Early 70's Life Like Drives. How to Clean & Re-lube!
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- Опубликовано: 23 авг 2024
- Life Like GP38-2 from the train set "Allegheny ActionMaster" from 1977. Lets clean it all up, service and repair the loco and bring this Classic set back to life and running the rails again.
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#lifeliketrains
#gp38
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1507 Old Hardin Road
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@classicmodeltrains
My second channel mentioned link below.
@RonsClassicRVs
Every time you take a screwdriver to the bottom of an engine I'm reminded of my dad. Mom told him our toaster had gone up and we needed a new one. Dad decided he'd fix the old one. The next Sunday morning, after breakfast, he spread out newspapers on the kitchen table, gathered a wide array of delicate tools and popped a beer. He turned the toaster upside down to get to the screws, and removed them all, one by one. Then he lifted the base plate to expose the innards. As soon as he did we heard a cascading tinkling as dozens of thin wire heating elements fell from their mountings into a pick up sticks pile near the bread slots. He sighed, gathered his tools, took a swig of beer, wrapped the toaster in the newspaper and put it in the trash, and informed my mother, "We need a new toaster."
😂😂😂great story lol
Great story Kevin!
This happens to me, too! 😅
You really have little to nothing to lose, so try to fix whatever is broken.
The very least is that you’ll gain knowledge on how items are assembled. 😅
😊
Just what a train set should be. Cheap, fun and simple to fix. Classic!
Yup!
Ron I Love It when You Work On any Brand Of Engines Don’t Stop Working on them.
Thank you!!
Cool. You are a pleasure to watch. 😊
Thank you so much!!
You forgot the classic model! Nice fix thanks Ron!
It's in there William. in a sub title, almost the end of the video.
Princess Grace of Monaco, the former Grace Kelly, (what a beauty!) Perfection of Womanhood. Died tragically in a car crash.
Great job re-working the Life-Like engine. I had no idea it was that relatively simple. My biggest complaint back in the day was the Life-Like rolling stock was unrealistically shiny. I had some experience trying to dull the paint job, but I was not happy with the overall results. (I used the chalk and Dull-coat method then, and gave it up for a poor job. I’d dull it down, spray it and the chalk finish would vanish. Re-apply the chalk, re-spray, and the chalk vanished.) You made that loco crawl! Great job!
Thanks for your nice compliments and a bit of history on Grace :-)
Another great video is in the can!
Thank you Tom
I have one that that I’m repainting into CN 9625. It needs handrails, and I’ve been super detailing it, and this is helpful for fixing the drive, I’ve notice that those drives always break around the linkage and I just give it some glue
Edit: I just noticed that this has been a process 6+ months in the making
Glad it was helpful!
Saw on FB that you were locked into repair videos, not a bad thing. I think that's why your following is growing. Another excellent video.
Thank you and Yeah, If I do a scenery video hardly nobody watches. I'm destined to be a fixer guy :-)
Great video Ron. 33 percenter all the time everytime check in. :)
Thank you for all your support Raymond :-)
Great job Ron!.
Thanks!
I can never seem to get a name with a face on the classic models part of your show. (Of course Grace Kelly) Darn it…😉
Great show by the way Ron…
I'm always forgetting names as well.
Very informative video Ron. Great job
Thank you
Hi Ron, great job. Always learning something with your videos. Gonna get me some chainsaw fuel line! Great running set when you were done. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Robert👍
Nice old Life-Like engine. I was surprised it has an open frame (Pittman) motor in it with a drive line. And yep, changing out that magnet for neodymium magnets will help that old bugger come back to life and "creep" around the tracks. I've done all my open frame motors with rare earth magnets. And you didn't change the magnet. I sure do enjoy your videos; you've got a great on camera presence and are quite the funny chap. Cheers from eastern TN
I was surprised by that Pittman style motor as well. That original magnet performed so well I did not want to change it out. This set will just sit and look pretty now for awhile. Thanks for your compliments!!
Excellent repair Ron. I did not know they had that motor setup in these units. If I come across one, I will have this video as reference to fix it right, like you did here. Thank you.
Thanks SF Bob!!
I just repaired a locomotive like that one. I wasn't sure what brand it was nor what year. It looked like a life like to me but I wasn't sure till I watched your video because I had never owned a life like with an open frame motor before. I like your idea of the small fuel line to go between the motor and the truck. Mine had the u-joints cracked too and slipped just like yours. I took a straw from a fast food drink and cut it to the size of the u-joints and it squeezed tightly over the u-joints and made them tight enough not to slip. I was able to reuse them like that along with the original driveshaft. Thanks for your videos. I enjoy watching them.
