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This has probably been discussed before, but I need a refresher. I installed a decoder in it and it runs fine, except that at about 9ish on a scale of 28 the thing starts whining and "singing" toward, or in the rear drive wheels area. Can't quite locate the exact source. The sound goes away at about 15 and up. There doesn't appear to be any wobble in the drive train. I need some experienced ideas before I attempt to pull things apart and make things worse.
Dave
I have a gp9 that does the same thing. try putting a few drops of lube in the gears and see if it goes away. the other thing I noted that it does not whine under a load. just whines when its running solo or a few cars.
Trent, thanks for the input.
I had sparingly lubed it before, then test ran it. Thus, the whine. I took your suggestion of running it with a lot of cars (I used 10 correctly weighted ones) and the whine was gone. Took the cars off and the whine was back. Any idea why this occurs? The GP18 has all the factory installed weights. Frustrating! Has your GP9 improved any with a light load the more you run it?
Dave
Try lubing the worm gear especially the place where it meets the bronze bearings. The worm gear could be rubbing up against that.
the loco was bought new 5 years ago and it was quiet as a mouse out of the box. Just this last year it started to whine all the time when no load or just a light load on it. A few pear drops of oil made most of the noise go away. with 10-20 cars behind it I have no noise at all.
I think the Gp9 and Gp18 have the same drive train. All my 18s run fun besides the cracked axel issues known with them early on..
I liberally lubed the worm gear and bearings as Eric suggested. The whine has lessened considerably. It's hardly noticeable now.
Thanks for all your help!
If your wining comes back add a drop of oil (just one) on the motor shaft between the flywheel and motor each end.
Bob
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