Wow! It’s crazy how this post got hijacked. I’m posting because I have the same problem with my Athearn FEF. I posted the problem some time ago, and no one responded to my problem. Oh, I got responses, but like this thread, none were helpful. So Jeremy, thanks for starting this thread. I will take your advise and buy this crc-26. Two questions though, is it neccessary to take the tender apart to get to the contacts? And did you apply that stuff to the engine as well? And why not. I like Athearn diesel but not a fan of their steam engines.
CRC 2-26 has been mentioned many times on the forums…You may have just missed it…used for just about everything electrical on model layouts and then some:
I just wish it was mentioned when I posted the same exact problem that Jeremy talked about. And not to bad mouth Athearn or any other brand, but should I need to apply an electrical type lube just so a brand new engine will not cut out around curves? I was shocked to see this engine having problems. Funny thing about it is it ran perfectly on my son’s layout with 18" & 22" curves. But when I got it on my layout with 27" & 30" curves, it started cutting out.
Please help me to understand how the thread was “hijacked” when the OP, in the subject line, refers to Athearn as “junk…” and some of the comments in the OP’s paragraphs did, or were unfavorable, as well? If that isn’t an open invitation for people to comment regarding the quality control, or perceived lack thereof, I do not know what is.
Since you used my term in your post I guess your responding to my post. Well for the OP using Junkesis, I stand corrected. It was indeed an open invitation for others to defend Athearn or any other brand. I was just interested in how he solved the problem because like I said before, I am in the process of trying to fix my FEF of the same exact problem. But I do want to say that I feel ALL brands have their problems. And just because someone might have 100 engines of the same brand and they run perfectly doesn’t mean that brand has a 100% perfect record of all engines produced.
See…that is a flaw in some advertising… ‘’ model will handle 18’’ to 22’’ radius curves, perfectly’‘…’'All other curves, Not so perfect". LOL Thats just a joke, but in some ways true! Sorry I missed Your thread…I may have been able to help. I try not to get involved, when there are more answers than necessary to any thread…usually ends in confusion, rather than help. I’m a believer in too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the soup.[swg]
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
BTW: Make sure the can of spray You purchase, has the fine nozzle taped to the can, that You insert in end of spray tip. It’s invaluable, for getting into tight places. It can be used to get older Atlas electrical slide switch controllers, working again, by using that fine spray tip and spray into the slide switch, working the switch back and forth a few times. I used to work on older hy-brid TV’s, tuner amps, CB’s and such yr.s ago, with a similar product brand and that was one thing I always did, while checking to find another problem…most times, that was the problem…dirty, gummed up tuner.
I believe what You may be forgetting, is with DC running to achieve more speed, You increase the voltage, which in turn makes the incandesant bulb brighter and if You do not run it at warp speed always…the bulb will last longer, mainly because of the lower voltage. On DCC the incandesant bulb is running near constant voltage limits, all the time, regardless of speed…not all decoders, if any, run the lights at 6volts constantly…People want bright lights. If You really think about it…Athearn made it real easy in their DC engines to replace the bulb…now a days…it’s a chore, just to even get the shell off, hopefully without breaking anything.
I agree with your joke. I did laugh after I took the engine off my son’s layout and put it on mine for the first time. You always here about tight radius maybe giving you fits but after I saw how nice it ran on his and not on mine I was puzzled. And like I said before, I didn’t get any help when I did post the problem. So if you would of caught it, your response would of been greatly appreciated.
Remove 3 screws holding down the sideframe piece for the axles.
Carefully removed all the axles and make sure not to misplace anything.
Thouroughly clean the wheels, axles and contact clips.
Adjust each contact outward, you want to go slow and be careful here, don’t bend or kink them, but keep the same shape and move them all more outward.
Lightly touch each contact point tip with the CRC-26.
Carefullly install each wheel set one at a time. Hook one wheel over the contact wiper and then pull it over while using a screwdriver to push the other contact wiper in on the other side(carefully)
Lightly put one dab on each wheel and rotate wheel.
Verify the wipers make contact when you push the wheel fully in and out on each side.
Wipe of any excess crc-26 u may see.
Reinstall the sideframe cover. Make sure you do not disturb the wheels.
Reinstall coupler.
Enjoy $300 engine that you had to work on to make it go thru large radius curves under it’s own power…
I did the tender only for now, will get around to the engine as well, but I did adjust the contact wipers on the engine prior(also did the tender
I’ve had good and bad experiences with purchases from Every manufacturer. Fixing them has caused some frustration but I’ve learned how to do quite a bit to get everything running well. It’s not necessarily the manufacturer but the humans designing, assembling, shipping and selling them that’s the problem. I’ve made a mistake or two at work…because I’m human…it doesn’t mean everything I do is wrong. If I could build better models than the ones offered today, then I would. For now, I accept any flaws and learn how to fix them. These forums are great for helping each other!
I enjoy this hobby and am happy to have the models I ‘need’ available…without a lot of detailing, motor upgrades and repainting that I’ve had to do in the past (worst example…a bright blue Conrail steam engine I saw at a train show…I’m pretty sure that would cost a lot of time and money (after buying it) to get it even close to running like a new steam engine offered today).lol
Maybe Larry didn’t see this yet…but many of us are very well aware of the voltage in DC, and most of us, not even myself, don’t operate at “warp speed” in DC mode. The fact is the Athearn bulbs are simply very bad, and just don’t last, whether it is a few hours or a few weeks, and even when I can get the rtr or Genesis (doesn’t matter) engines apart without damage, the bulbs have been glued in with non-sticky tack (Woodland Scenics-style) water soluble adhesive such that even getting the bulbs out without damage can be very difficult. I have had to drill bulbs out because they used a more permanent glue.
It’s too easy for me to avoid the hassle by purchasing somebody else’s motive power.
Atlas,Kato,Walthers,Bowser and the others and even Bachmann figured that out and uses a better light system yet,Athearn drags their heels in changing to a better light system for their DCC ready or DCC/Sound equipped engines.
Those lights burn out at a alarming rate even at slow switching speeds.Even one of my DC GP60Ms has a burned out bulb.
Maybe I should bill Athearn $25.00 since that’s what it cost me to have LEDs installed.[swg]
Just as a follow up, the boy wanted to run the Northern since it was “fixed”. I am happy to report she ran about an hour straight pulling a dozen passenger cars and was good for the night.[:)]
I have a question for you. Is your FEF running free of the stalling cutouts? The reason I ask is I did what you said to the tender and also the engine. It ran better but I still got stalling from time to time. Not as frequent as before the cleaning, but still I had the problem. I opened the side frame and noticed the slots were the axles lay. Some of the slots weren’t very deep and I started to think that the wheels with the lesser slots weren’t making good contact to the rails, especially on the curves. I took my Dremel with a slot cutter and made the smaller slots deeper. As deep as the other slots. Well that seemed to do the trick. I think the the deeper slots allow the axles to drop a bit more letting the wheels make better contact. I still agree with you. Having to do this to a new engine so it can run the way it should seems troubling. What do you think
I wouldn’t think so by looking at it and I’ve had mine apart 3-4 times now.
Better guess I would bet you got all the wipers adjusted where they all kept contact thru side to side travel when you went thru it again. They have nowhere to move up and down only laterally(more or less) once you put the sideframe/cover on.
Like I said I’ve tweaked mine 3-4 times with full cleaning before I did the final tweak and CRC-26 as a conductive lube.
But, if mine does give me any further issues I will take a closer look at what you did for mine.
