I just purchased the above mentioned loco and have noticed a serious problem that Terry (scubaterry) thought may be resolved here. I first noticed a intermittant hesitation while going in foreward or reverse that appeared to be in synch with the speed of the loco. When I increased the speed the loco “froze”. What had occured was the eccentric rod went over center on the side opposite of the driving wheel. The only way to get it going again was to remove the gear cover in order to get a bit of slack and pull the eccentric rod down and over center to the normal possition. It appears the eccentric rod is too short as this is also the cause of the “intermittant hesitation”. Anyone out there that has come across this problem in this model?
Other that that (a big that) it’s very well detailed loco for the price…the sound is great too; although I havn’t been able to figure out how to change the address to a four digit number with my new Zephyr.
I haven’t had that problem with mine. Some of the exterior valve gear has gotten hung up a couple of times, but that seems to be a “birth defect” that has worn in with a bit of easy running. It’s been running very well for me. Mine is number 56, so I haven’t had to switch to 4-digit addressing. (I’ve got a Lenz system.)
No page two, just thought a “news headline” type of header might attract more readers with answers. misterbeasly may have the solution…just run her till things loosen up. Terry, do you have dial up or DSL on your farm.I’d like to send you a pic or two of the split log fuel load in my Shay.
Dick we have high speed internet service so send your pics. Darn I thought you had licked the problem. Mr B is a veritible fountain of wisdom so my money is on him. Also some locos’s come from the factory with oil and others not so maybe a touch of oil in the affected area might do the trick. Just a thought.
Terry
I had the same problem with my Zephyr. Assuming you’re in “Paged mode” on a programming track, I figured out that what you have to do is push the loco button until “AD4” comes up in the display, then type the address you want, then push “CV-WR.” In other words, do not follow the instruction book exactly, and skip the “CV-Read” step before writing the new address. Every time I did it by the book, it wouldn’t work, but I haven’t had any trouble since I started skipping that step.
You can probably also fix it by messing around with CV29, but I’m not smart enough on DCC to tackle that yet.
I had a problem with mine when I received it similar to this. After close inspection I found thaton of the guide rods for the valve gear had broken off in the box. I had to send it back to Walthers for repair, but it works great now.
I took the loco back to “Ready to Roll” in Miami were I purchased it. After comparing with other loco’s it was determined that the eccentric arm was 90 degrees off. After prying up the arm and rotating it the loco runs fine…Sometime it just pays to support your local (in my case over a 200 mile round trip haul) train shop. Thanks Bill