Hi, I have a problem with the front leading truck on my Genesis Mike. It runs high over the rails and barely touches them at some points on the layout. I get my share of derailment mostly over Peco switches. I tried loosening the screw, inverting the truck assembly, but nothing works…Any suggestion before I convert it to a 0-8-2 !!!
Chris[;)]
You won’t like my answer- fix your TRACK! Your long 8-wheeled driver base rides whatever rail surface you lay, and it seems yours has vertical kinks from piece-to-piece. I found the same problem when I put my Challenger over my"beautiful" handiwork a couple of months ago.
Find where the problem happens, mark it, and then put a straigthedge over that spot. Chances are you are on a curve and the join is there too. Also, an most importantly, you have a dip there.
Selector’s right; at least 85% of engine tracking problems stem from track problems, not engine problems. So check every inch of your trackwork, and fix anything that looks to be less than perfect.
That said, there are a couple of things you can do to improve the tracking on the Athearn Mike (I own six, and am in the process of superdetailing one right now). First, remove the spring. Second, check to make sure that the wheels are in gauge and roll freely (and are clean). Third, add some weight above the axle; I use A-Line sheet lead, as mush as I can cram over the axle without it rubbing on any part of the pilot. Weight further back on the truck tongue really doesn’t do any good; it has to be over the axle.
Selector,
When I put the loco on a flat surface like my working desk, the front truck does not touch the desk!
Chris
Okay, I stand corrected. Perhaps you need a shim, or a spacer, between the truck pivot hole and the pivot on the loco. It might mean geting a longer screw, too.
Is it possible that your loco frame and boiler body are not proprely mated (attached)? That might account for the drivers actually being the culprit, in that they are too low. Is the rear truck on the table? If it is, and only the front is elevated, does the loco boiler look horizontal? If the nose is high, then you do have an improperly attached boiler…at the front.
Just trying to figure out this puzzle.
Good luck, however it pans out.
Selector,
The rear truck is OK, and touches the table. I’ll try your suggestion about checking the boiler setting…
Thank you.
Chris
The problem you have can be with the track or with the engine. My Genesis Mike does not have any verical play in the lead truck and is not fit for running on a layout. It has been in the box since I purchased it new, but would need work for sure if it was run. If I remember correctly, the trailing truck was not much better. This was their first venture into the Genesis steam and it might require some work.
You may also want to check the screw that goes up through the steam chest and make sure it’s not too tight. This screw, if too tight, will put an upward curve into the loco frame.
As others have written, remove any springs over both the front and lead truck, something I do with every steam loco in my fleet. On reasonably well laid track, you don’t need any springs over the trucks and removing them will improve tracking and incease traction, letting you pull more cars.
Another problem with them, not so easily fixed with these is that they are not balanced properly… They favor the rear on the weight side… Adding some weight to the front will help some along with all the other suggestions already made… You almost need to Remove weight from the rear but to do it A, Requires cutting or milling the frame halves to remove material, and B, will lighten an already too light locomotive… On the one I’ve actually worked on, I wanted the decoder in the front so I could get rid of that ugly gnorp wire going from the loco to the tender… I mounted a Lenz N scale decoder on top of the frame inside the boiler right in front of the motor. It wasn’t an easy task (and I have the mill to do the cutting) but it did cure some of the balance problem… The traction problem, you’ll find that to be a whole other issue…
Good luck,
Jeff
Lots of good answers, it does sound like the boiler is not sitting right. Hard to believe it was engineered this way, I would think almost everyone would be returned, but who knows? One other thing to check would be that the engine has the right diameter leading wheels installed. Do you have the instructions? Does it show any missing parts? As has been suggested above, if the boiler is square and the wheels are correct, I would get some brass tube and a longer screw. Then lower the pivot point of the truck. Let us know.
Jim
My two Athearn 2-8-2s will now, after I repaired their split gears, out pull any of my half dozen unweighted Bachmann 2-8-0s by two or three cars.
I added the following weight to the 2-8-2s: -
In the steam dome and sandbox, behind the smokebox door, I filled the cylinders and steam chest with lead shot - This means I can’t use the screw up through the steam chest into the smokebox but it’s not needed anyway…
Remove the springs from over the leading and trailing trucks. They’re not needed on ANY steam loco and should be removed from EVERY steam loco in your fleet. This alone will add two or three freight cars to the train any loco can pull.
All the above modifications added about five or so cars to number of freight cars the 2-8-2s could pull.
Thanks to you all. I bought this Genesis Mikado before I received a Broadway Ltd 2-8-2 Wih sound this Christmas. The BLI is a better hauler but the trailing truck is too light! I’ll try some of your sugestions tomorrow…
Chris
I have one about four years old that used to derail everywhere.I fixed it by removing the spring that pushes the pilot truck down.On some old ones,a too stiff cable from the engine to the tender also caused derailments.
Ream out the screw hole in the truck frame.
The too stiff cable can be remedied somewhat by removing the plastic “tube” covering the cables.
You then need to remove the plastic “lip” that surounds the insode of the tender access hole, this gives a smoother surface for the cables to slide on.
Shove the cables as far into the tender as you can, this also helps. I remove the tender body, hold the cables in place with tape and then replace the tender body.
Sadly, both the 2-8-2 and the 4-6-2 need far more work to get running than a Can$250 ready to run loco really should.
Then of course, there’s Athearn’s total lack of customer service.
Chris,
You should be able to adjust the front truck tension spring. Turn the Mike over. There will be an adjustment screw right in the middle. Righty tighty, lefty loosy. Rotating the screw CW will provide an increasing tension of the truck to the track. Only provide enough spring pressure that will keep the front truck on the track.
Tom
REMOVE the springs. You don’t need them.
Simple physics lesson follows.
For every reaction, there’s an equal and opposite reaction.
Therefore, if the spring is pushing down, then there’s an equal pressure pushing up.
The upward pressure will try to lift the locomotive and therefore the driving wheels from the track.
Solution, remove all springs from all trucks. They are NOT needed on reasonably well laid track. you’ll find that by just removing the springs, every steam loco will pull at least two to three more freight cars.
Don’t believe me? Then try it with one loco.
The question is: to remove or not to remove the spring… More to follow after I try the no-spring running…
Chris
If the front truck is not low enough to make contact with the track, then springing is not the problem…unless one of the winds got behind the retaining screw and is actually LIFTING the truck. Otherwise, the dangling truck indicates that the chassis and boiler are not mated properly, assuming that the boiler provides the pivot axis for the front truck…I don’t have that model.
i was thinking of buying a athearn 2-8-2 … if you guys are haveing all this troble with yours i won.t , now its a bochmann or rivaroosi witch sold i get??? i want a 2-82 0r 4 or 4-8-4