Bachmann Spectrum switcher not running smooth


B

bklynman01

Active Member
For the life of me, I can't figure out what's going on here. This locomotive is only a few years old, most of which was spent in a box. I took it out recently and it's not running smoothly. I took apart both trucks, cleaned and greased, did my best to clean the motor shafts without removing the motor from the chassis. I did notice how the small gears that mount to each of wheel axels (all 4 of them) have small cracks. They don't seem to be the issue, as the cracks do not change the size or location of the gear's teeth. It seems like the gears are binding and breaking loose repeatedly, but I can't see where it would be happening.

Anyway, anyone have an idea? I've been banging my head against the bench since last night.

https://imgur.com/gallery/fAqb3Ei
 
i would assume that it would be lube, but if you've already cleaned / changed that ????
what does it do when the trucks are removed ?? smoother, or ??
 
With the trucks removed, the motor spins nicely with no hesitation.

Willie, do you mean movement along the axis of the motor shaft? In this case, that would be front to back of loco.
The worm gears are screwed in from the top with locating features on the chassis so that forward/rear adjustment isn't possible.

I also don't have too much experience with Spectrum line, but I figure its a mechanical system that operates under the same requirements of any other system. How much could they really differentiate? This is why I'm going crazy with this...
 
I would say it's the gears. I have one of those too, and I had to replace the gears on one truck. The cracks become larger under pressure, so the wheels begin to slip. If you hear a clicking noise when you run it, then it is for sure the gears.
 
wvg_ca, I tried this morning to remove one truck...
https://imgur.com/a/RhPzcSX

Sure enough, the one truck binds completely when given a light load (pushing down slightly with my finger when pushing along the tracks). The other isn't running great, but better for sure.

Thanks MoPac! I do hear a "clicking" as it runs, but I thought it was just the motor overcoming the binding forces. I'll look into ordering replacements this week, but will want to see what else I need first - don't want to order $0.75 of parts and pay $5 in shipping!

Finally, I flipped the wheel axels to take the gears out of the system. I also did not install the worm gear for that truck and tested it that way. Turns out that on the "okay" truck, one of the axels doesn't even grab the wheels the whole time, and one axel is nowhere near enough power to move the engine alone. This is what that looks like:
https://imgur.com/a/uMvnHNT

So, new gear sets it is. I'll be pretty mad if they break again in a couple of years. I have a couple of other engines that run smoothly after many more years of running, storage, then running again.
 
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