Lionel Postwar 2055 Hudson "locking up"

[Wabashbud]

Same problem on a 1666.  Found the driving rods were loose on one side.  Got them back into position and presto - smooth running.  Now after a few hours of running I check all the rods for tightness.

 

 

[LL675]

check that your drivers are secure on the axles. I have a 675 that looked up, and one of the drivers was loose, and got out of sync with the gears. a drop of super glue fixed it.

[matthewg]

Well it seems to have cleared up after manually getting the wheels to turn, then running it for a bit. Definitely could use a little cleaning around the axles from what I can see. It figures though that something would happen just over 7 days after I got it (was purchased off eBay with a 7 day return policy)

[cwburfle]

Check your gears carefully. Motors locking up as you describe is often caused by something lodging in the teeth. When this happens the wheels will turn a bit, but then almost always freeze in one spot.
If the wheels are hard to turn all the time, then somethng (like a piece of tinsel or carpet fiber) might be caught on an axle, usually between the wheel and frame.
Often these bits can be plucked out and unwound with a very thin pair of tweezers.

[matthewg]

The other day I was running my 2055 with no issues, derailed the trailing truck while trying to back through a switch , then decided to call it a day. A bit later I i was was running it for a minute or so but when trying to go into forward from neutral it barely moved (of course I could still hear the motor humming), then it ran backwards for a bit, tried to go into forward again, same thing, then wouldn't budge in neutral. Hoping its nothing serious such as a gear tooth broken or something (ive got a K-Line MP15 on my workbench with some seriously screwed up metal gears). Anything to look for, I'm sure its not an issue with the E unit because the wheels no longer turn freely when I try and move them manually.

Matt