Lionel 675 disassembly

Last Updated on April 9, 2017 by Dave Farquhar

The Lionel 675 and its brothers, the Lionel 2025 and Lionel 2035, are among the best locomotives Lionel ever made. That said, they still need maintenance from time to time. That usually requires you to disassemble them. Here’s a guide to Lionel 675 disassembly that also applies to the 2025 and 2035.

Dropping out the motor

The trick to disassembling a Lionel 675, 2025 or 2035 is knowing where to find the two screws that hold the motor in place. There’s a Philips-head screw on the top of the locomotive. That’s the easy one. The harder one is a long standard screw in the body just in front of the front driver wheels. Looking at the locomotive from the front, the screw head is on the right-hand side. Remove those two screws and the two smaller screws that hold the linkages. Flip the locomotive over, and you’ll see two Philips-head screws holding the steam chest to the boiler. Remove those two screws. Now you can take all of the guts out of the locomotive.

Cleaning and lubrication

Refer to my blog post on cleaning and lubricating Lionel motors for advice on actually cleaning and lubing the motor. The 675/2035 doesn’t differ from other Lionel motors in that regard, fortunately.

Replacing the motor

To replace the motor, slide it up into the boiler. Replace the top screw first, as it’s the easiest to line up. Leave some slack in it so you can make adjustments. Next, drop the steam chest into place and replace those two screws. Again, leave some slack. Next, line up the front until you can see through the hole, then thread the long standard screw into it. Go back and tighten up the other screws.

With that done, line up the linkage on each side and replace the tiny screws that hold it together. Repeat on the other side.

Replacement parts

Frequently if you buy a 675/2025/2035 somewhere other than a train store, it has a few parts missing. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of parts for these locomotives. The boiler front, steam chest, trailing truck and drawbar, and linkage are all easy to find and fairly inexpensive. If one or both marker lights are broken, you can even get replacements for those that glue to your existing boiler front.

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