ok i was recently given a bachmann china QJ. the model is fantastic but the wheels need tweaking. they are the same type wheels that are on all bachmann locos (bachmann US, bachmann branchline, Lilliput ect…).
one set in particular is quite a long way out and the loco is lurchine. it works ok but is noticible. also the back to backs are miles out because the wheels are not pushed onto the axels properly.
now i have done an old Tri-ang loco using a special jig that fitted onto the crankpins. but i have never done a bachmann loco. has anyone else got any experience of doing this?
Sounds like my Jubilee class - that had all the drivers out of gauge and shoddy quartering. I fixed the former by setting the back to back measurements to 14.5mm using a micrometer (a back to back gauge would probably be better, but I couldn’t find one at the time). Quartering took some trial and improvement - I resorted to sighting through the spokes to align the wheels correctly. The wheels will twist on the axles relatively easily (you may wi***o use a tiny quantity of superglue to fix them when the quartering is perfect). Hope this is of help!
Not sure what scale you’re talking about here, but for HO or OO, a US company called Northwest Shortline makes a quartering jig that would help line these up properly.
I have a little Bachmann HO 4-6-0 and I’ve been trying to fix the quartering to make it run better. I have the NWSL quarterer. Unfortunately the crank pins must be an odd size as neither of the indexing pins supplied with the NWSL tool fit. After a couple attempts it runs better than it did out of the box, but there is still a slight lurching that is bugging me. It may still be a little off.
If you want to do this I’d also recommend the NWSL puller or similar tool, as it makes quick work of getting the drivers off the axles without having to twist them.
You may need a set of the optional index pins as offered with the Quarterer II. Of course, you need to know what size the stock pins are. See the bottom left of page one on this link: