# 8604 TJ ask's



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Well this replaced the Scout. It is a basic modern engine. 
The antique dealer? He had a 1033 transformer but they sell anything for money. 
Today the x-4-x will look like this. This is a cast shell. The can motor is DC and will run off an HO power pack. In the 70's these were made to run on DC. To prove the engine is AC you always need to check to see the electronic e unit. The e unit makes no noise and converts AC to DC for the motor. It is a three position unit.
My engine has a smoke unit too and has light with the wire auto socket. It had no bulb. 
Average price is 20 to 35 book but dealers take it 35 to 60. Price does vary and they can be a good deal.
Pulling power is ok and improved with the traction tire.

We have looked at the 8644,8632, 8903 previously.All or most beginner steam engine sets have this type of engine. AD the 8625 to the group 5/2210


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## Boston&Maine (Dec 19, 2007)

How reliable is this motor? I have been looking at getting the Ford set from the '90s


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Around the house we have three other engines. The 6181 I have had since 1981. The 8903 since 98 made in the 80's. The 8632 from 97 but not much run time. The others have. The cheep gray metal wheels lack the character of the older engine. That would make a good experiment. I will be installing the eunit into the 6181 Laser switcher. A lot of these were made and still are not that collectable.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*E unit*

The red and black wires go to the motor. The brown to the frame. The gray to the center pickup. The two to the right go to the switch for locking the selection. FWD netral or reverse.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*Cans*

I played with can motors today.
I removed the reverse unit from the 8604 and wired it for DC use. I connected the wire from the center rail to the motor and ran a ground wire to the frame. I used electical tape on the shell. The motor has some play and is close to the shell.

I guess the cans can be different I was able to solder the wires to the 8604 but the 8161 had crimped terminals so I cut and spliced into those wires.











Four connections and the reverse unit is in. This frame is all plastic and is not that durable. The ground is a copper spring on the axles. So red and black to the motor gray and brown to the rails.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

T-Man,

Thank you so much for taking the time to "run with the ball" in my question about Lionel locos with "modern" can motors. I had no idea they were running on DC in the "down era" of Lionel in the '70's.

I'm still taking all of this Lionel history/mechanics/components stuff in. I like the look/feel of the post-war engines, and I like that you can look at the gizmos inside and figure out how they work. For example ... simple e-unit with electomagnet plunger that toggles a little rotor-wheel to flip the power direction. Makes sense.

Flash forward ... your modern e-unit (shown above) is a cluster of resistors, capacitors, etc. It all works fine, I'm sure (even better, perhaps!), but it warrants another (future!) level of comprehension on my part.

Good think I have time (hopefully!) on my side ... much, MUCH to learn ... I'll stick with conventional / post-war mechanics, for now, but keep my eyes open for a cheap/beat-up modern loco that I could buy simply to do a little fun/diagnostic surgery. Nothing like learning via poking into a cadaver, huh?

Again, T-Man ... I am slowly (!) learning how all this stuff works, thanks in no small part to your ongoing efforts to share your toolkit of knowledge with me and others on this forum ... very, VERY much appreciated!

TJ


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*new tire*

ALong with the 8161, I got the large tires too


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