I,ve been self teaching myself repair techniques. Tonight i tried to fix a loose drive wheel on one of my turbines. I got everything set and running, however their is a slight bind. What tools do i need to buy to properly quarter this loco? It is frustrating. Ive pulled the wheels on at least 2 dozen spur gear engines without any problems, but worms are fussy. So school me and ill blow more money on my workbench. Im sure the tools will pay for themselves.
Did you pull anything but the one loose wheel? Did you put it back on or replace it with a new wheel? What did you do to tighten it up?
One thing to keep in mind in dealing with quartering is that it is unimportant that the wheels on each axle be quartered exactly. What is important is that they all have the same quartering error. Many models are built with their wheels quartered only approximately. So you can cause a problem by "correcting" the quartering on one axle. One interesting example of imperfect quartering is the Lionel General-type 4-4-0, which actually has its cranks aligned, so that the crossheads can drive the air pump inside the boiler.
Bob Nelson
lionelsoni...One thing to keep in mind in dealing with quartering is that it is unimportant that the wheels on each axle be quartered exactly...
...One thing to keep in mind in dealing with quartering is that it is unimportant that the wheels on each axle be quartered exactly...
With 4 axles and the power being transmitted through the side rods, it pretty darn important to get it close on post-1946 Turbines to have the wheels in quarter.
To be fair, though, there's so much slop in the side rods that it should be easy enough to eyeball it with the right side wheels 90 degrees behind the left side wheels. The wheel cups allow you do do it precisely.
Rob
Rob, I'll stand behind the entire statement:
"One thing to keep in mind in dealing with quartering is that it is unimportant that the wheels on each axle be quartered exactly. What is important is that they all have the same quartering error. Many models are built with their wheels quartered only approximately. So you can cause a problem by 'correcting' the quartering on one axle."
My point is that, if Lionel "quartered" the cranks at 80 degrees, for example, setting one axle "precisely" to 90 degrees will mess things up. Whether his turbine is set exactly to 90 degrees or a little more or a little less, I don't know. But I have seen other than 90 degrees from the Lionel factory.
Left side leading is indeed correct for PRR.
lionelsoni ...But I have seen other than 90 degrees from the Lionel factory...
...But I have seen other than 90 degrees from the Lionel factory...
Not on a single worm drive Turbine or Berkshire...
How about a 773? They were also built with left-hand lead, which I think is wrong for NYC.
How much difference does having all the axles out of quarter by exactly the same amount make? It takes a whopping quartering error of 48.5 degrees just to double the backlash in the driven wheels.
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