Tower 55 ES44AC?

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"I may have missed it, but did you tear it apart and really verify the problem?"

I removed the plastic shell, and can hand turn the brass flywheels. I can see that the front drive shaft turns nicely along with the front six wheels. The rear drive shaft turns intermittently, and the rear wheels do not turn at all. If you flip the chassis over, you cannot turn the front wheels by hand, but the rear wheels turn easily.

If anybody can explain to me how to visually inspect the gears (remove the rear truck), it would be greatly appreciated.

I am all for the having NWSL build a gear if it is possible. I noticed on their website that they have all sorts of HO scale drive gears already made.

Jared
 
I've e-mailed NWSL to find out if they either have gears that will work, or can replicate them. I'll let you guys know what I find out.

Jared
 
As a last resort, you could remove the gearing in the broken truck to get free wheel, so the loco would be able to move, but it will somehow decrease its pulling power
 


I've been talking with Dave at NWSL, and at first he seemed interested in having me send in my T55 so that he could look at it and solve the problem. But now it seems that he has decided not to, due to the limited number of T55's out there. He mentioned that he has indeed seen the drive train from another T55 in the past, and that the gears were plastic 1:1 gears with 45 degree angled teeth, and not like anything that they currently make. From what I have read, it seems that the gear splits on the shaft, and no longer grabs the shaft. Could the existing gear be possibly glued?

Jared
 
they where someone on the forums who was doing CNC parts, if you can manage to give me all the dimension of the gear, i could make an Catia design, so he could easily build one for you
 
Well, I believe that I have found the culprit. Thanks to the help of SSW, I was able to take the rear truck off, and inspect the gears a little better. It seems upon initial inspection, that the idler gear, as well as the traction gears are okay. It is the tiny "Tower Top Gear," as the exploded diagram calls, is cracked, and no longer grips the drive shaft, it just spins. Mine is not completely cracked, but enough that it no longer holds the shaft firmly. I am going to e-mail images of the gear to Dave at NWSL, and see if he can help me out. If not, maybe I can glue the gear to the drive shaft, as the teeth are in perfect shape.

Jared

Here is the offending gear, you can definitely see the crack.

3312cf4.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So the Overland brass units are the same powertrain as the Tower 55 units then like previously mentioned? It would be nice to look at a few booklets that came with the brass units so you can see for sure. Then, if they are the same, and my understanding is that they were as well, I would get ahold of Brain over there and be a pain in his you know what until they start treating you right. Since its likely the same part as the brass units, I would just get a new part through Overland. You dont need to tell them its tower 55 unit if its the same.
 
jphendren said:
Well, I believe that I have found the culprit. Thanks to the help of SSW, I was able to take the rear truck off, and inspect the gears a little better. It seems upon initial inspection, that the idler gear, as well as the traction gears are okay. It is the tiny "Tower Top Gear," as the exploded diagram calls, is cracked, and no longer grips the drive shaft, it just spins. Mine is not completely cracked, but enough that it no longer holds the shaft firmly. I am going to e-mail images of the gear to Dave at NWSL, and see if he can help me out. If not, maybe I can glue the gear to the drive shaft, as the teeth are in perfect shape.

Jared

Here is the offending gear, you can definitely see the crack.

3312cf4.jpg
Click to expand...
If nothing, I have a high strength CA that might be able to repair that.
 
Well, I'm going to sending my gear to NWSL. They have agreed to look at it, and potentially use it to make more of them. I will keep you posted on the projects progress via this thread.

Jared
 


why not see if you can find an overland chassis on ebay and use the parts you need and have some spares? i've seen some chassis with trucks only going for a decent price.
 
julienjj said:
they where someone on the forums who was doing CNC parts, if you can manage to give me all the dimension of the gear, i could make an Catia design, so he could easily build one for you
Click to expand...

ther eis a lot more involved in cutting a gear, especially a helical gear like in the photo..It takes more specialized equipment then a lathe or mill. You have to figure, the tool for cutting that gear will cost about $500 alone and be a minimum of 6 weeks waiting around for it..now granted if there is a market which seems by all the complaints I have read there should be
 
I'm using BSI's IC-2000. Its a carbon hardened CA. However Cyanopoxy will work too.

Don't use normal CA, it'll shear off from the torque in the gear tower.
 


I was running my T-55 ES-44DC the other day with my Intermountain version to see if they are compatable. They started good but after a couple of loops around the layout I was using the T-55 just stopped. The lights would work, but nothing else. Any ideas or same thing?
 
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