After installing a test decoder (no sound) I tried to run the locomotive. The gears on the rear truck did not mesh! Ugh. This had been a problem on this engine for a long time. I had never really been able to figure it out and had put the loco back in the box several times. At one point I had managed to get the trucks "perfectly" bent so it ran fairly well. This time, I had to FIX IT! So, disassemble, re-assemble, test, disassemble, re-assemble, test, etc. etc. Then I began to notice that the truck was able to free rotate on a shouldered screw. I assumed it was to help the engine get over rough track, however, there was still too much play in the truck. The truck side frame had enough play to keep the bevel gear from properly engaging with the pinion gear.
My first thought was to file the screw threads down to a little but determined it was the shouldered part that was too long. So, I made brass shims (the hole large enough to pass the shouldered part) and installed them with much fussing (getting those short screws in and then turning the screw with the screw driver angled!). IT WORKED!! After 3 times the amount of allotted time, I got her back on the track and running better than ever before.....now for that sound decoder, maybe tomorrow!
One good deed..........
The satisfaction was so great, I decided to get out another quick project! Yeah, right. So I pulled out
another long term project. I thought I had put it back in the box because it really needed extra electrical pickups added and I hadn't wanted to do that at the time. I had re-motored the engine and installed a DCC sound decoder and stay-alive capacitor. The stay alive and stock poor pickups (one side on the drivers, the other on the rear truck) just weren't enough. Generally speaking, there are a fair amount of these out there in On2 and I haven't read much about issues with them, then pandora's box was opened!
So, I carefully, and I mean carefully added electrical pickups to the front and rear of the engine. Did I mentioned that I was careful, so I wouldn't have to mess with moving or re-wiring decoder "stuff". Well, when running it, I found an intermittent short. I'd noted in the past that the method of holding the rear truck caused shorting issues on this engine even with DC, however, I thought it had been fixed on this engine so it MUST be my additional pickups, right? Disassemble, check, assemble, check, disassemble, check. Ugghh...
Turns out the truck mounting hardware would occasionally rub against a countersunk scew-head that was supposed to be isolated. Bad planning on the builders part, I'm thinking. So, using two strips of different thickness styrene, I managed to come up with a little better system to assure the screw head was isolated. Vola! It worked. During this project I had to put it down and walk away for a day. DCC sound decoder wires and problems can be super frustrating. All that handling can lead to a secondary issue. Well, she runs great now but even with the extra pick ups she needs to have that stay alive fully charged before taking off. As for painting, yeah, another day as I have to disassemble the engine...........another of Pandora's Box if ever there was one! Cheers!
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