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I have a LGB ABe 4/4 triebwagen from the very early production batches, that I acquired second hand a while ago. When it arrived I completely disassembled it for a thorough inspection/clean and replaced the wheel sets. A number of missing parts were also sourced to replace missing/damaged items then the whole thing was reassembled and has given good service for several years on both DC and DCC power.
As has been noted here previously, getting the body off the underframe and back onto it again is a very finicky and time consuming process.
After a long bout of Christmas tree merry-go-round running this Christmas, the No. 2 II end truck of my 20390 sized up, so some servicing was required.
Last time I took the body off and then released the trucks from the body by undoing the screw that going down into the truck pivot. This time I was highly motivated to avoid removing the body, so after carefully examining the truck mount I determined that the whole pivot assembly was actually screwed into the underframe from below, and it seemed likely that it might be removed without taking the body off.
With some manouvering of the truck, the two screws which hold the pivot in place can be sequentially exposed and removed, using a long Philips screwdriver.
This is what it looks like with the truck removed. As this is an early production 20390 it did not have the design update which was applied to later production to minimise derailments. When I did the original refurbishment, I bought new top covers from the truck assemblies but could not find the "bearing plate" part that was supposed to attach to the underframe near the pivot. I worked out that a couple of layers of old credit card plastic would come out to pretty much the same thickness so used that instead. Credit card plastic is pretty tough stuff which is designed to survive a hard life in use.
The truck plugs into a 4 wire socket that goes to the internal planar. Once the cable is unplugged the truck is completely free from the underframe.
This is what the truck assembly looks like when it is free of the underframe.
I was now at the point where I could remove the top cover of the truck. The problem turned out to be a siezed motor, and was quickly fixed by replacing motor, then refitting the truck to the underframe.
By the way this was my first chance to use the excellent G scale train maintenance cradle which Wilf Blum (WTB Design) in Canada sells as a flat pack kit. I bought the 32" long version, which is long enough to take a Ge 6/6 I. I am very happy with it.
BTW, if you want to get the truck sideframe assembly off the motor block, the top cover has to be removed from the motor block (not the bottom cover
).
As has been noted here previously, getting the body off the underframe and back onto it again is a very finicky and time consuming process.
After a long bout of Christmas tree merry-go-round running this Christmas, the No. 2 II end truck of my 20390 sized up, so some servicing was required.
Last time I took the body off and then released the trucks from the body by undoing the screw that going down into the truck pivot. This time I was highly motivated to avoid removing the body, so after carefully examining the truck mount I determined that the whole pivot assembly was actually screwed into the underframe from below, and it seemed likely that it might be removed without taking the body off.
With some manouvering of the truck, the two screws which hold the pivot in place can be sequentially exposed and removed, using a long Philips screwdriver.
This is what it looks like with the truck removed. As this is an early production 20390 it did not have the design update which was applied to later production to minimise derailments. When I did the original refurbishment, I bought new top covers from the truck assemblies but could not find the "bearing plate" part that was supposed to attach to the underframe near the pivot. I worked out that a couple of layers of old credit card plastic would come out to pretty much the same thickness so used that instead. Credit card plastic is pretty tough stuff which is designed to survive a hard life in use.
The truck plugs into a 4 wire socket that goes to the internal planar. Once the cable is unplugged the truck is completely free from the underframe.
This is what the truck assembly looks like when it is free of the underframe.
I was now at the point where I could remove the top cover of the truck. The problem turned out to be a siezed motor, and was quickly fixed by replacing motor, then refitting the truck to the underframe.
By the way this was my first chance to use the excellent G scale train maintenance cradle which Wilf Blum (WTB Design) in Canada sells as a flat pack kit. I bought the 32" long version, which is long enough to take a Ge 6/6 I. I am very happy with it.
BTW, if you want to get the truck sideframe assembly off the motor block, the top cover has to be removed from the motor block (not the bottom cover
).
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