I’m installing a DCC sound decoder into a friend’s LGB 2018D Mogul. To my amazement, there are no weights in the front and rear of the gearbox like all the other Moguls I’ve worked on. I found out from a former LGB technician that the first versions of this Mogul LGB does not have any weights in the gear box. If anyone has either of these weights that they’d like to sell, I need them.
Thanks
I will forewarn you to paint your weights when you find them, I found that I was having trouble with mine and it was jerky and would stall at times, when I pulled the covers off the motor housing it was full of lead oxide and was getting in the gears, the engine is 1980s vintage, Just an FYI
I coat my lead weights with lanocoat, a lanoline based protectant used in the marine industry. My USA Trains weights need this treatment when I first open them up. It sprays on, keeps a nice coating and I don’t have to spray paint, and try to get all 4 sides of a weight.
Greg
I had a can of Gardner Bender-brand Spray Liquid Tape, a spray-on black rubber insulation coating, that I tried on a set of Mogul weights and it works well. I only coated them because they were starting to show signs of slight corrosion, and I first soaked them in cleaning vinegar over night.
Bill Barnwell said:
I will forewarn you to paint your weights when you find them, I found that I was having trouble with mine and it was jerky and would stall at times, when I pulled the covers off the motor housing it was full of lead oxide and was getting in the gears, the engine is 1980s vintage, Just an FYI
Bill - what solvent did you use to clean out your Mogul’s motor block, gears, etc? I’ve been using rubbing alcohol which does an okay job, but there must be another solvent that is LGB plastic safe that works better?
Thanks. Tom
Thomas White said:
I’m installing a DCC sound decoder into a friend’s LGB 2018D Mogul. To my amazement, there are no weights in the front and rear of the gearbox like all the other Moguls I’ve worked on. I found out from a former LGB technician that the first versions of this Mogul LGB does not have any weights in the gear box. If anyone has either of these weights that they’d like to sell, I need them.
Thanks
I checked with my Massoth supplier in Germany and he says that Marklin/LGB doesn’t carry the lead weights for even the latest Mogul as parts that can be ordered. So, a hobbyist friend and I have fabricated duplicates of the LGB factory-made lead weights by using hot lead molds. We have a set for LGB Moguls posted on eBay and also on my Website for sale. At first I thought the original owner of the Mogul I’m working on had removed the factory lead weights from the motor block. But then I noticed the top cover of the motor block doesn’t have the front and rear screw holes for fastening the weights. And Klaus Stork, a former LGB technician who worked for LGB in Germany for many years, told me that the first LGB 2018D Moguls were made without lead weights in them. So adding weights helps these older Moguls with traction and stability. The top cover will also need to be replaced with a newer version with the screw holds and underside protrusions that fit into the top of the weights.
Thomas White said:
I’m installing a DCC sound decoder into a friend’s LGB 2018D Mogul. To my amazement, there are no weights in the front and rear of the gearbox like all the other Moguls I’ve worked on. I found out from a former LGB technician that the first versions of this Mogul LGB does not have any weights in the gear box. If anyone has either of these weights that they’d like to sell, I need them.
Thanks
A hobbyist friend and I decided to manufacture the weights for LGB Mogul locomotives. I needed a set for an LGB 2018D Mogul that has none. We’ve made extras and I’m selling them on eBay and my Website if anyone needs a set. Many of the first version LGB 2018D Moguls were manufactured by Ernst paul Lehmann patentwerk without weights. These help with the locomotive’s traction, stability particularly the front leading wheel set.
Tom don’t know if you ever found your weights or not but thee is a dealer on eBay that has some, ilovetobuy2014
X
Hi Bill - Yes, he’s the same seller I previously mentioned to you about the Mogul boiler domes. He’s selling some Mogul 3-pin motor blocks in poor condition and overpriced, and the weights are inside them.
I searched everywhere to find new or used Mogul motor block weights and no one has them. My Massoth supplier in Germany even checked with LGB/Marklin and they don’t make them available as a spare part even for their latest Moguls. So my partner and I decided to start manufacturing them by developing lead molds based upon a set removed from a Mogul. I now sell them on eBay and my Website and I’ve already sold two sets. If someone realizes that LGB produced the first editions of the LGB 2018D without any weights in them, I suspect others will want to buy a set from me. You can see them available on my new Parts & Accessories Web Page:
https://www.olddominionrailways.com/parts-for-sale
Tom
Well I have to admit I’m a little lost on this one, I never realized that there were weights inside the motor/gear housing, I thought the only weights were the ones in the boiler and this is where the engine got its weight from. So from the picture the weights are around the motor housing, is this correct. I would like to add something here, when I purchased my first LGB 2018D when they first came out there was offered an update by LGB where I could return the engine to LGB and this upgrade would be done for free. I guess I miss-understood the recall and opted to pass on it, I thought it was weights were on the motor shaft and acted like a flywheel, which many model railroad engine have for smoother running, mine ran fine so I passed on this upgrade. If I remember correctly the article I read said, the engine would bog down on #1100 curved track when going around the curve, but on large curves this was not apparent and since I did not plan to use #1100 curves on my railroad, I passed on this upgrade. So I guess my question here is, what is the reason for the weights, the engines seems heavy enough with the boiler weights and run ok, pretty much the same as my other two Moguls, why do I need these weights.
