What you have is the wires to the device that makes 4 chuffs per revolution of the wheels. It could be that somewhere along the line during battery conversion wires have been added or reworked from the too that makes ypthis difficult to removed. my thoughts are why not just leave it as a battery loco? There is always some benefit to having at least one loco that does not require track power and could this be the one for you?
Go back to Greg's video and you can see the difference. The two chuff sensors are not sticking up in the same way - I think they should be laying flat under the axle.. It's just out of shot on my picture but the loco is still laying on its side in da shed
Hi Robert,
By accident, I was co-operating with Tim over the other side of town, dealing with a 2-6-0 and two of the 4-4-0s for the past few months, Pics were useful when trying to explain what I was doing to him. I wrote up a thread on MLS and LSC "A tale of two 4-4-0s".
I have no battery packs as it did not come to me with any. So yes, I could buy batteries, but then I need to also buy a charger and do all the neccessary research (started a new thread on this topic in fact). However, I do have plenty of power supplies, so now my investment is time and no capital. I'm a DCC guy and while I've continued to read about dead rail, WiFi control, DCC over WiFi etc. I'm still pretty comfortable with putting voltage on the rails. I regularly operated on the SJRP&Ry which uses Lenz with generally good results. I also have spare DCC boosters, command stations and controllers, so then if I'm making a capital investment I'm buying decoder(s) and wire.
I'm not against battery, just trying to explore my options. Given the apparent weakeness in the gearing of this loco, it seems like figuring out how to get it apart is something worthwhile anyways, since it seems like there is a better than 50% chance it could fail at some point.
Fred2179G
thanks very much for all this helpful info! Yes, my Tender wipers are completely missing, but has been noted construction my own should not be too big of a deal, the bigger issue I think will be removing the chains so that I can remove the trucks to work on them. Thankfully along with the actual loco's and rolling stock, I got a bunch of raw material, so I happen to know I have some lightweight brass sheet that I could use to fabricate new wipers. As noted in another reply here, being able to service the loco would still be useful, and I'd rather have more pick-up if possible, so tender and engine would be great. It also seems like I may have enough play to get that spring back into place... maybe.
I find the chains a pain, so I am very happy when they fall off so I can remove them all.
Can I recommend phosphor-bronze for wipers? It is springier and retains its springiness longer than brass. I think you can get sheets of it on Amazon. (I have a lot of p-b wire sold as trolley wire that I bought 30 years ago.)
So Christmas caught up with me and had to set it all aside. Gave up on trying to get the loco apart. Did manage to get the spring back in place even with the driver wheel in the way.I think you're in a similar place to where I was - so take the bull by the horns and dismantle the loco completely. You'll then be able to see the PCBs quite easily, and steadily put things back together the way you want them.
It's not as difficult as it sounds - the 4-4-0 is one of the easier Bachmann locos to take apart ........................... and re-assemble
Nice work. I wouldn't think the contact area will matter too much as you are in the center of the wheel.
You can adjust the drag by the pressure on the axle - i.e. tweak and bend if necessary. A decent weight in the tender helps with pick up from wheel to track (Greg taught me that).
Yes, but physics will also tell you that fixed drag on a wheel at the rim has more effect than the same drag close to the center of the wheel, as the drag occurs for a shorter distance.
But surely grease in NOT conductive, so will reduce or even eliminate the contact usability.
Electronic grease is. I've got some LPS1 I could coat it with as well as some deOx. Was planning to put some on it anyway. I've started treating my HO scale track with LPS1 and was planning to conduct some experiments with larger scale track and real weathering. I also have some old track that has been outside for the better part of a decade (unused) that I was going to attempt to clean-up and see how it performs.