Yesterday while I was nearing the end of an operating session, my Tower 55 ES44DC stopped running. At first it was surging and then it stopped moving completely. Now having said all that the motor was still turning but the loco went nowhere.
I do plan to open up the loco tonight to check an see what the problem might be. What should I be looking for and if I have a problem with a cracked gear or a drive line issue can I still salvage the loco or is it dead. Thanks
Will
Things to look for:
First, clean the wheels and your track if this is the only locomotive you were running at the time.
Turn one of the flywheels by hand and see if the wheels move. If not, push down on the gear tower covers to insure that the worm gears are meshed, and try again. If so, the motor may be bad.
Check the drive shafts between the flywheels and gear towers to insure they are not broken.
Check the power pickup wires from the trucks to the motor/circuit board to insure that they are still firmly connected. If one or more wires are loose, solder them back into place.
With the locomotive turned upside down, see if one or more sets of wheels can be moved by hand. If they can, the axle gear is cracked and must be replaced.
If all of the above check out okay, the gear towers and motor bearings may need to be lubricated.
Tower 55 locomotives were made by Ajin Precision of Korea. Athearn has bought the rights to the T55 models, but whether Athearn gears or any other parts will fit the Ajin mechanisms is questionable.
If you're the person who has been asking about Tower 55 models because you bought one on e-Bay, you may have just discovered why it was for sale.
I've heard that the T55 drives (at least the early ones) had problems with the worms splitting, so the shaft would keep spinning, but nothing would move. If that's the problem, maybe NWSL has a replacement you can use.
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There was a post about 3 days ago from another person that was having a problem with a Tower 55 loco. Don't know if it was the same engine or not, but maybe if you two communicate you might find some common solution to both of your problems. Link is: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/172571.aspx