Spectrum 44 & 70 tonner engines

[dragenrider]

Hello to all! [#welcome]

I have gone through about seven of Spectrum's 44 & 70 tonner engines. I only have three left that operate. All three have been rewired for their two motors to be in parallel. (or is it series?) Anyway, the 44 tonner has excellent slow speed and neither of the motors ever hang up. The two surviving 70 tonners occasionally hang up, but only one of them has decent slow speed. I've noticed that one of the 70 ton engines has blackened wheels.

Now, I know that these two motor engines are not the best, but Spectrum doesn't have single motor 70 tonners on the market like their updated 44's. My question is this: is there a particular run of engines that was better than the others? If so, which ones? Shell color/road name is not important. I just want a stable of excellent running 70 ton engines![soapbox]

Any thoughts or suggestions how to accompli***his with the traditional poor performance? [banghead]

[Anonymous]

I feel your pain. I have two of those models by Spectrum and both sit and collect dust. I wanted these for my shortline but alas they se occasional use as weights to hold scenery down while the glue dries. I would love to get them running but they are extremely frustrating to me. I hope someone here has a solution.

Jeremy

[dragenrider]

Hey, Bachmann!!! [:-,] It's time to put out a remotored 70 tonner! [2c]

[Anonymous]

I have one of the dual motor 44 tonners, i bought it at a train show a few weeks ago so havent run it that much, what are the problems i should beware of?

[sparkingbolt]

I have done some corrective surgery on a bunch of those 2 motor 44 tonners. If the gears are split in the trucks, on the axles, they obviously need replaced.

Now the problem I and others have encountered is a shorting in the motors due to carbon off the brushes building up between the commutator plates on the motor's armature. The easy and short term fix is to scrape the carbon out of there with a sharp pin. Be ever so careful when doing this, not to scratch anything or break the hair like winding wire.

The long term fix takes some advanced skills. You have to disassemble the motor, something it wasn't meant for, and clean out the gaps in the armature's commutator's completely, even using alcohol. Then you find a slip of styrene or other plastic that is the same thickness as the gap, use a tiny dab of superglue to glue a peice in there. You can leave a peice of it hanging out and trim it off after the superglue is dry. Sometimes the trimming process will pull the whole peice out, be patient and start over. This fills the gap and carbon can't clog it anymore.

Start disassembly by bending the brush spring holders up out of the way just far enough to pull out the spring and carbon brush out. work over a surface where you can find these tiny parts when, not if, you drop them. Like in a cakepan. Also take note before you disassemble anything, the position of the motor itself in the truck. Mark it. If you put it back in upside down, it'll run backwards. The motor's frame is a single stamped sheet meatl peice that is folded around 3 edges of the motor, the 4th end is plastic. you use a jewelers screwdriver to pry the metaloff the plastic end enough to pull the end and armature out of the frame. No need to try to pull the gear off the shaft. Then you can proceed with the gap filling procedure as above.

After you have filled the gaps, you have to make sure that you got every bit of glue off the commutator, not easy 'cuz it's clear and hard to see. Also have to make sure that the plastic slip between the plates is NOT sticking out even the tiniest bit, as this will hold the brush off the copper surfaces and stall the motor. At this point I sand the poli***he commutators with 2000 or finer grit sandpaper. Even then I have had motors stall due to the plastic peice still holding the brush off the comm's This now can be addressed without tearing the motor apart, just go in from the side of the motor with a new Exacto blade and "shave" across the gaps longways, this has always worked for me.

Please be aware that this is a very delicate and risky procedure and you're risking your li'l 44 or 70 tonner on it. If you don't have the skill, save these critters away until you do. If you break ONE wire that goes from the windings to the commutator, it's toast. there are TINY thrust washers on the motor shafts, they can get lost. Everything is so tiny and fragile, so this is not an easy project. Still, my fleet of 44 tonners is alive and well.

If you lose the tiny spring on the carbon brush, guess what!!! Same springs as used on Kadee couplers on the knuckle.

I didn't mean to make an encyclopaedia out of this, but it's what ya need to know if you want to tackle it. Dan

[Anonymous]

One of the main problems I've heard of with the dual motored ones is the main bearings are plain brass or bronze, and are not the oil impregnated ones as found on other engines. They dry out and cause the motors to smoke and burn out. A friend with a large layout has sidelined his two units because of this.

I only operated my 44 tonner on my module at train shows, which was not very often. One day at home when I was trying something with the engine, smoke started to come out of it. I took it apart and oiled the bearings and it has worked fine ever since. I imagine heavier use would require frequent oilings.

Bob Boudreau
Canada

[joseph2]

Concerning the difference in speeds,in real life the 44 Ton is slower.It is geared for 20 mph,while the 70 Ton had a top speede of at least 50 mph. Joe G.

[Anonymous]

Im going to be using mine as switcher in a small town yard, operating it fairly frequently. are there any other telltale signs that it needs oil befor the smoke?[B)]

[dragenrider]

Sparkingbolt, I tip my hat to your electric expertise. Sadly, I understood almost nothing of your reply. I appreciate your effort, though. That's a lot of writing!

Thank you all for the other information and thoughts, too.

From this post's answers and other research, it appears that the dual motor locomotives was a good idea that just had too many flaws, most of which show up after marketing.

I guess I'll wait until I can get my hands on a single motor 44 or two. [sigh] That or pray the day comes when Spectrum puts out the 70 tonner with a single motor. [zzz]

[Anonymous]

Im going to install a decoder in my 44 tonner. Do i need to buy an N scale decoder or is there a place in there i can fit a T1?

[Jetrock]

The second version of the 44 tonner (the one with one motor) supposedly is "DCC-ready" although that can mean a lot of things...I imagine one could just replace the PC board with the headlamps with a decoder. If you have the two-motor version, well, get the one-motor one and sell the two-motor one to a trolley buff.

If lubrication is a problem, a little lube on the brass worm gear would hopefully help... I own a few of those 44 and 70 tonners--a couple to operate as they are, and more to turn into the power units for a variety of upcoming traction projects.

[sparkingbolt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dragenrider

Sparkingbolt, I tip my hat to your electric expertise. Sadly, I understood almost nothing of your reply. I appreciate your effort, though. That's a lot of writing!

Thank you all for the other information and thoughts, too.

From this post's answers and other research, it appears that the dual motor locomotives was a good idea that just had too many flaws, most of which show up after marketing.

I guess I'll wait until I can get my hands on a single motor 44 or two. [sigh] That or pray the day comes when Spectrum puts out the 70 tonner with a single motor. [zzz]

Yup, I admit it gets pretty hairy. I have a couple of single motor 44 tonners, and they are quite an improvement, IMHO. DCC ready too.

Maybe if we make enough noise on the "Ask the Bach-Man" forum, a single motor 70 tonner could materialize? Dan