Proto 2000 BL2 Runs Rough

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

It has been awhile since I did maintenance on Athearn type drive trains. I have just hardwired a DH163 decoder into a BL2 and while everything works great electronically it now runs rough forward.

I replaced all the axle gears with athearn and I even used some NWSL nickel silver axles and it runs great in reverse. In forward it takes a little more juice to get going and I hear a tap tap tap tap as it goes by. The flywheels are not touching anything I can see.

The only thing out of the ordinary I could see as I was taking it apart was one of the motor mounts on the bottom was smashed but it seem went back in the hole and the motor seems mounted right.

Any ideas?

Thanks

SB

2

Does one of the drive shafts or joints have any casting joints or flash on them?

3

Good point. I’ll go check, I did replace one of the truck splines as the stock flew of into never never land.

SB

4

Make sure the axle bearing has not sliped out of the sheet metal holders just inside of the truck side frames.

5

OK, I took the splines off and its a vibration in the motor. I pulled it out of the cradle and it runs smooth as silk if I hold it with the brush side elevated up a little. But if the motor is level or brush side down it vibrates with a tap tap tap tap. Does not seem to be affecting its rpm just noisy.

Don’t know what it would do to the decoder after awhile though. Is the motor bad or just not that good?

Thanks SB

6

Sounds like one of the motor bushings is dry, or bad. Oiling the motor’s bearings should quiet it down for a while. It may also be possible to tap the noisy bushings out, and reinsert them into the motor frame upside-down, or whichever way is quietest.

7

The proto 200 BL2?

Did that ever get another run from back when I remember seeing ads for them back before Desert Storm?

8

OK I oiled the bushings with good old Labelle and ran the motor at various speeds for about ten minutes then oiled it a tiny bit more and ran it for about twenty more minutes and it seems just as quiet as in reverse. I think who I bought this from obviously had not run it since he bought it before the Clinton administration.

I thought Walthers did a run that was DCC ready but I could be wrong. This one is definitely from the nineties.

SB