trainman
Hi John - When the original LGB company, Ernst Paul Lehmann Patentwerk produced the LGB 2018D Mogul in 1985 as their first American steam locomotive. They designed it without weights in the motor block but later found that the front pilot wheels were jumping off the track. So they designed weights for the front and rear of the motor block and used that design in all subsequent Moguls, including the follow-on production of 2018Ds. The reason for using weights in LGB locomotives is to give them pulling power and stability on the track especially when pulling long consists around curves. I learned the history of this from Klaus Stork, a former LGB technician who worked for LGB in Germany for many years as assisted in their all other LGB locomotive designs.
When I do an LGB locomotive DCC conversion for customers, I now clean and then spray the weights with GB Spray Liquid Electrical Tape if I find any lead corrosion…helps to prevent future oxidation of the lead weights. The large lead weights in LGB Mogul and Forney locomotives must be cut to install a Massoth pulsed smoker and reallocated to other areas inside the smoke box and boiler…quite a chore.
Tom
Good to know. I never even considered oxidation of the weights would be an issue. The next time I take an engine apart I will coat the lead. Wish I knew about this before I installed my new decoders.
Thanks Tom, it only took me 35 years to find out the answer to the lead weight thing on Moguls and my thought were wrong for all those years. I will say the engine has been in the box all those years and not used until now, runs fine, all I had to do was install new traction tires, may order the weights, I will see how it goes.
trainman
John Lenheiser said:
Thanks Tom, it only took me 35 years to find out the answer to the lead weight thing on Moguls and my thought were wrong for all those years. I will say the engine has been in the box all those years and not used until now, runs fine, all I had to do was install new traction tires, may order the weights, I will see how it goes.
trainman
Hi John - My suggestion for your Mogul: If the Mogul works okay for you under your operating conditions (front pilot stays ok, etc), then don’t worry about adding the weights. As you probably know, you have to open the motor block from the top, not the bottom, to install the weights…a pain! You’ll also have to drill holes into the top cover of the motor block for the two screws. But since I has doing a major overhaul and DCC sound installation for a customer, and there was lead weight corrosion inside the motor block, I added the weights. My customer is also a hobbyist friend, so when I discovered there were no weights inside the motor block and couldn’t find any weights to buy, including from Marklin/LGB, then we made molds for the weights, melted lead, and created our own. Besides installing a set of the weights into his Mogul, I’ve sold two sets to a customer who was doing some overhaul of his LGB locos. I sell the weights on both eBay and my Website ($30 and $25 respectively).
Tom
I try to add weight to all my LGB engines. The 2090 engines are very light but have the same motor block as the forney and stainz engines. Exception is the frr ((chloe)only have one drives axle gear) and porter engines which have smaller axle gears.
I’m only pulling around 5-6 cars max and on pretty level track, maybe a 2% grade in spots, all should be ok with the standard weight of the engine as built.
trainman
John Lenheiser said:
Thanks Tom, it only took me 35 years to find out the answer to the lead weight thing on Moguls and my thought were wrong for all those years. I will say the engine has been in the box all those years and not used until now, runs fine, all I had to do was install new traction tires, may order the weights, I will see how it goes.
trainman
Hi John - A couple additional thoughts to share with you. First, if you want to confirm your Mogul has or doesn’t have the motor block weights, you can removed the four screws from the bottom cover of the motor block. You can see the front and rear weights, if there are any. Second, some of the early follow-on 2018Ds produced did have weights in them. In fact, I bought my 2018D in 1988 and it not only has the motor block weights but also a 4-Pin “D” motor block. Most of the 2018Ds, even those with weights in them, were produced with 3-Pin “non-D” motor blocks. The only issue with the non-D motor blocks is that you can’t install a DCC Power or Sound Decoder unless the motor block is converted to 4-Pins (2 wires to decoder’s track power connectors, and 2 wires to the decoder’s motor connectors).
Finally, if you decide to coat your Mogul’s weights to protect them from lead oxidation, you’ll want to soak them overnight to first to remove any oxidation. I used cleaning vinegar originally but then found CLR works even better. But if you don’t find any oxidation on your lead weights, I wouldn’t bother to do this. It appears that hobbyists who live on the sea coasts get more lead oxidation than dryer areas.
Tom