted on addressing this issue. I will leave that for another post.

I had to replace the motor field assy with a new one as someone had butchered the old one and nothing is loose anywhere. Chuck, you are correct I do not have a metal washer on top, only the nylon one. I have seen both washers in place on other ones before but the book only shows one washer. There is nothing loose or binding. The motor runs well when its not under load. I did previously check all the segments before assembling the unit.

Rob

I solved the problem and want to share it here if it helps anyone in the future. I took it apart again and looked over everything more carefully. Turns out the armature was rubbing the motor field laminations on the left side. When I turned it over I saw that the plastic bearing plate on the bottom of the truck had a lot of side to side slop in it allowing the armature to dance around under power. CW you were absolutely correct.

I will shim it and super glue it. Thanks,

Rob