Hawthorne Redsox HO Diesel Engine

[Assapuffington]

Hello,I have the Hawthorne HO Diesel Engine,all of a sudden it slips on the track really bad,hardly even moves.Is this engine supposed to have tires on it? If so on what wheels? the steel wheels do not have groves in them.They measure 12mm across center.Don't remember if this engine had rubber tires on it or not,or where they where located if at all.All i know is something happened all of a sudden,was working ok.Driveshafts seem to be turning ok,and I don't see any bad gears at all.    Any help here would be greatly appreciated.Thankyou.

[jonathan]

Assapuffington,

This set is about 4 years old. So, there is little chance there are/were rubber "traction" tires on the locomotive.

While "collector" train sets are not made of the highest quality mechanical stuff, I suspect the innards are the basic drive train for a Bachmann F unit. These are pretty reliable running drive trains.  You mentioned "driveshafts" which indicates all locomotive wheels are geared and providing pull.

So, you may want to get up real close to the loco while it sits on the track. Could some external part have come loose causing drag on the track, like the fuel tank? or perhaps one of the trip pins on the couplers?

Also, I don't know how often you clean your track, but there could be some stray lubricant that's found its way onto the rails.

Could be anything, and will take trying a few things to find the culprit. The gear cover plate under the trucks is a clip-on device as I remember. Perhaps one of those has come unclipped.  Or some dog/cat/people hair has bound itself up in the axles.  These are just wild guesses.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Assapuffington]

Thankyou for all the suggestions.The motor is in the center,with a cuppler on each side,and a short drive shaft on each side of the motor to the trucks.I don't see any bad gears,or anything touching the track.Both drive shafts spin with diesel cover off.This is weird it happened all of sudden,motor sound like it's winding out,and engine barley moves.

[Assapuffington]

oh,it has the motor with flywheel,located in the center.

[jonathan]

Does the inside of your locomotive look like this?

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/11702.pdf

With the shell off, and the motor "winding out", do the wheels spin fast, or do they barely turn?

Some common issues:

1) Someone may have tried to push the locomotive around and stripped the gear that sits under the worm gear.

2) The truck side frame (part #6180) is not fully clicked into place on their tabs. Thus, the axle gears will not engage with the idler gears.

3) Drive shaft (part #6209) is cracked or has come loose and will not fully engage the worm gear.

If you cannot see any cracked or worn gears, you have either a loose connection that won't allow the gears to engage, or something is dragging, like the truck side frame.

Hard to tell without looking at it in person.  Wish I could be more help.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Assapuffington]

yes that is it. There is a plastic piece that pushes on the shaft of the worm gear on the truck,and the drive shaft connects to that piece.It's loose on the worm gear.This is the problem.What does this mean? I need a new truck.I don't think that piece is sold by itself?

[jonathan]

http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_68_203&products_id=5979

That's for a pair of trucks.

They are also sold individually if you need just one.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Assapuffington]

Awesome,Thankyou so much,really appreciate it.