Does it help to see photos left, right and the gap between the rod screw and the rod?
PROBLEM SOLVED!!! HOORAY-HOORAY I followed your advice and found that the last drive wheel was binding the side rod. I requarted the wheel and same thing happened. I was looking at the side rod under a magnifiying glass and it looked like the side rod’s last hole was a little smaller than the rest. I measured each hole (used drill bits - it’s all I have right now) and sure enough three were the same size but the last one was smaller. I drilled the last hole on the side rod and put it back on and BADA BING BADA BOOM the darn engine ran like a charm. No binding. I want to thank everyone for your time and patience with me on this problem. I learned so much from all your great advice and I’m glad to see that there are so many helpful people in this hobby. I hope someday to be as smart as all you you out there because I love trains too. GOD BLESS ALL AND THANKS A MILLION AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR HELP. I’M HAPPY
Harry ( I’m still happy now )
Glad you found the problem. Wonder if that loco ever ran properly? Certainly no one would have thought that a ‘manufacturing defect’ would be causing your problem.
Enjoy your trains, and your knowledge gained.
Larry
Out of curiousity… the side rod with the small hole, was the hole on a motor driven wheel or a non powered wheel? or vice versa. On some of my Flyer locos the side rods have different holes at different ends. If your side rod had a small round hole on a non powered wheel I wonder if simply flipping it around to put the hole on the other end would have solved the problem. It just doesn’t seem right that the loco could have enough miles on it to wear a worm and bushings with a factory defective side rod (unless of course this was the cause of the wear)