I know there have been a lot of questions on here about the Athearn Challenger, mostly about the sound. I just purchased one of the Challengers and have noticed the rear engine’s eccentric crank on the fireman’s side rotates in the center of the rear engine wheel with the traction tire, which is part #133 when referring to the manual. The three other locations which are identacle to my area in question move flawlessly making the problem area a rather irritating dilemma. I found a post about this from back in 2004 but it has no explanation. Hopefully I am not the only person who has encountered this problem. After viewing all the forums where people have sent the thing back to Athearn it kinda seems like a hassle to send it. I saw one forum where it was said Athearn requested the decoder be removed before shipment. Can someone please help me out here?
I purchased two of the units back when they first came out and had some issues with the decoder. Athearn fixed it and no problems since. I haven’t had any trouble such as you describe. I would recommend that you contct Athearn and see what they suggest.