I have a Climax A that I gussied up a might, and I really like it. Once, I paid a guy who was supposed to be a Climax whiz to smooth it out, and it did run really well…but it still sounds like a coffee grinder chewing on walnuts.
Can anything be done?
Scrap it and get a Heisler![(-D]
[EDIT – note that the following applies to a Climax, and not the Climax A he has, which I only remembered after the fact as being externally a boxcab with pretensions. Fixing the locomotive he has isn’t nearly as involved…]
On a normal Climax, you are having to backdrive a fair amount of motion to make that jackshaft turn and crossheads shuttle, etc. These are not gears ‘settled’ into a continuous load, and neither fabricated nor lubricated like those in a helicopter transmission…
start by disconnecting and removing, as far as possible, the entire visible powertrain from the ‘quartered cylinders’ and get the electric drive to the wheels aligned, ‘lapped in’, lubricated, etc. Then put back any dummy shafts or gears and debug them. That will get you to the jack shaft arrangement and it may take some careful adjustment or even redesign to have this run smoothly when backdriven (or ‘coasting’ if it will do that as built…)
Is this a brass model? If so, it takes a lot of work to get rid of the grinding.
-Kevin
Got one andI love it. Right now it’s doing switching duty in the mill yard, but only until I get another engine–maybe a 4-4-0, and it joins my Shay in logging duty. The Climax brings down ore from the mine to the refinery.
No it’s this guy.
Oh, the Roundhouse model.
Yep… that open gear train it has is reliable, but noisy. Afraid I have no solution for you.
-Kevin
I believe Northwest Shortline sells replacement gears and shafts for that.
I just LOVE geared locomotives!
Either the Bachmann 44 tonner or 70 tonner drive fits inside the MDC boxcab diesel, and the Climax is just a Boxcab with some different bits kitbashed on by the factory (an article in a 1974 or so Railroad Modeler (yes, that’s the correct name of the magazine) had the originals, actually done by grabbing some parts from the MDC inventory and bashing it together.
–Randy
If plastic gears, there’s not much to be done, except perhaps the alignment that overmod suggests. If there’s brass to play with, first I’d isolate or remove the outer doin’s so that they are still, and then run the locomotive to see if the drive is what’s making the noise. If it grinds, and it’s not plastic, or if it doesn’t just need alignment, you can try a lapping compound. I recall we talked about Pearl Drops back in 2005 when I first joined the forum. I think I’d prefer jeweler’s rouge or something like that.
If the drive is nice 'n quiet, then you know it’s the outer works that is making all that racket. Good luck with that. [*-)]
Incidentally, for doing further superdetailing, there is a very interesting evolving thread on RyPN about the impending restoration to operation of the last surviving Climax A:
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=44795&sid=4b2976a5fc6a2ee80b4addf5d97d5c2f
It already contains interesting photography…
You will never get these to run quietly. No one, not even NWSL, makes a gear kit for this.
i have used a Bachmann 44 ton mechanism in place of the original Roundhouse / MDC drive. Takes a little work to make it look good, but is well worth it. Until the Bachmann gears split, that is!
I bought that loco some years ago online. Fellow since passed away. I think LaFever was his name. You can Google it. I just did. Found photos.
Super detailed.
Oval can motor. Flywheel. Re geared. Trucks cleaned up. Manual with parts list. Lost it in house somewhere.
I put a SoundTraxx Micro in it and a speaker in the roof firing down. Sounds weird running at about 8 mph. Club had a series of log bunks.
I have a booklet about the Climax. This loco was powered by a steam engine from tug boats. This loco had two speed transmission.
Edit.
I jus noticed the booklet, Climax Patent loco is about $45 on Amazon now. A lot more than what I paid many years ago.
Rich
Would a Bachmann 45 ton chassis fit? I would bet the siderod action from the Bachmann locomotive chassis on the Roundhouse Climax would be great together.
-Kevin
I’ve never seen a Climax A with siderods… Did they exist?
Simon
Kevin, not sure since I’ve never held a 45 tonner. My guess is, since it’s smaller physically than a 44 tonner, it might not fit as well.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
That’s the guy who tuned mine. Maybe I’ve done all I can. Speaker in roof pointing down, eh?
I would like to know what he used to regear it. I have a box cab that needs help, since they are the same mechanism.