First this is not a steam engine question, but a Diesel drive wheel question.
I have a A B set of PK 1000 Erie Built engines. While the A unit tracks like a champ no matter what I did to the B unit it would not track around my turns. I used the old trick of pulling the center drive wheels from both trucks and it tracks fine. My turns range form 18 inch (there is still 1) to 26 inch. So I am guessing the side frames of the trucks are bent some.
When you pull the center wheel sets on the PK Erie engines they become a 2 wheel drive only engine. So for a little extra traction effect I made a Idler Gear using a drill bite and the factory center gear on 1 truck. OK, so it is only driven by 3 wheels but with the 12 wheel drive A unit the pair will pulling anything I have lashed up to it.
With only 4 wheels picking up power the B unit will lose power pick up faster than the A unit from dirty wheels. Not a big problem, but last night it stalled and started again when the lead of the 40 car train was in a turn that was going at a good clip. Had to send out the Big Hook to pick up Rolling Stock.
Any tips on making the center wheel sets blind? I do not have a dermal and my cut off tool will not take that small of a shank as the wheel set has. I was thinking about using my cordless 18 volt drill and 80 grit paper.
On steam loco drivers, the blind drivers are usually wider than the flanged ones. Otherwise the lateral motion in curves would cause the edge of the driver to drop OUTSIDE driver INSIDE the OUTSIDE rail and the INSIDE driver OUTSIDE the INSIDE rail. It will if there is any downward pressure or even just gravity on the blind drivers.
You may encounter a similar effect with the PA middle axle. So it’s likely a case of something more than just taking the flanges off for it to work mechanically.
Electrically, since it sounds like you want better contact as the goal to all this, you may need to add wipers. I’ve never taken apart one of those Erie builts. Does it have all-wheel pickup? I think P1K stuff usually did. If not, leaving the middle axle out and adding wipers to the remaining wheels night be the better solution.
I have seen your name attached to many posts and so assume you are not a beginner and understand that logical steps should be taken to eliminate problems in a methodical manner.
I wouldn’t give up on the center flanged wheels, just yet. Does the loco derail in specific locations; or, can it happen just about anywhere? If the first, I would closely inspect the track in these locations to see if the problems jump-out at me. Check the gage of the track, bad solder joints, etc.
Since you have one loco that has no problems and one that does, logically it would seem that the loco that derails is where the problem should be located. Are the center wheels in gage, is there side play, allowing the center wheels to move from side to side, is there imperfections in the wheels causing the derailments? Do the trucks freely swing from left to right and back again, do they rock forwards and backwards easily? Sometimes the stiffness of the wires bringing the juice from the pick-ups to the motor, is just stiff enough to cause problems. Compare how things look and work in the loco that doesn’t have problems to the one that does. Does anything seem different?
Patience and perseverance hopefully will remedy your problem and if all else fails go back to the manufacturer to see if they have any ideas. I have never contacted Life Like and know that Life Like is no longer involved in manufacturing P2K/P1K locomotives, Walthers, however is and I have always found Walthers to be responsive to my questions.
Having been involved in manufacturing my entire adult life and having owned a company involved in manufacturing, I can tell you that good manufacturers know it is important to stand behind their products! They are all capable of having a bad product slip through the cracks and when it happens, it gives the good manufacturers the ability to shine and lock a customer in for life, when they handle the spill the right way! </
Before grinding off the flange, try to narrow the gauge to it’s minimum, not too much to interfere w/ frogs/ gaurdrails. You could also see if you can gain any added lateral movement of the center wheelset. Really strange that this B unit’s giving you fits, I know you can make some good sized steam run on those tight turns. Must be a tight truck, also see if gaining some more"yaw/ sideplay" would allow better tracking. Sand down the “fingers” worm retainer to allow a touch more sideplay. I had trouble w/ a pair of P2K SD7’s that this was a constant derailing problem.
Thanks for the answers. Hum, blind drive wheels are wider, did not know that. Might give another try with the correct wheel set but I tried everything I know how to do. I have owned the engines for 4 to 5 years.