Tks Rick. If I were to do it over again, I would avoid the tight radius since it also limits what kind of rolling stock and 10+ wheel steam locos I can use.
Well, if it's making noise, something is rubbing, grinding, or binding on something else. And at least one of those parts is moving. The obvious stuff: Are the wheels in gauge and properly seated in the truck? Is the unit lubed properly? Does the noise happen in one direction of turn or both? Does it happen with the shell removed? What about the truck sideframes (if removable)? With the shell off, and the engine sitting on the curve, can you see if any of your added shims are touching a moving part?
No problem Mr. Sin City. You will get to where you need to be in time. The art, mechanics and love of model railroading will all come together for you as you forge ahead. It can be a difficult learning curve. Just know there are others moving with you while others of us do our best to help and guide you along. I love Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm green with envy. Not to forget there is a fairly unique LHS out in the suburbs. And the railroad museum out near Hoover Dam. Hot though! Wow!
I have been around the block both qualitatively and quantatively for just about 30 years in this scale, and have seen a whale of a lot of stuff, both great and not so great over this time. Nothing seems to amaze anymore, but I still get quite the joy of seeing a loco run for me the first time, or pulling a train on my mainline, and I know that will never ebb. My current layout is Kato Unitrak 100% with 11" prox radius curves. Everything I have put on it seems to negotiate the curves except a new MicroTrains passenger car with body mount couplers, and they never worked. I have seen on prior layouts or on friends' layouts some locos which just struggle to make the curve. For example, new ConCor Northerns do struggle a little, while Spectrum Mountains scamper around like mice toward a slice of cheese. There seems to be no consistent equation or rule of thumb, but if a Atlas SD100 doesn't make a 9 3/4" curve, none of them will as they are all constructed within fine tolerances and strikingly similar. But other manufacturers SD100 may make the curves, so it is trial and error on an individual basis. But my own personal rule of thumb is nothing less than 11" radius on my layouts ever again, simply because I don't want to limit my steam or large diesel consumption program. 11" radius track fits nicely around a 2' section end, and that is enough for me. I had a friend who basically told me he was forced to really install tight radii in a reversing loop, but astonished me that just about everything he had ran smoothly on it, while on other layouts they didn't. I wish you luck with your engines and running, and surely hope everything works out great for you. My advice is to keep on trying to find successful combinations, as there are a lot of locos out there. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
TwinDad-All of the obvious has been checked, lightly lubed, and shims not interferring. I don't have a gauge, but with my digital calipers measuring from the inside of the flange (where the wheels ride side) I come up with .33". BarstowRick-Are you talking about Westside Trains run by John and his wife, Dee? I live really close-by. FloridaBoy-Grasshopper is learning. Thanks to everyone who posted your suggestions and support. :thumbs_up:
IIRC, I think he told me that he adjusted the truck(s) for a little more play to reduce the binding on the worm gears. I was frustrated to the point that I was going to make it a static model.
Yes, a little more slack was the major thing. Upon thinking back to the first posts, I remembered that this all seemed to start in relation to fighting a noise problem. The noise was more the Lenz decoder than anything from what I could discern. I removed the shims that were keeping the bearing blocks from "floating", the worms had an extra washer on each shaft that was limiting worm fore and aft movement, and re-gauged one wheelset (was a tad wide).
The hum from the crappy Lenz decoder that Atlas used didn't bother me as much as the growling it made on those 9.75" curves. I'm going to replace that Lenz decoder with the $15 MRC decoder that I bought a week back. Ah...peaceful bliss on the pike thanks to JohnH.
Check your wheel gauge. It's possible that if the gauge is too perfect, the center axle may "fight" the other two on a tight curve. By simply "squeezing" the center wheelset a little, you may alleviate the problem. If that doesn't work you might want to check the worm gear to top gear mesh at the truck. the plastic gear may have a little flash which needs to be cleaned. Hope this helps
I dunno if this is necessarily a good idea, but.... If you are stuck with that tight radius, is it possible to remove the profile of the middle wheels (most likely by replacement now that I think about it) like they do on some steamers? You won't get as much traction but that offset axle won't bind in the curve then.
