MT GP-35 truck turning friction

I found that my MT GP-35 trucks tend to "scrape" in one direction. While I had it apart for a DCC mod, I found that the contacts were flat, pointing directly into the metal chassis in one direction, as compared to Marklin's which are rounded and also wipe on polished metal. Also, both sides of the truck are not mirror images so they will scrape in both directions. One may be worse than the other though.


The solution for me was to "round" the contact a bit. I used a pair of tweazers to gently roll the last bit of the contact to keep it as long as possible.


And should now look like this:


Disclaimer: do at your own risk. No spare parts available from MT. Too much flexing of BeCu contacts will break them off. Too much tension and the truck may not turn as easy or the wheels themselves. And not my idea

 

Hi Jeff, what's the minimum radius on your layout? A too tight radius may be the explaination....

Dominique

 

Hi Jeff,
on my locos, the contact you have bent (the one that touches chassis) appears to be pre-formed already.
the other two contacts that are supposed to be touching wheels, appear to be actually in free space without contacting wheels - this doesn't cause any running/electrical problems.
I can see why you would need contact between chassis and half frames of the truck, but the other two appear superfluous?
Chris