# Lionel 2383



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

The latest project is a 2383 Lionel in need of servicing,that I received from an uncle. Made from 1958 to 1966 it has two motors, a three position reverse unit and a diesel horn.






It was stored with a battery.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*Battery Holder*

Looking at the worst of it.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*How to clean.*

The screws were removed with some penetrating oil and some heat. Then a stiff wire brush on a drill press went to work. The hard to reach areas were cleaned with a dremel wheel and wire brush.









I saved the original brass screw and the rivet was long gone and replaced with a 4-40 screw and self locking nut.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*The relay and horn*

The relay coil was tested with two leads from an AC transformer. The screw was removed and the bottom lever could be rmoved and all the electrical contact points were cleaned especially around the bottom plate and hinge areas.

I wired up the relay, to the left are the isolated terminals. The top has three, first on the left gets the top coil wire on the relay. The second gets power from the reverse unit, the last gets the horn connection,



The horn was tested with a D cell battery touching the frame on the bottom of the battery and the wire contacting the top.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

The motors are in great condition. All the wires were bad and removed.






One screw removes the motor from the truck.



The Brush plate is removed by undoing two screws. Pay attention to the coil wire attached to it. Don't break it. Using a cleaner and Q tip the Brush plate was ready for use.



The shaft of the armature has a c clamp. Remove it and slide it out. Pay attention to the order of the washers and bearings. All I had to do was oil and wipe the parts. Cleaned the shaft up a little using a worn piece of scotch brite.



Mounting the armature on a drill with 400 grit sandpaper to clean it up. I start with 320 if it has deep rings.



The brushes were worn and replaced.



Assembly was in the reverse order. I oiled the armature parts and after adding the c clamp I spun the armature to ensure free movement. Both motors spun equally.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*The trucks.*

One screw on top removes the top plate and sides, exposing the gear box.



Then all the old grease was removed, The center cross axle was gently removed and cleaned. I turned the wheels in opposite directions to lift the gear up.



The axles were flushed with oil until there was a free spin of the wheels.

You can see the screw hole on the left where the motor sits.



The center worm gear was greased for assembly.

I did not do any maintenance on the center rollers. The wires were good and I had no shorts with the truck frame.
These rollers saw a lot of action on super o track.


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## RonthePirate (Sep 9, 2015)

That frame really cleaned up nicely! You can hardly see where the bad spots were.

I noticed the rollers for the third rail pickup were really worn into a groove.
Are those easy to knock out and replace?
I have one not that bad, but on the way.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Thanks Ron, I used a very stiff wheel on the drill press. 

One side of the pin is peened. I think the easy way is to grind the pin and replace it. The arm needs to be removed. In this case a lot of bending is needed to remove the roller if you wan to save the pin. Notice the arm has no play and a 90 degree bend is needed to remove the roller. You could cut the arm more that would help, and reduce the risk of breaking the arm.

I have not done many roller changes, grinding is slow. You try not to damage the arm with the cutting wheel. The new pin is small and with a backing plate I hammer it in place. RIsky yes, but you can order extra pins.


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## RonthePirate (Sep 9, 2015)

So it goes on like a coupler redo.
I have been fortunate redoing couplers. They haven't messed up once.

I may try it. I will let you know my rate of success (or failure)

Are Lionel rollers and pins a "Lionel-only" part?


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

T-Man, you've done a fantastic job with the innards of what I consider Lionel's least desirable Santa Fe F-3. This stripped-down version had no grab irons, no window portholes, and black trucks.

But you have done a wonderful job so far. Are you going to restore it back to Lionel's stock version? Or while you're at it, will you be adding grab irons, drilling out the filled in portholes and adding the circular windows, and perhaps even painting the trucks silver? Will you also be repainting the shell?

Just curious.


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## 4G-Man (Jan 2, 2014)

Wow - very cool T, makes me want to swim upstream and spawn!


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Thank You, my uncle only wanted a rewire job. At the last minute he noticed the battery. I have no idea how long this has been in storage. I don't have the dummy so all I did was paint over the chips in the Red. This is the first 2383 I have seen and was also disappointed in the changes, especially the black trucks.

Ron, the parts are common, the Train Tender has them.2328-96, and 2367-192 for the pin and roller.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*The reverse unit*

How many times have we have been here?

Disconnect the wires.
Test the coil.
With a lever I split the bracket and remove the drum, two boards and the piston.
The fingers to the boards are checked. Replaced if worn.
WIres may be changed here or get boards prewired.
I use the old guard plate for the two finger board.
The drum is cleaned, replaced if damaged.
The piston is cleaned to a polished finish.
Any corrosion is removed
With a little patience it gets assembled and tested again.
Ensure the fingers are straight and make contact.
The lever contact area is cleaned.
I sometimes insert a spacer under the lever to tighten it up.I use a piece of flat spring from a measuring tape. I suppose the best way is to change the spring and rerivet but I have not done that yet.On a rare occasion if I remove the coil I can tighten the rivet.

This covers a list of possibilities to cover when working these. The simplest way is to replace the drum and two boards .

Next step is to assemble the parts and wire.


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## chipset35 (Sep 4, 2015)

What was the purpose of the battery in those vintage Lionels?


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## teledoc (Oct 22, 2014)

Chipset, The battery provided power for the relay to activate the HORN.


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## rkenney (Aug 10, 2013)

teledoc said:


> Chipset, The battery provided power for the relay to activate the HORN.


Actually the battery provided power for the horn that was activated by the relay.

I knew what Teledoc meant, just didn't get his wording. So maybe mine makes more sense. ( it does to me  )


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

I like the diagram. :thumbsup:
The mechanical horns worked with a C or D cell battery. Modern replacements are available, one that I bought had a disappointing sound so I try to get the original running again.

So the Horn works on DC. The relay with the selenium disc is sensitive to DC current from the transformer whistle button. In fact the whole relay frame is part of that isolation.

Keep in mind on the battery holder the top section is totally isolated from the frame because that supplies the positive DC to activate the horn.


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## teledoc (Oct 22, 2014)

Rkenney, Your explanation makes sense, I just wanted to explain that it was only for the horn to work.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*Wiring*

It looks like this.







Here I placed a wire from the top of the battery holder to the copper on the bottom of the relay latch.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*A video of the result---- nothing fancy*


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## teledoc (Oct 22, 2014)

As usual, with a little patience and knowledge, another disaster is brought back to life. Great job T-man.:appl::appl::appl:


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Thanks, the last thing I needed to do was fix up the scratches and used A gloss red acrylic paint.


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