I have gotten fairly proficient at reassembling e-units. However, I was reassembling an e-unit yesterday and had a devil of a time getting the drum to stay in place long enough to clamp the sides back together. The problem is that the drum drops out of place and gets cock-eyed in the assembly which often resulted in the electrical fingers getting distorted. I have used both tweezers and occasionally needle-nose pliers to try and position the drum.
What is the best way to position and hold the drum for e-unit reassembly?
They make a tool that holds the drum with a spring, once you have the drum locked in place you just retract the tool. I don’t have it, but have seen it. It looks like it would work pretty good.
If you do a lot of work and are all thumbs, it probably has merit…For the ocassional e-unit that is another story. I was thinking of ways to help, but have to experiment first. I use the needle nose pliers when I do it, but I am sure there are other good solutions.
Thank you for your replies and the link to the tool. I don’t do enough e-unit repairs to justify purchasing the tool. Maybe with more practice I will get better.
I have only taken on E unit a part, and when I did, I bent the sides slightly to get the drum out. When I reassembled the unit, the only part that I had to re-install was the drum. I don’t recall that it was very difficult. After the drum was in place, I bent the sides back straight. I think to use the Lionel repair method might require a person to grow a third arm.
EIS2, Why not build a fixture for your own use? Here is a link to picture of one I built. If you are handy with saw, chisel & soldering iron, it will take a couple of hours. I used scrap wood & sheet metal from a tin can for the clamp. Tack two squares of metal together, then use tin snips to make the fingers & the bracket to hold the fingers on a 1/4" dowel. It doesn’t need to be made to last forever for home use.
Your e-unit tool looks like it will do the trick and is quite ingenious. I assume you have to insert the drum behind the pawl on the plunger prior to using your tool. Is that correct?