Few weeks ago I bought a New PK 2000 GP 30 from my LHS. I have replaced the cracked gears with Athearn gears, installed a DH 123 decoder and LED’s.
I have around 10 hours on the engine and so far I am very disappointed with it. While it runs OK here is what I don’t like.
1 Will pull only 12 to 14 cars.
2 Makes a moaning sound when it is ran.
The moaning sound does not sound like a worm gear bearing, or motor bearing sound? When I installed the gears I did use my NMRA gauge to set the wheels. There was no dried up lube in the trucks and I did re-oil the gears.
Only thing I can think of is maybe I need to tighten up the wheel sets a tad more.
Any other ideas? I have 2 more B&O GP 30’s coming and hope I can cure this one first.
Thanks for the coming answers.
Cuda Ken
Ken: Near as I can figure from the Proto 2000 GP30 I had years ago is that the sound is caused by the motor and the drive gears in the trucks. Not the axle gears but the gears between the worm and the axle gears. Mine always moaned like that. Something funny is that the two Bachmann GP30’s I had also did it.
Ken,
I have a few P2K GP30’s, 7’s, 18’s and 20’s. They are all the same drive system.
If it will only 13 cars and has a moan, you might have set at least one of the wheel sets too tight, or narrow, so that it is rubbing against the side of the metal truck. I have done that before and it really taxes the motor.
If it isn’t that, I would try to disassemble the trucks completely and clean out everything, worm gears too.
I have heard about bad proto motors, but frankly, I have owned more than I do now and I have never had a bad motor.
Sometimes, you just get one that’s a bit noisier than the others.
The reason it’s moaning is because it isn’t painted for D&RGW [:D]
Ken,
I have a few of these, & this makes me want to run some tests.
I have a major Storm coming so I have to go off-line, perhaps I may pull a couple out & see if I have any findings.
What’s that humm like? (Perhaps I will find one, hope I do, so I can try to solve it!!)…
I’ll keep ya’all posted
Ken,I would check the wheels and drive train for binding.The reason I think that is the way you described the problem and if my featherweight Athearn BB GP7 can pull 24 cars your GP30 should be able to pull 30 or more cars because of its weight.
Ken - I had a similar problem with a brand-new P2K GP7. Took it out of the box, put it on my test track, applied power - nothing but a faint humming sound. So I pried off the shell to see if it was anything obvious. It ran fine without the shell.
I’m still not sure what the root cause was, but after I put the shell back on it ran OK. I’m guessing that the Chinese factory kid who assembled it must have mashed the shell on too tight…
Hey, thanks for all the answers!
I have checked to see if the wheels have play in them side to side and they do. I have yet to pull out the NMRA gauge and check to see if the wheels are a tad wide.
Far as the sound, it is a low moan. I hear it more on some parts of the layout more. Reason I sort of think the wheels are a little wide is because it moans and will not pull anything to speak of. I have a PK 2 GP 20 and it will pull 20 cars with no problem.
Road Slug. This engine was in the factory package which means I had to install the shell. Shell was a very tight fit for some reason? I will be opening the engine Monday and will give it a test run with out the shell.
Thanks again for all the answers and I will up date this post Monday.
Ken
I’d make sure that the universals aren’t slipping on the worm gear first. Test that by holding the loco in your hand then using a kadee wheel cleaner to apply power. Turn each truck separately to see if the moan comes back as you perform this. If it happens when you turn the truck, remove the shell and do this again but watch the universals to see if they are binding when you pivot the truck from side to side.
The fix might be something simple as adding a thrust washer on the worm gear. If the universals are slipping you might need either new universals.
Chris
Well, I did find one wheel set was a little wide and corrected. While the moaning is not as loud it is still there somewhat. Now I can hearing the motor whining. [banghead]
Still a weak puller from what I have seen tonight. Time will tell.
Ken