This is one of the good reasons I like watching your videos no one takes time and cleans them hate to say this you're probably the only one I know does it thanks so much for the educational information that you give us.
Great job, Dave! After a tedious but careful cleaning, the Santa Fe ABA set runs smoothly. Looks great with a consist of coaches behind. Thanks for taking the time to share.
A very good tutorial. I rarely take the trucks all of the way apart and it is normally enough for regular maintenance. They are gorgeous locomotives and will run forever, with a little TLC. My brother's 2343's are still working quite nicely, after 74 year of running. An excellent video, as always.
Thank you! I always approach the videos with the general hobbyist in mind. Most people aren’t going to pull wheels and gears, but want to clean up their stuff and perform maintenance
Awesome hands on tutorial as always Dave. They look and sound great. The 2343 is definitely on my wish/want/will get someday list. Thanks for the videos.
Here's a tip Dave. Don't throw away Lionel brushes when they get worn down, because they are usually the same size as Marx brushes and can be used in a Marx engines.
Nice set Dave. The 2343's are still my go-to choice when it comes to diesels. After all they are the ones that successfully ended and started it all. Sort of a love hate relationship for me.
Great tutorial Dave! I don't own one of those classic old Lionel F3's and don't plan on getting one BUT as we all know things DO change. And when/if they do I'll be ready! Thanks for posting! OI'll
Nicely done. I have awoken more than a couple horns by shooting a little contact cleaner into the hole in the top of the horn. It’s far easier than opening the horn.
Why would you not fix the gear drive? New solder iron looks interesting. I always replace worn brushes, rollers, shim the worm gear bearing blocks, replace wires with a slightly bigger gauge, and definitely fix the slipping axle gear. Many times the front coupler side to side travel needs to be addressed because of too short of travel. The metal arm hits on the truck to prematurely in it’s travel. Hint the pick up wire is sometimes too close a fit in the frame slot with the motor. I deburr, enlarge and round slot edges. Another video Classic Model Trains about a year ago did the same engine cleaning and rebuild. Ron used an ultra sonic cleaning tank for engine components. There was far less “picking away” to remove all the gunk. I been using ultra sonic cleaning for just about everything with grimy and messy jobs. I really love it for disassembled carburetors. Outside blow dry with compressed air and flush WD40 thru everywhere and again blow of with compressor. Worm gearing will benefit from a heavier grease since thrust and gear faces are heavier loads vs typical spur gears. Most of the motors power is used up in the worm gear train. Worm gearing is great for high loads but not so much for efficiency in fractional hp drives.
Great video on the 2343! I have one as well and I've done that maintenance too. It's fun to work on and a great feeling to see it run so well afterwards ! I also have a cordless iron. Mines from Harbor Freight and so far so good after a years use. My only beef with it is that I only get about 15 minutes of use after a charge but I'm usually done by then. Curious to hear about your iron.
Thanks! They are relatively easy to work on and always benefit from a service. I haven’t decided about my soldering iron yet, seems to hold charge for a while. Nice to hear that one from harbor freight works as well
I have a question for you Dave., I also have steam locomotives one is a 611 Norfolk and western from 1981and a new frisco 1630 from lionel. I also maintain my Menards track how often do you clean your tracks?
Keeping those vintage trains running! Thank you Dave
That’s the goal!
Being a retired mechanic I wish our shop repair videos were this good nice job 😃👍🚂
Thank you very much!
This is one of the good reasons I like watching your videos no one takes time and cleans them hate to say this you're probably the only one I know does it thanks so much for the educational information that you give us.
Thank you very much. I try to provide at least info for basic maintenance, it’s important to see how others do it, I love learning new techniques too
Great job, Dave! After a tedious but careful cleaning, the Santa Fe ABA set runs smoothly. Looks great with a consist of coaches behind. Thanks for taking the time to share.
Glad you enjoyed it! A little service on the old locos always does wonders
Those scratches and paint touch ups just give the set character. And you can always hide them with a good weathering job.
Character definitely, the have brought joy for a long time
If the port hole plugs are yellow, they are original. Very beautiful engines indeed Dave🚂
Thanks
A very good tutorial. I rarely take the trucks all of the way apart and it is normally enough for regular maintenance. They are gorgeous locomotives and will run forever, with a little TLC. My brother's 2343's are still working quite nicely, after 74 year of running. An excellent video, as always.
Thank you! I always approach the videos with the general hobbyist in mind. Most people aren’t going to pull wheels and gears, but want to clean up their stuff and perform maintenance
You are pretty adept a fixing and cleaning. It's very interesting to watch. Thanks.
