I even took off the boiler top and oiled in the designated spots ever so slightly. No change. The squeal seems to be coming from the back trailing wheels on the engine. My walthers heavyweights did this right out of the box.
How do I fix this squealing problem? Should I try oiling the trailing wheels or the wheels on the heavyweight passenger cars?
I can understand cars doing it. That can be caused by a plastic axle turning in a plastic truck, however I’ve also had it happen with a metal axle in a plastic truck. Usually cleaning out the hole the axle end fits into will help. You may also want to look at getting a truck tuner tool from Micromark.
Run the engine alone to isolate the source of the trouble. The Walther’s heavyweights will squeal if those axle journals aren’t oiled. They are not RTR, some tweeking of the trucks are generally needed as well. This has been gone over at some length here as to solving the heavyweight’s troubles.
neolube !!!
grizlump
Hi!
Your first step as indicated earlier is to isolate the problem(s). Run the loco alone, and then run the cars with another loco, and go from there.
Also as stated, the Walthers cars - while really nice - need to be lubed before use. I got hit with this a few months ago, and was very surprised that they needed to be oiled. I did so, and very soon they were just fine. Ha, being used to Athearn passenger cars I was spoiled by their running ease out of the box.
Oh, if it does turn out to be the problem with the loco, definitely check out the lead/trailing trucks. As an aside, I had a noise problem with a diesel last year that drove me nuts. As it occured after I worked on it I knew it was something I did that caused it. Finally I pulled the gearbox cover of the front truck and found that the little washer on the end of the “driveshaft” was somewhat wedged on the side of the gears. Apparently it fell off when I took the shaft & drive gear off (to get to the trucks innards) and the washer fell into the grease of the gear box.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
Yeah, its definately the engine itself, not the cars. It is ok if I lube the lead/trailing wheels? Will this affect electrical contact?
Ok, I just tried oiling around the pilot and trailer wheels, but no luck. The sound is definately coming from the engine, not the tender or the cars.
I almost forgot, very important piece of information. It only squeals when going forwards, never backwards. How wierd is that? Any ideas?
Its also much louder on straight aways, not so much on curves.
Is this a brass engine or? I’ve had can motors in a couple of my brass engines develope a squeal in the forward direction only before.
John.
No, its made of die cast metal and plastic I believe.
I tried oiling the around the pilot wheels, not the wheels themselves, but where the axle joins the bar? Does that make any sense?
Anyway, squeals louder than ever, I was also careful not to over lubricate.
I just bought this Paragon T1, should I send it back to BLI for repairs?
Hi!
Having 6 BLI locos and experience with their service department (good), I would first email them (see their website - www.broadway-limited.com) for advice. If you can’t resolve it that way, then get with them first for permission to send it back. The good news is they will fix it, the bad news is it takes about 6 weeks.
Mobilman44
Did you run the engine with the boiler off? Could be one of the motor bearings, especially if it only squeals in one direction. Given that you;ve apparently lubed everything else, that’s where I would look.
OR… maybe a wheel is rubbing against something in one direction and it has nothing to do with bearing lube at all. Have you checked everywhere where there are close clearances between wheel treads and chassis parts?.
Andre
I agree with previous post. Sometimes you can get a high pitched squeal and at the same time the loco will slow down. This is a motor bearing problem. To fix it apply VERRRRY small amount of Labell (ask for it at local hobby shop )oil to each bearing ( 1 very small drop). Using too much oil in this area is very bad as it will get into the motor brushes and ruin the motor…Mike
Watch the flywheel close. Make sure nothing is rubbing on it. Sometimes this will cause the noise. Also if you have electro lube for contacts see if you can lube them. Wipers can also make noise.
Bob
If its a case of wheel rubbing, can I repair this myself and how? I don’t want to break it, should I let BLI fix this?
I agree w/ first contacting BLI. This is a “new” T-1, they do normally run excellent. If you haven’t solved the trouble with any of the simple means, I would refrain from digging deeper into it. Wouldn’t want to damage anything and now you really “own it”
Does it have a plastic drive shaft coupler on the motor? Could be slipping on the motor shaft. Had a diesel do that in only one direction. Glued the coupler on better and fixed it.