2-6-6-2 DCC

[genedoctor]

I recently purchased a new undec bachmann 2-6-6-2 engine with factory DCC.  I have found that the tender coupler rides too high due to some sort of spring action within the rear truck, and decouples from cars frequently.  The loco also has great difficulty pulling just 5 passenger cars up a 1.5% grade. 

Does anyone have a suggestion for correcting these two problems?

[Mike C]

Check to make sure the little copper wipers are inserted into the small slots in the bottom of the tender on the rear truck. As far as the way it pulls, that kinda the way these locos are. You could try some Bullfrog Snot on a pair of the drivers, but thats about it . http://www.bullfrogsnot.com/ ....Mike

[skipgear]

The Bachmann locos that were the first to get the knuckle coupler all had this problem. They just flat got the height wrong. Replace the coupler with a Microtrains 1129 and you will solve the problem and have a much better coupler to boot.

As far as pulling power, they are all over the place. The best thing you can do is let the loco run for an extended period of time. They pull much better after a bit of break in time. Also, is it the H4 or H5? The H4 has the short vandrbilt tender on it, the other is a long USRA tender. The H4's seemed to pull better than the H5's for some reason. My H4 will pull 30 hoppers on level track with no modifications other than a disc of weight glued in behind the somkebox in the boiler.