Thanks for your kind words!
Definitely worthy of new handrails. Excellent video. Now I will be looking for this type in my retro DC model train searches. Thank you for the inspiration and do keep up the good work Ron!
Thank you :-)
I really like the idea of buying cheaper, nostalgic trains because not being made of money sure has its drawbacks. But learning which "cheaper" brands are actually really good runners at certain points in their production span is proving to be a very steep learning curve.
I like the way you think. I agree it's very tough to tell which ones are the good ones with out taking the shell off. Wish the good ones had different road numbers than the icky ones.
Always enjoy and learn from your videos. Keep up the good work!
Thank you
Nice job getting it in service again. Growing up with trains from this era, I appreciate keeping them running, no matter how toy like they may be to some people.
Thank you and I like the way you think
As usual, I learned what to do about the drive shaft couplers on a locomotive like yours which were broken. You always have great tips and you bring entertainment to my day. I'll go to work on the one I have. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it Lee
Really loved this video. I saw someone had mentioned you on Facebook saying your a good youtube channel to lean how-to repair engines. 33%
Thank you, and glad to see someone is recommending my channel AND I lived up to their compliments for you ;-)
Another great video. I had one of these in Illinois Central orange and white. My problem was that the drive wheels and drive line u-joints were all split. Surprisingly the gears were all good. I ended up stripping it for parts and setting it up for static display with some old rusted Athearn wheels. I ended up using the motor to repower a steamer and the gears to repair other locos, and sold the shelled out loco to a member of a forum group to use to make a diorama of a scene from a movie featuring fast cars. The repowered steamer is still one of my strongest runners.
WOW! The soul of that original loco sure saved a lot of other things. Great story!!
New to your channel. And new to the hobby. . 3 months in and already up to 18 locos. Love getting the old stuff that has some history and needs some tlc. Love the vids and your enthusiasm 👍
Hello Darrel, Thanks for your compliments and subbing to the channel. Yes these things (loco's) can become very addictive :-)
Super video 😊😊.. super model american lokomotive 😊😊.
Thank you
Great video! Great your working on Life Like locos, they are mostly ignored! Looked great with new cam! Take care Sir!!
Thank you Kindly :-)
Very happy to see you pushing along with restoring these engines.
I started with a Tyco/Mantua set years ago when I was about 6. Got it at a Salvation Army in the next city over and just remember the best times of running it on a little foldable ply my father made me. It was that F7 in the Santa Fe Blue Bonnet. Man was it smooth and it was a growler too.. Had a bunch of cars with it, and eventually my grandma got me a Tyco BN GP20. That one was built very well and a growler too, didn’t have the cheap gears, and I believe it was a open framer too, I can’t recall..
Still wish I had all those trains from when I was a kid. But it’s still the memories I’ll never forget. This video made me think of them all, thanks for that.
Glad to see everything still going strong. Thanks for always providing the best content with restorations of trains my friend!!
Thank you for your kind words and sharing a great memory story with me. Yes these oldies do bring back great memories from days gone by.
Thanks Ron, still one of the 33 percenters
Thanks for your support Patrick!
Wonderful!
:-)
I've found that a slice of a regular ol bic pen tube seems to work pretty good for them cracked drive train components and if it's too big take a lighter and melt it down just a bit and you can shape it to fit tight.they are a good plastic too,not too brittle and ca glue sticks to them nice also.
That's a great idea Daniel !
Super GP 38😊😊 J would,have model Gp38.😊😊
:-)
I’ve got two of these Santa Fe’s, two of the old ones and one new one, and I’m detailing one of the older ones and painting it as a grand trunk locomotive based off one that I see when I railfan
Right on!!
Grace in every way,
Whazzup Buddy From Down Her in New Zealand 😊
Hello Cameron down in N.Z.!! Doing well and warming up here in Montana, USA
Super👍
Thank you 👍
Thanks Ron great show and tell love your videos
Thank you William
Thank you for sharing.👍
Thanks for watching
It has a nice little hum, excellent job! 💯
Thank you John. Yup a bit of gear noise for sure
Don’t know who she is. But thank you for posting another fun train repair video.
Grace Kelly. Thanks for watching
i've always preferred the pancakes, I thought cracked gears were better than slipping driveshafts but with your fuel line idea that might change
I have a pancake here I should do a vid on.
