Hey all. Purchased a sunset mikado with dcc and sound for 250 dollars. Great deal. It had a broken cowcatcher and I fixed that. Lubed up the engine and well... it ran awful at slow speeds and stuttered somewhat even at mainline speed. Took it apart and it has a can motor looks fine to me.
Here are images of the models drive train. opened the gear box and cleaned the grease out. It was black and tar like if that means anything.
I'm kind of at a loss as to what is causing the running issues. Any ideas?
the images: https://imgur.com/a/Rvvt87l
dis connect motor from the drivers and make sure all wheels turn freely. Cleaning gearbox and lub with new modern lithium grease is a start. Make sure motor is running free. Hope this helps. Andy
andy chandler dis connect motor from the drivers and make sure all wheels turn freely.
dis connect motor from the drivers and make sure all wheels turn freely.
Andy gives good advice. If it is still hard to push with your finger even without the motor connected, then try disconnecting the valve gear. If it now easy to push, the problem is likely with the valve gear. if it is still hard to push, then the problom is likely side-rod bind. If still hard to push w/o side rods, now we are looking at the bearings.
I assume the engine runs just as poorly when the power leads are attached directly to the engine and do not go through the tender? What I am getting at is that poor electric contact in the tender needs to be ruled out too.
Now having said all that one good rule of thumb is never disassemble brass unless ya gotta. Is there a chance perhaps it just was never broken in correctly?
Try holding the loco upside down in one of those foam rubber holders and let the engine run upside down, 15 minutes in one direction, 15 minutes in the other. That can help the axles set into the bearings, help smooth out any little burrs on the rods or valve gear. Some modelers add a bit of jewelers rouge, or soft toothpaste, to mating parts to gently smooth them out. Of course it has to be removed completely once success has been achieved or the wear will continue.
There are many threads on this Forum about getting a brass loco to run better and it is worth searching for them.
Dave Nelson