I have just recieved an E-6 Illinois Central from a good store that I know. I have oiled this engine as I am sure it was new/old equipment.For the most part it helped as I thought it wouldf.I still have a noise sort of a out of round sound sound rr rr rr as it moves. I did not get to worm gear duwe to having to unscrew the weighted chassis.
1: Should I open further not having to go that far before as this is hidden area ?
2; Any place to get a blowup or instructions as I luike doing my own maintenance .
It most likely has the very common for Proto 2000, cracked axle gear problem. But it is a very easy fix using the standard Athearn axle gears. If you do a search you will find the part stock number. These can be replaced with out removing the body. Just place it upside down on a foam cradle and pull the sideframes off the truck sides. If you don’t have a foam cradle you may want to remove the body to protect those delicate roof details. Then you can using a small flatblade screwdriver pry off the gear covering from the bottom. The axles simple pullout. You should be able to see the ones that are cracked. The athearn gears are a direct fit.
These units were not known for cracked axle gears, although while unlikely it still may be possible. However, as the axle ends ride in the journal covers, they are not so easy to remove and replace and btw watch out for flying journal covers!
Did you oil the gears or grease them? I find find Labelle’s Teflon Grease much more effective at quieting down these locos than oil is. The grease will eventually migrate up to the worm gears after about 15-20 minutes of running in each direction, this will also break everything in a bit .
If the noise is still there it might be worth considering the gears at that point.
While they are quieter than Athearns, they don’t not run as quiet as Katos and Atlases.
The E series wasn’t known for cracked gears but they do happen time to time. However it would make a clicking or thumping noise. The noise you’re hearing could be in relation to the gear tower. I’ve worked on a good many of these things. The trucks are virtually identical to Athearn trucks except that they have a movable joint that makes the wheel base less rigid. On the bottom of the truck are two plates. These can be popped loose by insert in a flat blade screwdriver between the plate and the truck and gently twisting the screwdriver. This will give you direct access ti the axle gears. Put a drop of oil on each gear. DN NOT put oil on the bronze bearings. Most oils are non-conductive. If oil gets between the bearings and the truck body or into the bearings and coats the axles it can and will insulate the loco from the rails. Once the gears you can see have been oiled snap the plates back onto the truck bottom. The oil will transfer from gear to gear and will work it’s way up to the worm.
I’ve had 4 of them (since sold 2). They were in a display case for some time, and when I went to sell them, they “squealed and growled”. I went thru the usual oiling process which helped, but finally found the biggest culprit was a bushing that the drive shaft connected. Once oiled, all was fine.
The only Proto locos I’ve had “cracked gears” were the GP7 and GP9 and every one of 13 I had had that problem. It was an easy fix, and Walthers/Lifelike supplied the parts.
All the old Proto E-units I’ve had (and FM “Erie Builts”) were very good runners. There could be a burr on a gear somewhere that will work it’s way off over time. Maybe try a good break-in run, say 15-20 minutes forward, then the same in reverse. A lot of “kinks” can get worked out with a good break-in run.
I have noticed that this has a growling sound but it’s rotational as almost every reolution.I have stripped it and the only thing I noticed was a little paint on the armeture that I removed and that did not help. Wondering what that rrrr rrr rrrr is and at the same speed that the engine ids run.