Tower 55 ES44AC?


J

jphendren

Member
Hello,

I am new here and this is my first post. I recently purchased a Tower 55 ES44AC off of ebay; the seller stated new in the box. The locomotive arrived on last Thursday I believe. Anyways this locomotive looks great, and is very nicely detailed. However when I put it on my Kato Unitrack oval and run it in DCC the motor was somewhat noisy, at least much noisier than the motor in my Athearn Genesis #844 steam engine. This is only my second locomotive, after the Athearn #844, so I am not sure if this is normal. The other thing I noticed is that it jerks and jumps, and is not very smooth when running. Sometimes it will just stop and you can still hear the motor running but the train is going nowhere. I have tried playing with the CV's, that really does make much difference. While I'm not completely sure, it sure seems as if this locomotive may have drive/gear problems.

When you flip the locomotive over and try to turn the front wheels, they only move a tiny bit and stop. However the rear wheels do turn, is this normal?

Is it even possible to get drivetrain parts for T55's any longer?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Jared
 
you can still hear the motor running but the train is going nowhere.
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I don't know about your drive wheels but if the motor runs and the engine doesn't then there definitely is a problem. I don't know much about your loco but it sure doesn't sound right to me
There's sure to be some members here who will be able to give some advice on what you can do about it.
Cheers
Willis
 
The wheels should not move freely, this is an indication to broken gears, or a free drive shaft.
 
It's a split worm gear.
I have a friend's ES44 on my workbench right now. It presented with identical symptoms, took it apart and found the split worm. I've got inquiries out on parts and will let you know what I find.
 
"I've got inquiries out on parts and will let you know what I find."

Thanks, I have also tried to contact Ajin Precision to see what they say. Overland was of little help.

P.S. Was this a common problem with these T55's? I am tempted to look for another, but don't really want to risk getting another lemon. I ended up getting this one for free.

Jared
 
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I've heard it's a growing problem on them.

I have an email into Overland but I guess that won't do much good. I thought about swapping an Athearn truck in but the mount is too different.

Let me know what you hear if anything from Ajin, its beginning to sound like this thing may run around as a C-3 instead of a C-C and just have the rear truck along for the ride.

Either that or my friend has a $300 roundhouse queen.
 
"I have an email into Overland but I guess that won't do much good."

No, at least not in my opinion. I spoke with Brian at Overland on the phone. He was reluctant to talk about T55 in any capacity. He essentially told me had no intention of dealing with the T55 issue at all. I've read on several websites, that some Overland trains share the same drive components as the T55's, I'm not sure if that is true or not. I'm also not sure that Overland stocks spare drive parts for their own stuff.

I'm about to just forget about this T55, and buy something else. Due to the lack of support and spare parts, I don't think that I would buy another.

Jared
 
With such poor help and customer service from a company that wants 800 plus for locomotives. I would expect a bit better then that from them. Real nice.
 
I had a T55 ES44DC, and was less than impressed. The plastics on the bodyshell were a bit opaque, the paint was smeared in some areas, and the drivetrain showed the same problems the ones mentioned in this thread did.

Fortunately, I was able to return it to my dealer. However, I´d have expected a bit more cooperation from OMI, as this poor service would keep me from ever buying anything OMI - even a brass engine - in the future.
 
When OMI set up Tower 55, which later became T55, they did a sloppy job from day one, including picking a name that got them into a lawsuit. Their products were never any better than most high end Atlas and P2K engines and, in some cases, they were not even as good. The only thing they did right was to make sure Tower 55 was set up at an arm's length relationship to OMI, so when they sold the dies and plans to Athearn, they were able to belly up T55 without having any financial impact on OMI. They made no attempt to support previous buyers of T55 products and, in fact, basically told people they were on their won. I certainly wouldn't purchase anything from OMI and expect any support if they get in trouble also.
 
I guess this explains why Athearn has taken so long to get the former T55 stuff out. It sounds like they have had to practically redesign everything so it actually runs and looks decent.
 
ChevelleSSguy said:
I guess this explains why Athearn has taken so long to get the former T55 stuff out. It sounds like they have had to practically redesign everything so it actually runs and looks decent.
Click to expand...

Oh dear, that would mean that in essence, all they could "reuse" was the research that already went into T55´s projects, but not much else.

That having been said, I would REALLY like an HO GEVO, UP if possible.
 
With Athearn motors little changed in the last 30 years, I highly doubt they will venture too far from their tried and true platform. I think youll most likely see the proven genesis engine (I know its a genesis release after all) with improved tooling over the T55.
 
I've contacted OMI, as well as Ajin Precision (the actual manufacturer) trying to find drive train parts. NObody has anything, or wants to help in any way. It seems to me, that my T55 is just a paperweight. From what I have read on other boards, the only way to repair these is to cannibalize another T55 for a gear.

Jared
 
Send the broke gear to Northwest Shortline and see if they will make it. If we can show there is a need, Dave may cut them for us. I have two T55 and suppose they will fail eventually due to poor choice of plastics. Too many engines out there with split gears, Protos, Athearns even most older brass.
Price of economy I guess.
 
Having another gear made may be an option.

Anybody here know how to remove the truck in order to inspect the gears? I have the shell removed, and can clearly see that the the rear wheels will not turn when the flywheel is turned, but have not figured out how to get any further to actually look at the gears.

Jared
 
I was thinking NWSL as well. Are these really different then a OMI brass unit though? I just dont see them redesigning the drivetrain instead of using what they already have. I may have missed it, but did you tear it apart and really verify the problem?
 
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