MTH Mikado Steam Engine Repair

Heard slight binding noise on my MTH Light Mikado Steam Loco. Oiled side rods per manual. Went to run and wheels locked up after 1-2 revolutions. Runs in reverse but with a lot of noise. Forward locks up again after 1-2 revolutions. Don’t know much of inner workings and never took one apart. Rods don’t appear to be binding. I figure a broken gear or something. Contacted MTH. Told 17-20 week turn around time. I’m a little leary of taking it apart myself as the manual didn’t include an exploded view and parts list and MTH didn’t have one either. Per MTH the they were the closest repair place. Other 2 were GA and CA. Any suggestions as to what might be wrong or where I can find a parts list with an exploded view. Thanks in advance.

Joe K. New Lenox, IL

Sounds like a wheel quartering problem. See if the rod connectors to the drivers are all well aligned. Is your engine still under warranty? Simon

Not under warranty. I did notice that where the main drive rod connects to the drive wheel is 180 degrees opposite compared to the other side. Don’t know if it came that way. Dont know much about these and whether that makes any difference.

Hi. The connectors on one side should be off by 45 degrees to the ones on the other side. Adjusting these could be tricky, especially the dissassembly/assembly part of the process. If you have never done this, you might want to seek help. I am not familiar with this model.

Should be 90 dregrees off…not 45…

Oh darn, David is right. One quarter of a turn is 90 degrees of course. My apologies.

I poked around the MTH site and found these instructions:

http://mthtrains.com/sites/default/files/download/instruction/80st12696i.pdf

Not sure if it applies to your loco. The instructions are pretty good with respect to dissassembly procedures (page 9 and on). Good luck!