Has anyone had a similar problem to this? The front wheel set is dragging. I took the assembly off and have a difficult time turning the wheels by hand. This does not seem to be a lubrication issue. They are just hard to turn and not moving freely. I can see marks on the wheels already from the lack of spinning.
I know that I can contach Bachmann, but I thought I’d try here first.
No, I haven’t. The only problem I had is the Decoder failed.
I did some searching and found that there is some discussion regarding derailing and the spring located under the front wheels. While off I tried simply giving the wheels a push on the track to see if they would spin freely. No dice. They skidded 4" and flipped over! So I cannot see how bending the spring will help at all. The “holder” for the wheel axle seems to be gripping the axle too tightly. But this piece is plastic so I don’t want to try bending or drilling it out and get too much play.
Maybe a call to Bachmann is my best bet.
Give Bachmann a call first thing Monday. The Bachmann HO 2-8-0 I got had a similar issue with the pilot truck. The wheels were significantly out of guage - both in terms of distance apart as well as the thickness of the wheel.
Once you get the new set from Bachmann, you’ll be back in business. You may also want to check the weight on the engine. The no sound ones seemed significantly lighter than the Sound on Board ones.
Good luck,
Chris
Checking the weight may be a problem. My bathroom scale just won’t be accurate enough! I do have a sound engine if that makes a difference.
I’m calling Bachmann now. Thanks for the help.
The pilot truck wheels/axle are held in by a ‘press fit’ retainer molded into the truck asm. If you use a small phillips screwdriver, you can remove the pilot track and see this. I had one that had the same problem and I found that the wheel set was not ‘seated’ in the truck frame. You can snap the wheel set out and inspect the retainer for any ‘flash’ that may be interfering with the free-rolling of the pilot wheels. If the truck asm is ‘deformed’, then a quick call to Bachmann will get you a now part. A friend ‘lost’ the retainer for the front coupler and an email to ‘Bach-Mann’ service got a package with a couple of the retainers in less than a week.
Jim Bernier