Thanks a lot for posting these kind of videos. I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Most of the locomotives you show, were available here so I'm very familiar with the issues you deal with. Cheers!
Glad you find them useful Gustyto
Princess Grace. Thank you! Be safe!
:-)
I love your vids and I’m a longtime Life-Like HO Train owner, so this presentation is especially worthwhile for me.
Thanks, Ron! Keep them coming! 🚂
Glad you enjoy it Joseph!
Big Ron the Scub buster Extraordinare
Great work Ron
💜🚂🚃🚃🚃💜
Thanks :-)
I remember getting my first model train set in 2005, a Coca Cola themed set made by Athearn with the blue box style motor. It was a Walmart special and it still runs today.
Very COOL!!
Nice repair! I dont think I have any of those 5 pole motor LL locos. Except for maybe the open gear ones
Thanks Ray!
Another great Job!
Thank you
I have a diesel with that drive train on it and it's given me no end of grief. It was an eBay purchase that I'd picked up to play with, but in the drive bogie, it was missing an axle cog, which was causing the works to jam. No matter what I tried it jammed. Not only that, but the little drive shaft universals were split. I just gave up and bought a replacement chassis with a different motor and drive system. It's a pity as the old motor runs like a charm.
As I got some good tips from your video, and IF I can find replacement cogs or drive bogie I might still be able to resurrect that chassis, as I have a shell that should fit. That's going to be one of my perhaps tomorrow projects.
Well I hope you can get the ol Gal running again Glen
Great job on your videos. Just discovered your channel today. I'm definitely now a subscriber.
Thanks so much for the new Sub Scott!!
Them there light brackets are sneaky fellers and have a way of not wanting to be reinstalled. Thanks for another great video.
Thanks for watching
Very nice video and happy railroading!
Thanks Matt
You’re taking me back with some of these HO trains from the past! My family had a hobby shop, and these earlier Life-Like engines were ones we couldn’t keep in stock! Early on, after Life-Like bought the Varney tooling, some of what they put out was pretty nice, one reason being those Pittman style motors! We even had one of their GP-38-2s in Gulf, Mobile and Ohio that we sold a ton of! Great running and an insane paint scheme!
OOOOOooooooo...........A GM&O loco!! Yes they are very nice to look upon for sure. Family owned hobby shop must have been pretty cool as a kid growing up. Being around all the new and cool stuff. Thanks for sharing
@@classicmodeltrains While very cool, it was dangerous for my dad and I who collected and ran trains, too! But there were so many cool trains out then, some with not so cool reliability!
@@raveoned I hear you. I worked at a hobby shop here about a year ago. spent my whole paycheck plus some in that place.
@@classicmodeltrains It’s hard to make a profit! I’m loving your videos! It’s actually giving me ideas on other ways to work on what I have (all gauges, Z to G!)
Hi Ron, greetings from across the pond. I have been a fan of your channel for a good while now and greatly enjoyed this one, assisted by a small whisky and a small beer! Please keep them coming, I have a treasured collection of HO steamers.....
Hello Gordon! Thanks for your support of my channel. Whiskey and beer....sounds like a good day so far to me!!
That motor is from the Varney days, In the late 60s Varney used that motor in all their engines until 1968 when Life-Like bought Varney out.
Yup!
Great work yet again ..need to get one of those aluminium pencils..bit hard to find but we are that backwards in Australia we only run our trains backwards nor forwards
Thanks and that red pencil looking thing is called a "fiberglas pencil". I got 3 of them thru Amazon. Not sure if amazon has invaded your country yet ;-)
Well done, Ron🚂🇨🇦🇺🇲🙋
Thank you!
I'm pretty sure I had one of those engines, or one very similar. Didn't know who made it. However back when I didn't know any better I took it apart and only kept the motor. Now I remember what that looked like inside. Not a bad little engine.
It's surprising for its age
Princess Grace!
Erick is back with a score on the board!!!
Wow Ron, my first loco was the Life-like pancake version of this loco. They really went down hill in their design compared to this 5-pole motor one. Why Life-like, why? Love the camera upgrades, love this channel!
Thank you very much Dave!
Life Like calls these older engines "Uni Drives" They used the same motors that the old Varney engines used. (LL purchased Varney in 63-64)
Around 1982 is when I believe they switched to the pancake motors. Say what you want about them, but I have fond memories of those as my first train set was one of those pancake engines that ran with no maintenance for many years. Only thing is these engines are super sensitive to dirt and only have pickup on one truck so keeping them clean is hyper critical to keeping them running smoothly.
