Hi all,
I have an FEF and 2 Super Hudsons and they all have issues, the FEF barely runs and it appears that the drive wheels have spun on the axles and the valve gear seems to bind up, and thats apart from the awful sounding motor. The Hudsons seem to run ok apart from being very coggy ( for want of a better word ) in the motors. All have unblemished bodies, so I don’t really want to bin them or sell them, but if they’re not worth the effort or nothing decent is available I guess they have to go !
I’ve searched through the archives, but not had any success there, and have emailed NWSL, but have received no reply. Anybody have any tips for motor replacement in the Hudsons or info on replacement mechs for Riverossi FEF ? ( similar set up to Bowser replacement mech for Bachmann GS4 ? )
Cheers,
Warren
Hello Warren. I know you can get Riverossi parts from Golf Manor hobbies in Cincinnati. However, I am not aware of any kits to repower as you suggested.
Nobody makes replacement chassis for Rivarossi steamers.
I believe I could point you to a motor that would repower the FEF, but if some drivers are out of quarter it will take more than that to get it running. It’s not that difficult to quarter them if you’re careful. Did the wheels center break, or just turn on the axle?
The Hudson is a little more difficult motor-wise because they had the shorter motor, and it’s not easy finding something that fits in the cab. There is a guy on eBay who make remotoring kits for them from CD drive motors; he usually has some up for auction, but doesn’t right now. You can try contacting him. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZcv
You could also take out the original motor mount and install a longer can motor. I did this with my old Heavy Pacific which has a similar drive, and it wasn’t too difficult.
Steamfrak has a point. There is a seller on ebay who sells replacement can motors that are better than the factory ones. I have bought a few from the seller named “cvbackshops”. He has some simple drop in motors for allot of the Riva’s, he even send instructions on how to install them. I did my Hudson a few years back with a supplied motor from “cv” and it runs like a champ.
Look around for kits in NWSL again, your going to have to dig deeper into there site, they might have a motor for what you need.
The binding rods, sounds like they need requartered.
Go to Ebay, HO, then type in “motors”, this will get you to all the recent motors.
If you can swing it, your money would be better spent buying the new Athearn FEFs.
David B
Steamfrak? You’ve been watching waayyy too much Battlestar Galactica. [alien]
[swg]
Thank’s for the advice guys,
I’ll drop cv-backshop an email and see what he’s got to say as far as motors go.
Does anyone know if the Riva FEFs quarter is definitely 90 degrees ? I seem to remember that some models have a different quarter angle ( ? )
SteamFreak, the wheel centres just seem really loose on the axles and they wobble around a fair bit, I’ll give quartering a go and CA the axles to see if that fixes the problem. I was hoping that someone did a replacement mech for a few reasons. Wanted to flick the poor electrical pick up of the Riva and also get something with RP25s and a decent motor all in one hit. I might have to have a look at a Bachmann GS4 and compare the mechs and see if it’s worthwhile to modify.
David, I have 2 Genesis FEFs, a 2 #821 and a 3 #844, both in black. The only reason I wanted to restore the Riva (also #844 ) was because it’s in the greyhound scheme. If it’s going to cost too much to get it up to scratch, I might just renumber the tender and have it as a “roundhouse queen” or ebay it.
The 2 Hudsons are the “Empire State Express” and the “20 Century Limited” streamliners, those I want to keep simply because I dig streamliners, but they have to be capable of running well so they can be converted to DCC. I suppose if worse comes to worse, I’ll have to save my pennys and get them in brass.
Cheers,
Warren
Oops! Sorry Nelson, was in a hurry this morning. I bet I’m in for a light beating then huh? LOL![:D]
Warren,
I bought a Riv FEF-3 about 12 years ago with damaged drivers. The wheels on the geared set were both loose, and the axle holes were pretty torn up. I set the first one with CA, and then used epoxy on the other side to give me the working time I needed. If you’re going to use CA, make sure it’s the slow gap-filling stuff so that you have some time to get the quartering right.
I also had to rebuild the the frame, since the previous owner used a large sheet metal screw to secure the axle cover, which shattered all of the plastic and screw holes. It was a lot of work, but I got it cheap, and it was one of their premiere runs.
The engine still runs perfectly today, and the motor is quiet. Yours might need a cleaning and lube. Mine has 10-wheel electrical pickup, so it’s never had pickup problems. Maybe you have weak or burned out spring pickups on the drivers.
Edit: Yes, the drivers should be 90 degrees, but it’s more important to make them line up with the other drivers (using the connecting rods as a guide) in case they aren’t exact.
Nope, you have to listen to a squealing Powertorque for 3 hours. [:O]
Warren, I just double-checked and this motor will fit perfectly in your Northern with a little modification to the motor mount. Top speed will be lower, and it will crawl.
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item/DCM-300/400/12_VDC_IRON_CORE_MOTOR