Hi all, today I am faced with a serious problem on my AZL Mikado. Running quite smoothly the Mike stalled suddenly. It turns out, that gearing of first drive axle is blocked (not by rods). I laid the loco upside down in my cradle. If I touched the axle gently by a finger I could hear a "snap", axle was free. After few turns gearing blocked again. While it was purchased in last november and worked only several times (layout under construction) I think there should be no wear of gearing to such a level. No dirty tracks, no high speed. What can I do? To this day I could not find instructions to open gear box of that loco and I have no intentions to try it without any informations. Does anyone have experiences? Thank you for any answer. Steffen
Ballasted track ? Could be ballast in there. You will note that the gear cover *is* at rail head level. So crossing over any turnouts, crossings, hair and other things on the track carry it up to the gears. Or, other gears could have worn enough flash off (the smack center of the gear tooth) so that there is just a little more slop and *maybe* the problem gears gets closer to a bugar on it.
Take the cover plate off and remove whatever is causing the snap sound. I'm pretty certain it's a piece of ballast or something.
Hi guys, thank you for your help. But I controlled it very deep. There was no ballast to be found, all pretty clean. But I realized considerable slack on gear parts inside. After cleaning all again I put it together and tried out - failure repeated. Because no spare parts are available in Germany I had to make some hard decisions. There were three options: First, go to AZL for warranty. Pro: no own repair work, model in original high detail condition Contra: long-term shipment from Germany, not sure, if the issue is settled permanently then. Second, take the tender and combine it with another loco (means “Märklin”). Pro: simple way to get an operating model, low expenditure Contra: massive loss of detailing grade Third, find a fitting Märklin chassis for replacement and combine it with the original locomotive shell Pro: robust chassis, keeping as much as possible of the high detail parts, use of driving mechanism from tender possible Contra: difficult repair work to be done on my own (I am not a watch maker…), loss of fine AZL drivers and running gear Options 1 and 2 were to be refused with contras too massive. After some searching I realized, that Märklin-chassis of BR 86 would fit quite good. Not only a similar driver basis, it has pilot and trailing truck too. Ebay offered the needed item, so I am underway. After complete dismantling of both BR 86 and AZL-Mikado I milled the 86-chassis were necessary. Now AZL-cylinders fit. Next steps are to mill a new worm assembly and to adapt the loco brass weight.
Yesterday I milled the new worm assembly and glued it on chassis. Finally I could do a test run by putting together loco an tender and lifting up the chassis from rails. New worm sits a little bit higher than the original AZL-one, but it works really good. Added cylinder and pilot and pilot truck for test, but still have to change the spoked front wheel.
A bit too late I'm afraid, but we would have been happy to help if you had simply contacted us in the beginning. Best, -Rob(A) AZL
Hi Rob, I contacted my dealer for what to do, but there was no quick solution. I simply have no time to loose because I need my one and only steam loco for exhibition. Frank: Thanks! Steffen
Forgot to add a little progress... Now the brass weight fits on chassis. I think I'll add weight in smoke box for better balance and because of absence of traction tires now. Painting of wheels is the first attempt, much to improve...
Hi, thank you. Today was trailing-truck-day At first I planned to use the original hole, but this failed. Therefore I made a new longer shaft. While test run with the new configuration it turns out, that the kardan-shaft has no axial clearance when loco stands on tangent track. So shaft has to be slightly shorter. But this is a thing of tomorrow. Steffen
Now she made its first turns by finished driving gear. Kardan-shaft is shortened 2 mm, a piece of brass holds the two halfs in place. The new chassis runs louder (it is just Märklin, and I have ballasted tracks for resonance...) but softer and slower. Just hope , there are no more mechanical problems. Next steps are adapting of cylinder and final shell assembling. Steffen
Yesterday I added cylinders, front pilot, loco shell and running boards. So it is going to be a locomotive again I milled cylinders with mini-tool to make slots for crosshead bars and piston rods. The holes for valve rods had to be made slightly bigger (Ø 0,8 mm). After a break-in process it runs very fine now. Left to do: pilot truck wheel change, adapting of AZL gear frames, painting. Steffen
Ah. . . a *real* WP beauty. I am just decodering mine and adding front boiler weight for the upcoming show season. I *love* steam.
Hi Jeff, yes, a pretty cool model. But this is my first experience in working on Z-scale locomotive. And I must say - it is quite tricky. Different from my projects in N / H0-Scale, completely different from large scale and life steam. But a nice challenge. Front boiler weight comes, decodering maybe later... BTW: My Arkansas & Western subsidary of Rio Grande is very glad to lease needed steam power from WP Steffen
You did an excellent job on it, in such a short time. Many others have bashed, repaired or created the needed models, like Lajos Tek, Robert Ray and Chris333. Search: 'Berkshire' from Member 'Chris333' and start drooling. To quote a famous movie line: "You can do it".
Interresting overhauling.... Do you consider using your original AZL Mike's valve gear to put it on this chassis ? Dom
Hi Dom, Believe me, that was a way I did not want to go... It is sad to dismantle a very nice but not running model. After some attempts the only parts I could use was the gear frames and expansion links, the latter glued on the gear frame. That is not that high detailed valve gear I love from AZL, but a good compromise. While making front boiler weight I had an idea to fix both shell and weight on chassis by a screw through stack and smoke box down in the cylinder part.
And now Guys, I think it is done for the moment. Yesterday I tried some weathering, a little bit too shiny still, but I am satisfied. Now the Mike is ready to pull trains for show in late October. Steffen