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I recently picked up an American Flyer set, which if my research is correct, was produced in late 1952. It consists of a K325 NYC Hudson, 3 cars and caboose. When I applied power to the unit there was no response from the engine but the E unit in the tender functions pretty well after I cleaned it. I was able to find wiring diagrams online and determined it was the"5 Wire" system. I replaced the jack panel with a new one from Jeff Kane and re-wired the tether. It now runs well but in one direction only. When I attempt to reverse it the motor appears to try to run the same direction as before when it runs well but only tiny amounts. I would appreciate any info!

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The Gilbert engines have a single field wired in series with the armature. If the engine runs in one direction but not the other it is the tender mounted reverse unit. Likely one of the copper fingers used in the reverse position is out of adjustment. The other possibility is the new 4 wire harness was connected wrong. The 5th wire only powers the light and smoke unit, it is not used for the motor.

It is tempting to call a Gilbert reverse unit (also referred to as a remote control unit) an E unit but it is not the same. The Lionel E unit is for motors with double wound fields. Gilbert used motors with double wound fields in some accessories but not in engines.

Thanks Tom. I have used quite a bit of 'tuner cleaner" on the reversing unit but will inspect it closer. The original tether wiring was badly decomposed and I substituted black flexible wire in a tube of heat shrink to keep it neat.  I haven't bothered connecting the 5th wire yet as I knew what it was for and wanted to get the motor running. I've attached a picture of the wiring diagram I found online. I used the center diagram.AF.

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  • AF

Well, today I removed the boiler shell so I could inspect the wiring to the motor and field. While I had things disassembled I removed and cleaned the armature and everything inside. The wiring looked pristine and was correct. After reassembling I did find I had reversed 2 wires from the reverse unit to the 4-pin plug but it made no difference. The loco still runs backward fine but will not run in the other direction. Perhaps I need to replace the finger units with new ones? The mystery remains.

Ok. If you reverse the two field wires it should cause the motor to spin in the opposite direction when the motor runs. That requires unsoldering the two field connections on either the jack panel or the plug. Flipping them on the plug is probably easier.

Another way is to substitute a known good 5 wire tender for the existing one as a test. That only works if you have another 5 wire engine of any type.

The last thing I did was remove both reverser fingers and clean them and make sure they were touching the contact surfaces. With the fingers out of the way I could also clean the drum better. No difference. As far as the armature goes, it turns very freely in both directions. I wish I had another 5-wire tender but this is the first American Flyer project I've taken on so I don't have any. Thanks for all your suggestions!

John T.

@JPThut posted:

The last thing I did was remove both reverser fingers and clean them and make sure they were touching the contact surfaces. With the fingers out of the way I could also clean the drum better. No difference. As far as the armature goes, it turns very freely in both directions. I wish I had another 5-wire tender but this is the first American Flyer project I've taken on so I don't have any. Thanks for all your suggestions!

John T.

It seems your only option now is to use a volt/ohm meter and trace the circuit when it is set in the forward direction to see what you have.

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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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