So I bought one of these locomotives and I am happy with it for the price. Except one of the wheel sets is out of gauge.
I’ve looked at the instructions and they do not include an exploded diagram of the trucks. They are neither the old Athearn style or the Atlas style with which I am familiar with, but a new design.
Has anybody taken apart one of the trucks and could share their knowledge?
Thanks.
Every one I have seen has the bottom cover that pops off with a little persuasion. Unless this is some new design.
Pete
I agree. I just checked again and it is a new design. If the cover can pop off from the bottom, its got me stumped as to where to slide in the screwdriver.
Maybe I will have to remove the shell, the wiring, the clip, and the worm and remove the entire truck and attack it from the top once it is taken out of the frame. What a pain.
Was it really necessary to redesign the way the truck frame holds in the gears? Its always something.
The ones I have a problem with is this type:
I never can get the darn side frames off.
Jeffrey,
I would call that truck an Atlas/Kato type of truck, although I am not familiar with the Bachmann so it c/b that. I would say that on the truck pictured, the bottom cover sort of locks into the four prongs and you can slide a screw driver into the end of the truck and pry upwards.
The bottom of the new P1k truck is fatter and smooth, with the bottom cover curving upwards almost into the frame at the truck’s ends, with none of the four-pronged busy-ness. Its as if they tried to make the truck aerodynamic from the underside, if you get my my drift.
Nowhere to stick a screwdriver into. With the Bachmann trucks it’s easy. The side frames and bottom are a unit that snaps on. To remove it slip a screw driver tip between the end of the truck cover and the chassis and gently pry it up and it’ll pop loose. With the new one you describe I have no clue.
Just to answer my own post here…I took more time to work with the truck.
First, I apologize to anyone I misled by my error, the instruction sheet does come with an exploded diagram of the truck and, to no one’s surprise, the bottom cover pops off.
However, the degree to which the ends of the cover wrap around the axles, I had to remove the shell of the locomotive to get the thin bladed jewelers screw driver at the proper angle to unlatch the catch.
Just for info…Inside the truck, the axles use the Athearn style brass bearings that are cradled in each side. Since the entire truck is plastic, electrical pickup is made by brass wipers resting against the bearings. They travel to the back of each truck where wires take them up and out of the assembly. The brass wipers are similar to what you find in older, cheaper style of locomotives, but they do not wipe against the moving wheels, but rest against the nonmoving bearings with tension. The contact is totally enclosed within the truck, so no dirt should get in between the bearing and the wiper. However, the offending truck in my unit had an excessive blob of grease in the way.
Taking the truck apart to clean it, I had to remove the sideframes (they hook into the bottom cover) and pop off the worm cover from underneath. The frame has no separate weight, and the frame’s shape made it impossible to pop off the worm cover from above. The truck is held together neatly with two small screws. The gears are fat. Grease was all over the place.
Reassembling the truck is a little tedious in that the bearings and sideframes must be aligned before the bottom cover can be relatched.
Overall, the truck design seems just fine, but the wiper/bearing contact does seem to be susceptible to poor contact from overlubing…SO DON’T LUBE THE TRUCK GEARS.
Out.