A couple months ago I posted the long and sad story of my PCM Pennsy Decapod. It suffered a serious bind in its mechanism and I sent it to PCM for repair. They sent it back unrepaired, explaining they could not see the severe hesitation in its gait. I was disgusted, but after a long phone conversation with Larry I agreed to send it back a second time.
After about six weeks Larry called to tell me they still couldn't see a problem. I explained in a letter enclosed with the engine that it ran well on level track with no load, but at low speed uphill or under a load it came to a complete stop once per revolution of the drivers. On level track you could hold the tender coupler and see the same action. But Larry and his crew still could not see it.
But then, as my disgust was giving way to anger, Larry said he would remove the whole chassis and replace it with another. I said thanks, but wouldn't it be ok just to attach the new engine to my tender and send it back? He could have done that, but the only engine he had was a long tender version and mine is short. Because there are some detail variations between the two, he would rather switch chassis and return to me a correct model..
I am impressed! Larry could have just sent mine back again, unrepaired. Or he could have sent a mismatched replacement, which I probably wouldn't have noticed. Instead he went the extra distance and made sure it was done right.
The rebuilt engine runs as smooth as any engine I have ever seen, even at speed step one. And it's a pretty good hauler, too, having just pulled 22 hoppers up my 2% grade. And this with no traction tires. In my first post I expressed some doubt about ever buying another PCM/BLI product. Granted, there must be some quality control issues, but when they will make the extra effort to satisfy a customer I can only say, buy with confidence. If something is wrong, they will make it right. I like that.
That's good to hear. Glad they fixed it.
Glad they took care of your problem Patrick. I think one of there in finding engine problems is they have a pretty small and flat bench to test the engine on.
When you said they replaced the chassis, just the chassis and reused your drive wheels, motor or did they switch your shell to there engine? Not that it really matters, its fixed.
I going to say the problem was where the motors worm gear contacts the tower gear. When it is not in alignment it will cause that kind of problem. My BLI M1a developed the same problem, I lost the correct motor mount screw and used one that was to long. It hit the bottom of the motor and pushed it up, causing the gears not a line right.
Over all the repair team at BLI will do there best with what they have to make us happy. I do love there engines when they work right.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust