Do any of you have any suggestions on reducing the gear sound in the drives and improving pulling power of the Walthers 0-8-0? I didn't realize there were 2 runs of the loco and ended up buying one of the 1st run units. My second run loco ran great till it developed a motor and side rod problem. Now she is a permanent fixture in the maintenance shop. I'm considering some bullfrog snot and a couple drops of heavy gear oil for the noise.
Provided that all drivers are pick-up a light application of Bullfrog to one driver might be a big improvement in the traction department. As far as the drive train noise I would check that everything is seated right and nothing out of line or rubbing then a light application of Labelle's to the gear meshing surfaces and the bearing points. There is an old trick that has been around forever and that is the use of Pearl Drops tooth polish on the gears and run the heck out of it for awhile. If ran long enough will eventually polish up the meshing surfaces of the gears. The drawback is having to disassemble again to clean all that out and relube.
Allow me to introduce you to one of the most infamous threads ever to grace the old Atlas Forum model railroad board: http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=41937 45 pages of exciting rants and arguing about the first-run Walters 0-8-0. BUT... about half of that 45 pages includes a lot of photos and remedies for the various ills of that engine, including: - poor pulling - quartering/rod hitches and much much more! LOL! In the interest of full disclosure, I am the author of a lot of the photos, repair tips and videos in that thread. But I still do own my original two 0-8-0's (they have been painted, weathered and detailed to be NP G-1's now, but they are still the same engines). -------------------------------- Grinding noises in the gears: that is the first time I have ever heard of that complaint in this engine. The 0-8-0 had a lot of woes, but it was always a darn quiet engine. Don't start throwing oil and grease in it. That is a fool's game. Noises like that are more likely coming from something down in the gears, or something physically out of whack inside. You'll have to be brave and disassemble the whole thing right down to the frames if you really want to get to the bottom of it. That Atlas thread has lot of info on disassembly too. Although... those 1st run engines had some problems with bent or misaligned frames that could allow the internal idler gear to wobble around too much. You might have one that is wobbling enough so that the teeth occasionally lose mesh with their mating gear, or it just meshes poorly. There's info on this in that thread too. As for pulling, the 0-8-0 already has a traction tire driver, so Bullfrog Snot isn't the way to go. The main reason those 0-8-0's didn't pull well were: 1. Wires in the harness from tender not adjusted so they actually put some upward force on the rear of the loco, lifting weight off the rear driver (bend the wires gently DOWNward at the engine end). 2. Drawbar too snug on it screws at one of both ends, so the rear of the engine wasn't free to "sit down" on the rails and was bring lifted a little by the drawbar (loosen each screw 1/2 turn or so) 3. Not enough weight. What can I say? You have to start tucking cubes or slivers of tungsten everywhere you can to increase the weight 4. Rear driver bearing needs a tiny shim to get it more down on the rails. The 1st-run 0-8-0 opens a BIG can of worms. For all its faults, when the 0-8-0 is tuned up (which is not always easy), it is a wonderful running engine. Wade through that thread, if you can stand it. I hope it helps. Post back in here and let us know how you are doing. -- Max
Max I greatly appreciate your input! After a little observation what I thought was gear noise is actually the valve gear hammering on the plastic guides when the "piston rod" is fully extended. Not gear noise. I also felt that the rear drivers needed a minor amount of shimming to get some pressure on the traction tires. That was my intent with the bullfrog snot. I will go to the link and try some of the adjustments. Thanks again. I was so disappointed when I got this unit out of the package and it would only pull 3 new super free rolling 33' Microtrains Hoppers and a MT Caboose up a 2% grade.
