I have had three Athearn Genesis locos that had this problem. In all three cases I traced the problem to faulty bronze bearings in the truck sideframe. When I placed the trucks on a flat surface (eg a piece of glass from an old picture frame) and hold up to the light I can see daylight under one or more wheels. The fix is to dismantle the truck and straighten one or both bronze bearing pieces. I reuse the glass surface to help with this task. Make sure the bronze sideplate is straight and that all 3 bottom bits touch the glass. I straightened the bronze by carefully bending by hand, but be careful as they are relatively weak. Taking the trucks apart is the answer but experience in doing this is required. I have also found some wheelsets out of gauge so check and fix this at the same time if required.
Steve
Thanks, and the same to you and yours
Dan
Dan,
That is excellent.
Merry Christmas to you and your son.
Rich
Alton Junction
Absolutely, kudos to both!
Succesfully managed to exchange the loco today, tested on my track just now and it sails round like a charm! Wonderful! Now, it wasn't exactly my LHS, round trip of 189 miles to be precise, but to see my sons face on Sunday it will all be worth it!
Wanted to give a shout out to the store, wasn't sure if I could but I just spotted their add on this page so I suppose it's ok! Thank you modeltrainstuff.com, aka MB Klein Inc. Frank was very helpful in customer support yesterday arranging everything for me and was even kind enough to come into the store to say hi when I was there today. everyone in the store were more than helpful and very knowledgable.
That is excellent news.
Kudos to both Athearn and your LHS.
Give us a final report.
Quick update for everyone. Both Athearn and the retailer are willing to help, so at least I don't have to fight for a resolution. Athearn offered either to ship replacement trucks for me to fit or I could ship the loco to them and they would fix (and pay for the shipping both ways). With a brand new loco I'm not keen on fixing myself and shipping to Athearn obviously wouldn't mean my son would have it for Christmas.
The retailer had one left in stock. The tested it for me on their test track and apparently it ran fine, so tomorrow I'm going to take a little drive to swap the two units. Apparently something about this is contrary to the retailers policy, but as I was willing to drive to them they are making an exception for me.
Hopefully this time tomorrow all will be well!
I think the trucks are plastic. I had a good look at them and they feel plastic, but I can't say I'm 100% sure. If neither the retailer or Athearn can offer a remedy before Christmas I'll have a go at carefully bending them back into shape, but I'm not keen on the idea.
I do like to support my LHS, but for some things it's on line price or no buying at all. The retailer I bought from is less than 2 hours drive from me, so I could take half a day and go and visit them if it promised to be worth while.
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions
When i got mine SD70Ace the cab end truck will come off the rails at one spot in reverse,Called Athearn and on the Ace locomotives only he said that to bent the truck with your hand and it will help and i did and it worked.Better to send back but i kept mine because it was the only ACe locomotive he had.
Russell
Just out of curiosity, are these trucks made of plastic?
I would lift one end of the locomotive slightly, the other truck still on the tracks, and slightly twist the locomotive to see if the truck on the track seems to sit well. If it doesn't, then the design is such that the trucks can't pivot and accommodate track height disparities very well. Repeat for the other truck. Also, if you can remove the trucks, inspect pivoting/bearing surfaces for irregularities, including plastic burrs.
I had similar problems with my older SD75M's from Genesis. I placed them on a flat counter and looked for light under any of the flanges. I found a couple and tried to twist the trucks to restore their geometry. I had marginal success. I also went to the lengths of raising the outer rails on a couple of wide curves that presented no problems previously to about 16 other locomotives of different kinds. This involved wetting and softening the ballast, prying up the outer rails along a length, often about 12", and then letting the ballast dry again. That cured my derailments, and the results have been permanent, now near two years.
If the trucks are quite badly warped, I'd return the locomotive.
Crandell
This is where buying from the LHS is nice. All you have to do is exchange it for a new one.
But let us know what you find out.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Thanks, I will keep you posted. First thing Monday I'm going to call the retailer and Athearn, see who can offer the best solution.
Cooped I tried pushing it along the track as suggested. The offending wheels barely touch the track at any point! It basically derails as soon as it hits any curve. I can't see any point where the track dips or rises making it worse so I'm pretty sure the track is not an issue. I'm trying to contact the retailer, but it's comforting to see the issue has been brought up to Athearn already. My biggest problem is trying to get a resolution before Christmas!
I tried pushing it along the track as suggested. The offending wheels barely touch the track at any point! It basically derails as soon as it hits any curve. I can't see any point where the track dips or rises making it worse so I'm pretty sure the track is not an issue.
I'm trying to contact the retailer, but it's comforting to see the issue has been brought up to Athearn already. My biggest problem is trying to get a resolution before Christmas!
The more I read, the more I am convinced that the problem is, in fact, warped trucks.
Call Athearn on Monday and see if they can send out something to you in time for Christmas.
Time is short, so that is not likely though.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Remember when you had a set of wooden trains that you had to push around the wooden track? Well, that's one way to look for the problem. Very slowly push the engine along the section of track where you have the problem. Watch closely and see where the wheel leave the track and climb up and over. Then you can examine the rails for dips, kinks, misaligned rail joints and so on. You may have a combination of problems with track and the warped trucks. You'll need to fix both.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
On second thought, speaking of warped trucks, check out this discussion on another forum:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,2328420
I am with cacole on this.
In spite of your observations about warped trucks, it is most likely your track work.
As cacole suggests, if you could test it on perfectly level, perfectly aligned, track, you could determine for certain whether to rule out track work or blame your derailments on faulty track work.
22" radius curves will test the ability of 6-axle or 8-axle diesels to negotiate such curves without derailing.
Look more closely at your track work before blaming the diesel locomotive.
Since you "just bought it", the first place I would take it to is the retailer where you bought it. This had been a common problem with certain Athearn models (you can do a forum search on warped trucks).
If the place where you bought it can't help, then contact Athearn.
Inspired by Addiction
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Thanks for the quick reply. I placed the model on the kitchen counter and both front and rear trucks are definately warped, the front being the worst!
I guess I have to get in touch with Athearn about this or is there a way of fixing it?
I haven't checked the track level yet, I like the little tool you show, I'll have to get one.
Thanks again
I had a similar problem several years ago with four Athearn Genesis SD70s. The problem was a combination of warped trucks causing one wheel to not sit firmly on the rail, and a slight dip (or rise) in one rail.
You need to find a known, perfectly flat surface that is near eye-ball level. Place the loco on that surface and very carefully check to see if all the wheels are touching.
Secondly, get a small bubble level and very slowly slide it around your trackwork where the locomotive derails and watch for sudden rises or dips in the trackwork.
I found a very handy triangular-shaped double-vial bubble level at Lowe's that can check for sideways and front-to-back dips or rises at the same time. I was able to find problems that could not be seen by just looking at the track from a distance.
http://www.swansontoolco.com/images/archive/CCL001.jpg
I bought this model for my son for Christmas, just tried it out yesterday to make sure there was nothing wrong with it and it keeps derailing on the 22" radius curves we have. Track seems to be fine, everything else goes round them with no problems.
The motor is a little noisy for what I was expecting and it's not fully broken in yet, but it's the derailing that's my biggest worry. Anyone have any ideas? I'd like to fix this before Christmas or my son is going to be very dissappointed.
ThanksDan