Was running my spec 2-8-0 and all of a suden the wheels locked up[:(!]. I backed it up and it ran smoothly so I tried going forward and it went for a few feet; locked up; and then went for a few more feet and locked up again. Well, wondering what the problem was I gave her full power and it didn’t move.
So, I began disassembling it. Finally got it apart. Can’t find anything wrong except the gear on the axle is chewed up a little bit. The bearings are in the worn shaft and it’s not loose but the worm does not drive the wheels. Maybe giving it full power when it locked up (I think the worm and axle gears clashed, causing the lockup) chewed some teeth off the gears. I’m thinking I need a new axle gear, what do you think?
Thanks.
I can give you more of my story later, but it’s supper time so I got to go.
I am unsure you have found the root cause of the problem, and until you do it’s very difficult to advise on a course of action. When things “lock-up”, full throttle is the LEAST recommended course. I would say you probably need a new wheelset with the gear on it at a minimum, and wouldn’t be surprised is a siderod was loose and that caused the original lockup.
This engine should not have enough power to shred the gear unless something is/was wrong.
The following is a BIG secret. Although it is not as exciting as firing off two dozen useless emails or posting rants on this board, it has been known to work. If you send a real honest paper letter to Bachmann Service, describing your problem and the part you want in clear concise English, and enclose a copy of your purchase receipt, and ask VERY nicely for the wheelset, they may send you one if they have it in stock.
I know full throttle was a mistake. Siderods are fine, I checked that before I spent an hour trying to tear this apart. The problem is that the worm gear doesnt seem to be making contact with the axle gear.
I must say, this 2-8-0 has been more of a G** D*** hassle than it is worth. It doesn’t run that good. The only reason I’ve jumped thru all these hoops is because it’s my only steamer (for now) and I wanted it to run. And then, just when I get addicted to steam, the 2-8-0 goes and locks up on me.
I’ll agree with the crew here bud, Sounds like one of the side rods got hung up on a pin, which in turn caused the wheels to lock. If you were going full throttle, the extra force of the motor and fly wheel caused the gear to give up the ghost. I got my new belt from Bachmann last week and got mine back up and running, noticed a rod pin coming out and had to repair that before I put it to the track.
I would write Bachmann and see if you can get the new gear sent to you, the heck with sending it back. You been down that road before anyway.
I think I’ll contact b-man tomorrow and see about a gear. The odd thing is the side rods turn great and I just lubed the crank pins because they squealed. It does appear the gear is chewed up enough that the worm couldn’t drive it.
When you reassemble the loco, be sure the drive wheels are properly quartered.
Quartering is the term for setting crankpins of locomotive drivers at 90 degree ‘crank’ apart, similar to an automobile crankshaft. Accurate quarter of all drivers in a set to the same angle is critical to the smooth operation of model locomotives.
Now I have this disassembled to the point where I have the wheels out. It looks like to get out 1 wheelset I’d remove the screw that goes through the side rod??
When I contact Bman, should I ask for a gear? or a wheelset for the 3rd axle that already has the gear on it?
You really do need to root cause this or else it will fail again. It does sound like something bound up temporally. Put it back together minus the worm gear and push it back and forth. Check it on a curve also. It should roll real smooth, if not, find out why. An easy way to check the quartering is to turn the mechanism until all the crankpins are pointing straight down at 6:00. On the other side of the loco, the crankpins should all be pointing at either 3:00 or 9:00. On certain engines, they may be at say 2:30 or so. That’s fine as long as they are ALL at 2:30.
That mechanism is for the old Standard and Plus Reading 2-8-0s. The Spectrum 2-8-0 is completely different, and won’t fit the Bowser mechanism.
The gear is chewed up? Try checking the worm for any burrs. A burr is easy to spot, because it looks like a small strip of brass coming out of the brass worm. My Athearn FP45 had a burr in the worm, and it caused the engine to be noisy and ruff running, and also caused every tooth of the large plastic gear to be rounded on one side. The burr was sanded off, and it works just fine now.[:D]
I had exactly the same problem with a Bachmann heavy mountain. Running over a little gap between rails it suddenly stopped and moved only very erratically afterwards. Little dents in the plastic gear on the driven axel. Called Bachmann, they didnt stock separate axel with gear, only the complete frame with the 4 drivers plus cylinders / valve gear. But hopefully they do stock 2-8-0 axels?
BACHMANN’S Service Department used to replace old engines with new ones for $15 which includes shipping. Considering how they are made, that might not be a bad deal.
If someting locks up, it can cause other problems. Supposing you replace the offending part, and it still doesn’t run right?