Older Williams u33c

[Pmccracken]

I have an older u33c made by Williams before Bachman. Recently the front motor started to act funny. When going forward the engine sputters. When going in reverse it runs smooth but there is still a noise from the from motor. Is the motor shot?  If so Is there some kind of warranty on this?  Thanks.

[phillyreading]

Have you tried lubricating the gears and motor shaft in the truck assembly area?
Take the top off the U33C diesel, then remove the motor assembly by taking out the phillips head screw at the bottom of the truck assembly. There should be sign of grease or oil, if not use light weight oil, may need to lube the axles as well.

I have not seen a Williams motor go bad and I have four Crown Edition engines by Williams, they go back almost 20 years. A little lubrication will keep the Williams engines running for a long time.

Lee F.

[Pmccracken]

I've lubricated the gears and axles from underneath, but haven't taken the assembly apart as you suggested. Ill give it a shot!  Thanks for the advice.

[phillyreading]

Another piece of advice when putting the motors back into the truck assemblies, make sure the motor can turn the gears & wheels freely before putting the top back on. Also the metal plates that have the steps may need to be removed, I think most have two or three scres holding them in.
Sometimes the step-plates get installed backwards and will adversily affect engine performance.

To the best of my knowledge the motors can not be opened or taken apart to see if a brush is out of place, either the can motor works or it don't work.

Lee F.

[Pmccracken]

I took your advice and took the motor off the truck assembly and realized the motor itself is fine but the gear on the axle is stripped. Any advice on what I should do?  At this point it seems my options Re to take apart the truck assembly and replace the axle with the stripped gear or replace the entire truck. Thanks in advance for whatever advice is out there!

Patrick.

[phillyreading]

Patrick,

I would advise buying another locomotive and using the old one for parts.

You can buy the motor upgrade kit, because I don't think you can buy the gears or truck assemblies seperate, which can run over $100.00 for the motor kits with circuit boards.

I do not know how to get the gears out of the truck assembly on a Williams, as this has not been a repair I have attempted. The locomotive must be in bad shape, or had hard useage to go thru a gear. I have 16 & 18 year old Williams engines with lots of useage but never had a gear go bad, not even a motor performance complaint.

Lee F.

[671]

Hi Patrick,

         I agree with phillyreading. Buy a new 'U-Boat'. Trainland has the U33c on sale at $99.99. Pull the motors and electronics out of your old unit ( spare parts ). Lash it up, make a dummy out of it. Put your new one that you buy with it.
         I have the U33c in the Reading road name. Nice colors, details, smoooooth runner and strong puller.

                                      ...671

[Pmccracken]

Not the news I was hoping for but thanks. I'm just glad it happened when its time to take my Christmas display down. I bough the train off eBay, something I have since sworn never to do again. I ran the engine pulling 7 boxcars and a caboose and it worked great until last week. I've been wanting to upgrade to a locomotive anyway. This just gives me an excuse!  Thanks again guys.

[phillyreading]

Patrick,

Fortunately I have always bought a good running Williams engine.

I bought some of my Williams from an independent Williams dealer back when Williams was still on it's own, got some great buys and no problems with engines. Also bought some Williams from choochooauctions.com and had good success.

The worst problem I had with a Williams engine is not starting in the direction I wanted or not having enough engine power for a set of passenger cars. One F-7 ABA set I upgraded to two powered A units, runs better now and have enough power to pull nine passenger cars, currently pulling the Williams Santa Fe "El Capitan" set of six passenger cars plus a couple of extra passenger cars from MTH.

Lee F.

[TrainmanGene]

Does the $30.00 warantee apply to gears? Or he might contact the parts dept about buying a replacement truck but it the locomotive wasn't lubricated in the past the other gear may be worn also.

[LK11]

I was at yorktrains today and had a gear for williams $5
I dont know if they are all the same or that it was for a U33.
You could give them a call, if you want to repair it.