Thanks! I try to be informative and hopefully at least mildly entertaining
Awesome hands on tutorial as always Dave. They look and sound great. The 2343 is definitely on my wish/want/will get someday list. Thanks for the videos.
Thanks so much. It’s a classic set
Nicely done Dave. Always love the growl!
Thanks! It’s better than railsounds!
The 2343 has such an awesome grunt from it's dual motors. A true classic.
Definitely!
Forever one of my favorite engines and in remarkably good condition! Just gorgeous!👍🏻
A classic set!
Quick tip at 24:33 . During heating, stab a toothpick in the hole, and remove heat. Once it cools a little, remove the toothpick.
That’s a fantastic idea! I will definitely try that, Ive wrestled with this many times
I saved this to my watch later list. I am 100% sure I’ll reference it in some FB post. Great tutorial, including the mistakes.
Awesome! Hope it helps
I never took one of those apart. I learned a few things!
Awesome!
Here's a tip Dave. Don't throw away Lionel brushes when they get worn down, because they are usually the same size as Marx brushes and can be used in a Marx engines.
Fantastic! I never throw parts out unless they are beyond. I’ll have to remember to keep them for the Marx. Tha ks
Nice set Dave. The 2343's are still my go-to choice when it comes to diesels. After all they are the ones that successfully ended and started it all. Sort of a love hate relationship for me.
Thanks - they are classics, they take me back
Perfect timing...I just did a full service of my 2343 ABA set yesterday.will watcch anyway to see if I missed anything
Nice. A good service really wakes these engines up
Great tutorial Dave! I don't own one of those classic old Lionel F3's and don't plan on getting one BUT as we all know things DO change. And when/if they do I'll be ready!
Thanks for posting! OI'll
Haha, thanks! Yeah you never know when you might end up with a set!
Nice how to video Dave! Great job!
Thank you
Nicely done. I have awoken more than a couple horns by shooting a little contact cleaner into the hole in the top of the horn. It’s far easier than opening the horn.
I’ll have to try that out. I considered opening this one but then just didn’t have the desire to deal with it
Well done!
Thank you
A small ultrasonic cleaner from Amazon with any light detergent that you choose works wonders on these pieces ( trucks ect ect )
That’s what I keep hearing. Maybe I’ll buy one eventually
Great video. Do you think modern Lionel will still run after a good cleaning 70 years from now? I don't !
Thanks. Um, sure? lol
Why would you not fix the gear drive? New solder iron looks interesting. I always replace worn brushes, rollers, shim the worm gear bearing blocks, replace wires with a slightly bigger gauge, and definitely fix the slipping axle gear. Many times the front coupler side to side travel needs to be addressed because of too short of travel. The metal arm hits on the truck to prematurely in it’s travel. Hint the pick up wire is sometimes too close a fit in the frame slot with the motor. I deburr, enlarge and round slot edges. Another video Classic Model Trains about a year ago did the same engine cleaning and rebuild. Ron used an ultra sonic cleaning tank for engine components. There was far less “picking away” to remove all the gunk. I been using ultra sonic cleaning for just about everything with grimy and messy jobs. I really love it for disassembled carburetors. Outside blow dry with compressed air and flush WD40 thru everywhere and again blow of with compressor. Worm gearing will benefit from a heavier grease since thrust and gear faces are heavier loads vs typical spur gears. Most of the motors power is used up in the worm gear train. Worm gearing is great for high loads but not so much for efficiency in fractional hp drives.
I didn’t fix the drive gear because I didn’t. I wasn’t looking good to do all that. Just cleaning it up for now.
Great video on the 2343! I have one as well and I've done that maintenance too. It's fun to work on and a great feeling to see it run so well afterwards ! I also have a cordless iron. Mines from Harbor Freight and so far so good after a years use. My only beef with it is that I only get about 15 minutes of use after a charge but I'm usually done by then. Curious to hear about your iron.
Thanks! They are relatively easy to work on and always benefit from a service.
I haven’t decided about my soldering iron yet, seems to hold charge for a while. Nice to hear that one from harbor freight works as well
Thank you! Very helpful. What do you think of new Lionel? I prefer prewar and postwar and made in America.
Glad you enjoyed the video. I don’t have enough new Lionel to say.
I worked on this set as well a few months ago😂, tracks were a lil rusted but that’s cause they haven’t been used
Hope you got it all set!
I have a question for you Dave., I also have steam locomotives one is a 611 Norfolk and western from 1981and a new frisco 1630 from lionel.
I also maintain my Menards track how often do you clean your tracks?
I don’t clean it often enough. Usually when I notice it needs it. Couple times a year. I should do it more. Probably once a month would be good