I recently picked up a 6-16739 Foghorn Leghorn poultry car. The rubber band that controls the swinging of the figure had rotted. I can’t find any schematics or service docs for this item, but I found one that’s close (610-9819-000). I found a post where the person described how the rubber band has to twist before the swing lever and again after it, and that the band itself attaches to the bottom and top brackets. My problem is: I don’t have a bottom bracket. Does anyone have any experience with how a rubber band should be attached? If so, please include what components the band should be attached to. As near as I can figure, it could attach to the swing lever and/or the bracket assembly. I’ve tried numerous configurations without success. Thanks!
can you move the mechanism by hand to see how it goes? If you can simply use a rubber band that’s close and experiment until you get it right. Sounds like a fun project.
Thanks for the suggestion. Captaincog also sent me a response that answers my question. I’m posting it here so that it may help others with the same problem:
“The rubber band goes around the grooves in the top and the bottom. The only way to get it around the bottom groove is to remove the bottom bracket screw and then loop the rubber band around. Now, you have to twist the rubber band clockwise and insert the sweeper guy with the rubber band forming an x above and below the swingarm of the sweeper. The rubber band should fit into the grooves. The best solution is to get the small springs from the postwar version and replace the single rubber band with one spring at the top and one at the bottom.”
The “missing piece” was that the bracket assembly has to be removed in order to attach the rubber band to the bottom groove. I also like his suggestion to attach springs in place of the rubber band.
You will likely find more people who know about this in teh Clasic Toy Trains section of the forums. While there may be a few peopel here who know about Lionel equipment, the primary focus of msot people here is scale model railroading. Over there the majority of the people are in tinplate and hi-rail and you’re more likely to encounter someone who owns that car or a similar one and probably knows how to replace the rubber band.
–Randy