Hi all,

Today I acquired a 3356 croc in the original box. The box has quite a bit of wear, but the lok is almost mint and shows no sign of any wear on the slider pickup at all. I suspect that it has never been run, or at least very little and not for a long time.

The drive mechanism is extremely stiff and could do with being freed up and lubrication. I can remove the center cab body, but cannot see how to remove the two nose sections. I see there are two screws that pass through the couplers but removing the screws does not seem to do anything.

Any help with what should be an easy task would be appreciated.

Best regards, from a blustery and mostly wet part of Florida.

Peter B.

Thanks Markus, the picture says it all. The instructions with the lok did not show the methodology, it used a generic picture of body removal and one screw. There was no mention of or a picture showing hood removal.

I will give it a whirl tomorrow; it is getting to be time for a glass of wine, or better still a scotch and soda and another episode (on DVD) of Middlemarch, by George Eliot.

Cheers,

Peter B.

Hi,

Please note that 39560 has a die-cast hood, while the picture above is for a 3356 with plastic body. The covers of a plastic 3356 must be bend a little bit like shown on the picture.

Regards

Markus

Yes, it was not so easy feeling to get with my 3556. The first times I always fear to brake something....

As a follow-up to my previous posting, a close inspection revealed that the plastic piece is held in place by 6 tabs. I carefully released the tabs but could not remove the piece completely as it was still attached by a wire. However I did notice a tiny hole that passes through the plastic piece and metal chassis directly in line with the stuck axle. It seems to reach all the way to the axle, so I assume it is for applying lubricant. I will apply some isopropyl alcohol to the axle by way of the hole and see what happens.

Stand by for further bulletins; "Mother and baby" are making progress.

Peter B.

It seems that I was wrong, the hole in the plastic piece next to the brass plate does not go through the metal chassis to an axle. I have removed the plastic piece and coupling rods from both sides of the non-powered chassis and find that the Treibkurbel appears to be held in place on each side by a Lagerbolzen which translates to "bolt · bearing journal · bearing pin · bearing stud · cap bearing bolt · cap bolt". This leads me to believe that there is no axle installed on the non-powered chassis. The exploded view diagram that I found only shows three axles, with four on the powered chassis.

Using a pair of small needle-nose pliers I find that the Treibkurbels will rotate, albeit stiffly, and the Lagerbolzen do not. Hmmm... the plot thickens.

Any opinions would be most appreciated. Don't you just love model trains; there is more to them than meets the eye. LOL.

Peter B.

Hi Markus, SR24 may be the same stuff that LGB used to sell as smoke oil / cleaner. I will do some investigating here and see what I can come up with. I did find a link on eBay in Germany. http://www.ebay.com/itm/...&hash=item2ec8c18a9e It is 200ml and costs $25 USD with free shipping. Sounds like a good deal to me.

I am now re-assembling my 3356 as all the wheels are now rotating freely, thank goodness. I have to resolder the pickup wire, I disconnected it to give me better access to the underside of the chassis/frame.

Best regards from a lovely sunny day in Florida.

Peter B.

PS. I have added a couple of pictures showing the underneath with and without the plastic piece. It can be seen that there is no hole through the metal chassis as there is no axle at that location.

Well here she is sitting on a section of my home made (modified) three rail flex track. She is all better but still needs a good long run.

Peter B.

The Croc that I have is the plastic bodied 3356, so the hoods are removed as shown in the diagram.

Best regards,

Peter B.