I am rebuilding a 2046, and I have a question concerning the smoke lever. Does it just lay in the the two notches, or is it supposed to be retained with something? My service manual doesn’t have any info on the 2046 or 2056, and this is the first time I’ve worked on a 2046. Any info would be appreciated.
If it is like the 2037 the side rod pushes on it to make the smoke come out and you need to fit it between two small notches. The smoke lever is shaped upward somewhat and that goes inside the engine under the smoke unit as it pushes on the bottom of the smoke unit to force it to puff smoke out the top.
One quick note about the smoke unit itself, make sure it has smoke fluid in it when running on the track or you can burn out the smoke unit, no switch to turn it off.
Lee F.
Thanks for the heads up, Lee. I didn’t know that. By the same token, I can’t remember the last time I ran mine without smoke which explains why I’m still good with a 58 year old smoke unit that still looks relatively clean.
Jack
I have a 2046, Its my best smoker. I think the lever fits in 2 small notches on the chassie. I know those are its pivot points for pushing the plunger up into the smoke unit. And the handle on the side is pushed back and forth by the siderods. Hope this helps.
I’ve never worked on a 2046.
On the 2055 and 2056, at least, though, the crank just lays there. The shell fits on in such a way to retain the crank from the top. I would assume that the 2046 is the same way, based on other observations.
In fact, when I’m running one with the shell off, I generally remove the crank. The non-eccentric end tends to pop up and down rather than pivoting as it should. I had one break one time as a result of this, and thus am a bit paranoid.
By the way, it doesn’t do any harm to run a postwar smoke unit dry.
You don’t want to run most smoke units dry, as the wicking(fiberglass) can char, and will starve the unit of fluid.
By contrast, postwar units often just a piece of Nichrome wire wrapped around a piece of ceramic. If there is any packing, it is typically glass wool, and thus won’t really char.
I’d like to thank everyone for the replies.
Ben,
I never thought about the shell retaining the lever.[banghead] When I got the 2046, I noticed that the cranks were loose. It turns out that the crank screws were bent. That is what started the rebuild. Is glass wool not the same as fiberglass? I always wondered was the difference was between the two. Thanks again.
I dont kvow about glass wool, but I have been replacing all the fill in the smoke units with replacement Tiki Torch material. using this I seem to have less charing and longer service life between rebuilds.