American Models Locomotive | E8 | Electrical

American Models

Locomotive

E8

Electrical

Trucks

Mike Swederska shares the following things he noted when trying to figure out why his locomotive was stuttering.

Mike noticed that the center wheel, which does not pick up power, did not have much vertical movement due to a shallow spring pocket. The trucks were teeter-tottering and lifting very slightly to the front or back wheel, which are the power pick-ups. His solution was to remove the springs and just let those center axles float, allowing the two front and rear axles to stay in contact with any uneven rail.

The other end of the power pick-up circuit is at the location of where the stud from the gear tower protrudes through the frame tower. He discovered it was black, likely from the factory's painting of the frame. Even though the stud was clean, and the surface where the self-locking nut is, was clean, it was not clean on the gear tower and the bottom of the frame tower. Mike used a dremel with a wire brush to clean the contact between the two, and then re-attached the two trucks to frame, tightening the two nuts down to the point where the truck swiveled without friction, but yet still had a very slight tilt back and forth.