Recently got an old ConCor berk that had issues with locking up. Found some problems with the rods and got them adjusted but it occaisonally still locks up. Any suggestions? Gave it a good cleaning and lube also.
Could it be the plunger into the valve box inadvertenetly misses the hole and hits the outside of the valve box. That will do it for sure. All it takes is to remove the shell, and unscrew the valve box assembly behind the front trucks. Then readjust to make sure the plunger is inside both holes at both the apogee and perigee, then reassemble. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
I dont think that is it. seems to be a gear binding problem. When I first got it it wouldnt make a loop without stopping. Then I found some siderod problems and fixed that. Then it might run for ten minutes and then bind up again.
I've got a Con Cor Berk, too - but I haven't run it much. I'll get mine on the layout and run it some today and see if it has a similar problem...
Do you hear a clcking noise when it runs? It could be that the drivers are out of alignment. If so open up the bottom and adjust the middle gear one cog at a time to align it. Try it in one direction and then the other. HTH RICK
I dont think that is the problem but i will check. It might run fine for ten minutes then lockup. If I push down and back and forth it frees up and is good for awhile again.
I have been running mine and no clicks so far. I checked the wheel gauge and it's right on. Thought maybe if yours was slightly too wide it might cause drive rods to click?
locking up I had a similar problem with a Rivarossi 0-8-0 it would run fine for a while then lock up, turns out that the front axle moved up a bit in the slot and the gears jammed. Try putting a straight edge along the drivers next time it stops and see if any are out of line or stuck. I never got around to fixing mine, but some sort of shim would probably have fixed it. Regards, Roger.
Horsed around with that thing for hours tonight. Still locking up. Will run fine for maybe a half hour then the gears are locked up. Should I bang on it with a hammer?
Oldrk, I had this problem with another RR steamer. I'd check the brushes or even the magnets. Something was cogging the motor sporadically. When I took the motor out, it would run fine until I put a little pressure on the worm. Then it would stop, but not predictably. The gear train itself was fine, free of the motor.
I've got an ancient Con Cor Berk sitting in the parts box. Had the same problem way back in the day. That's why it's in the "wreck box". IMHO, that loco always had the binding problem. It seems to me, the binding is a result of warpage of the die cast piece that holds the drivers in the chassis. If you needs some parts, let me know. you can have 'em.
Ouch! I presume that, if you take the motor out and hand-run the mechanism on track or even a flat surface, the gears don't stick? If it runs for 30 minutes, then sticks, you've got a rough-order-of-magnitude (ROM) problem of 1:300,000. All that means is the the motor turns between 100,000 and 1,000,000 times between sticks. Given a 40:1 ROM gear reduction between the motor and the drivers, it's still ROM 1:7500. So, somewhere between 1000 and 10,000 revs of the drivers, you get a stick. Without a cross-check of time/circumference of driver, for which I don't have time, this ROM seems in the ballpark. Finding a problem that occurs ROM 1:3333 times is tough! The best way to find it is probably to use your ears and then your eyes. My testbed is on Formica, which reverberates like crazy, and I often hear degraded performance before I see it. When a steady thrumming suddenly changes pitch or character, I instinctively notice it immediately due to our inbred survival instincts. My immediate suspect is a gear or a gear tooth that, due to other forces from the motor on the input side and the rods on the friction side, wanders just enough to lock, or is mis-shapened enough to cause a lock. It conflicts with its neighboring gear(s) just enough to cause an event every revolution, but those conflicts fall on a sharp Bell curve from minimal interference to maximal. When you hit maximal, the gear train stops until a greater force than the motor forces it through. My solution here is to coat the gear train with a gritty toothpaste and run it through enough revolutions to lap the gears. I suspect there are some microscopic edges on the gears that, due to wandering, sometimes collide. Lapping the gears might relieve this collision. Pardon my long-winded response.
I've been running mine quite a bit over the past couple days - darn thing has started to wobble - particularly noticeable at slower speeds...
Kudos to Pete Kudos to Pete! Tried the toothpaste thing and it hasnt locked up since! Mine also wobbles. I believe te problem is the set of divers with the reversing rods on it. I wonder if a shim under the bearings would cure it. Pretty sloppy in there.Thanks Pete. A set of authentic rapido couplers are coming your way! :tb-wink:
