A while back I picked up some Bachmann Plus F7s (2 A units and a B) off eBay. I retrospect I should have done my research, but they looked good and were in NYC livery, which is mainly what I’m modeling, so it seemed like a good deal. I’ve had nothing but trouble with them, though. They’re loud, have jerky movement and bad creeping. I cracked one open to take a look inside and the motor itself seems to run okay. Being a new returnee to the hobby, what suggestions do people have for improving the performance of these engines? Or should I just chalk it up as a ‘learning experience’?
Sorry dude, but your better off just throwing them out and buying Stewarts or Intermountains.
I had a feeling that would be the answer, but figured it couldn’t hurt to ask. I might park them somewhere on the layout for show.
As between Stewarts and Intermountain, any preferences?
[:(!][:(!][:(!] thats not very helpful
My bachmann FT’s run ok. Try cleaning everything, wipe off all the oil greese etc. and re-grease but not too much that could be a problem. Also make sure the wheels are clean and you have a good connection with all the wires.
I would put the F7’s on a “to do list” for cleaning of the drive train and pick up wheels and any wipers etc… You did not indicate whether these were new or broken in units, just purchased from an E-Bay vendor; could be they need to be oiled, lubed and cleaned then run for a while to see if they should be parked or turned loose on the layout. Bill
both stewarts and intermountain have high quality products. Cheese3 is right tho, I got a bachmann FT A/B set and they both run pretty well and one even came with a DCC decoder( I ordered them seperately, with months between). just open them up and have a look it might be you need to clean and oil something or replace something small. also there are plenty of super-detailing kits out nowadays that are pretty cheap if you want to make them look more prototypical.
You don’t mention if these have a can motor that drives all 8 wheels, or a pancake motor that drives only one truck. The type with the pancake motor is usually going to be the worse of the two to have, and the least worth rehabilitating. That said, Bachmann has a lifetime warrenty on their locomotives. If more than a year old, there is a $10 fee for repairs(more likely replacement). Here is a link to the Bachmann site for requesting service.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/index.html
You can make the call whether you leave them as is and they become scenery, or if its worth another $10 apiece to make them fully functional. I’m wrestling with this decision right now on a couple of old Bachmann diesels I have.
HD
I have a couple of HO Plus F7s, one intact in Erie paint and another bare chassis that will eventually become a new mechanism for an old Lima German loco. The Erie model is superb and runs as nicely as new Proto equipment. I found the trick was to oil the motor bearings and worm gear bearings, grease the truck gearing, and clean the wheels (if it’s a used model). Mine probably has a good few miles behind it (bought used) so is nicely broken-in - I can get a 2ft run-on if I shut off from full power, that’s how free the mechanism is. It’s in the queue to get DCC and some extra detailing work at the moment.
If you’re talking about the N F7s though, good luck is all I can say - I have an A and B in SP Daylight paint (not prototypical but I didn’t know that when I bought the A…), the B unit was stupidly cheap from ebay, neither is good at low speeds and both get very warm when running. I’ll obviously have to put a few hours tuning time into them as they should be reasonable runners but seem to have a problem somewhere.
Don’t throw them out! Regardless of the drive type it probably has plastic gears.The growling is caused by burrs on ALL of the gears.Take ALL the gears out and clean them with a VERY stiff NYLON tooth type brush and dereaser.Inspect with a magnifiying glass. You may have to use an exacto to get any bad burrs off. Clean all the wheels and be careful not to damage the traction tires. (if applicable). Get a tube of the Woodland Scenic gear lube. Reassemble and lube. You should see a drastic differance. I did! I’ve had three old Bachs for twenty years and their still some of my best pullers.
Check the gear housings for burrs too befor reassembly.
Good luck[:)]
I bought 4 Bachmann Plus engines in SP Black Widow livery at $10.00 each! (A-B-B-A, all different numbers) When I installed decoders in them I ran them in on the bench. One of the motors failed right there and could not be repaired. The other three worked great. All are drawbarred together with working diaphragms that hide the 4-conductor mini-connectors between engines passing track power and sound to all. The “dummy” has a sound decoder in it and all have speakers. The only flaw is the cabs should have two headlights instead of one. The paint job is so nice that no one notices that there is a headlight missing!
Mark C.