We all started out with starter train sets and have fond memories of them. I would never run them down. Some have aged better than others though. Thanks for the cool info on the LL drives :-)
@classicmodeltrains You're welcome
From a 33%'er, Another cool video. I hear to many times from the "Hard Core" modelers. Tyco and LifeLike are junk. You just showed them, with a little tinder love and care, they are worth taking care of.
Hello Lynn. Thank you very much!! "Hard Cores" should talk less and do more :-)
Another good job Ron! IMHO, this mechanism deserves a “new”, unbroken shell with railings. I always wondered why Life-like changed the good “5 pole motor-shaft-truck with gears” drivetrain for the horrible, unreliable pancake motor (I know the answer: to minimize costs and increase profits, the same stupid “money-making” attitude took by Bachmann in the early eighties). This condem their locomotives (and Bachmann’s) to the status of toy trains, at least until the Protos (and Bachmann’s Spectrums) arrived. Point for Athearn.
Thank you Mr Regis! I have a Feller out on the East coast that is going to be sending me a nice body for this loco. It's definitely a keeper because it's a good one from back in the day
Hey Ron, another successful refurbished loco. I'm impressed with the MacGyverished tube drive shaft. It looked like something I would do. Someday, perhaps you could do a lash up of the ones you've restored. Speaking of what we call things. Here in the Midwest, we refer to the second lunch between lunch and midnight snack as supper or dinner even but never second lunch. I finally found some Super Lube at my local Ace Hardware. Thanks for the tip. I have several Marx, Lionel, and K- Line engines with plastic gears. I have been using the Blaster silicone spray because I read somewhere that the manufacturers used maintenance free plastic silicone impregnated gears but they always seem too dry on the majority of the models I buy after they've been sitting around for years. The Super Lube just does a better job with giving me peace of mind because they look lubricated after applying it and it has a very impressive range of temperature extremes.
I call the 12 o'clock meal Dinner, unless your eating it in the field then its Lunch. The evening meal is Supper. I was making a joke about 2nd lunch. I dont eat that much ;-) But a 4 hour happy hour would suit my fancy. Them silicone impregnated gears sounds like a sales pitch for "maintenance free". I have never been bothered by doing maintenance to prolong my equipments lifespan. Glad you find the superlube favorable to your needs
That's a picture of Grace Kelly when she was a movie actress. And she married Prince Rainier and became Princess Grace of Monaco. She was gorgeous. The diesel is nice too. Not a movie star but a star of its own kind.😄Thanks again for the fantastic presentation and restoration. And to know the difference between early and later Lifelike trains. I see that you prefer super lube. Would you recommend the Labelle lube too?
I use labelle 108 light weight synthetic oil all the time. Never used their grease but im sure its a quality product
Thank you very much for your kind reply. @@classicmodeltrains
Love your channel, little more than not enough?
Thanks Daniel.
Great video. As always.
Thanks Norman!
Northwest Shortline makes nice drive line replacements. However... The question always is "How much money should I drop into this, when I can only make it into a nicer pigs ear?" Maybe your plastic tubing is the right fix for this old loco.
Ive found that NWSL does not have parts for entry level loco's. A lot of Fellers been mentioning pigs ears and silk purses on this Vid ;-)
Love your videos, Ron. I have two old vintage Bachman tracks ters. Would you consider doing a tuneup/repair video on a Bachman Trackster in the future?
Them EC1 wierd looking MOW things? I have a U.P. one here. If that's what your talking about, yah it can get its 15 minutes of fame.
@@classicmodeltrains -Ron, Russ may mean the operating pick-up trucks with railroad wheels as "tracksters".
That ended up being a nice little set. I had started in model trains with a Tyco set in 1973. This brings back some fond memories. Thanks for sharing.
Thats what I'm pushing here is memories. Yes this set turned out way nicer that I thought life like was all about.
I got a few in my fleet like that
I didnt even know I had this one ;-)
I have a similar style LifeLike F unit
Right on!
Those wipers are actually phosphor bronze.
Thanks Mark!
Hey I really liked that repair. Kinda wondering if you were to find another set of metal wheels ( like the pickup wheels) if you could put gears on those axles and have metal drive wheels .
If you have really good fabricating skills and some cool tools I bet it could be done :-)
Ron! You cheated fate yet again! Not a single broken plastic part - How DO you do it? Even those metal screws worked OK! I hope fate doesn't get even later. Great video!
I couldn't believe nothing broke also. (knock on wood) :-)
Hi Ron, just subscribed to your channel, love all your content.
Can these older ones be upgraded to DCC?
I have some older locomotives in N scale that are all DC, I just got the Digitrax express and I’m liking the way it works and I’m liking DCC, a lot.
Thanks for sharing all of your good stuff with us. Ron
Hello Ron, Thank you for your kind words and Subbing to my channel. Older loco's can be upgraded to DCC. Its important the original motor does not pull too many amps for the decoder to handle.
It's good to see an early Life-Like set being repaired. Too bad Life-Like went to the pancake motor to save money. If they would have stuck to this drive system, then their early stuff would have been more desirable instead of being referred to as junk.
I agree with you there!
The mechanism of that is incredibly similar to life likes n scale stuff
Oh yeah? I dont have much experience with N. Thanks for the tip!!
Someone should have shown Life Like a system map of the Santa Fe and the location of the Allegheny Mountains. LOL
Marketing department always a day late and a dollar short
Just dropping a note that same shell and engine # was made all the way to the end of life like newer shells will fit it.
Cool to know. Thanks :-)
The motor is what 'Life-Like' inherited from 'Varney' When it bought it's assets, That a pre 1981 Life-Like locomotive, that year 'Life-like' switch to those lousy 'Pancake' Motors, The five pole motor was better.
Them damn "bean counters" messed it all up for us :-)
@@classicmodeltrains You got that right! And, Thank you for answering my reply.
@@michaelquinones-lx6ks you bet. I Try and answer them all
the yellow life like box was late 80's white box 70's the Red, yellow and blue box was 1990 to today under walthers.
Thanks for the info Ray
Classic model is Hillary Clinton I recognize that face anywhere, really I wait for your next video, please keep it up.
One day you will guess it right :-)
Grace Kelly.
Yup!
2nd lunch? Never pictured you as a Hobbit.
Seems the older I get, the more I enjoy food :-)
Being on a Hitchcock kick, I will guess Grace Kelly.
YAY!
Was Grace Kelly in a Hitchcock movie? It was purely accidental on my end ;-)
Rear Window.@@classicmodeltrains
Grace Kelly, the most beautiful women who ever lived.
She is kind to the eye
anyone have a clue where i can get the gears from between the axles and that middle gear? got the same POS. Looks good and has potential to even run decently, except for the cracked gear. Thanks in advance from a die hard 33%er
Unfortunately your going to have to cannibalize another loco to get them gears. No place has them new now. Thanks for your support of my channel :-)
Was it the 3 in 1 oil back in the day not a good oil to use on these model trains? Is it because it was not safe to use on plastics?
They say petroleum based lubricants can cause problems with plastics. Thats why they recommend synthetic lubricants now.
Grace Kelly
Yup
@@classicmodeltrains I really enjoy your videos, especially your commentating.
@@normancoreyBuildingTrains Thank you
Hello ron I've got too ho locomotives that I would like you to have so you can make videos on them do you have a po box
Hello Charlie, My contact information is in the description of all my video's
@@classicmodeltrains ok thank you
Linda Evans
I cant remember who the model was. the end of the video will tell you if your right or not. I can only remember about 5 days after the video comes out :-)
Grace Kelly 😅
Yup
Princess Grace? Don't remember her name when she was an actress !? 🤔
Grace Kelly
Where was she a Princess at?
grace kelly. No need for sound decoders in them old open frame motors
Yes and Yes again! Imagination turned it into a diesel engine sound :-)
Squeeeeeee! goes the loose driveshaft!
:-)
No sound decoder needed, ha ha! Terrible gear noise!
Imagination turned it into diesel engine roar!! :-)
Shame the rear pilot is broken off
Never even noticed until you mentioned it. Now I guess im in search of a new shell :-)
Who was the girl ?
Have to watch till the end. It's in a subtitle
I went back and watched it again and sure enough it was right there in the subtitle. Great show I really enjoyed watching. My grandson and I has learned a lot from your videos. Thank you and God Bless !!!
I watched your last video last night and I enjoyed it. Very entertaining and informative. Keep them coming. Thanks !!!
You should no a 3D printer can make those parts. Maybe you (as a mechanic) could make them from metal or aluminum That way they last for ever. Oh and dont man handle it! Treat it like a baby.
What parts? The drive line parts?