After purchasing TWO Spectrum J's from Trainworld, and having one of the motors burn-up completely, and motor #2 is indicating that same may be inevitable. I also notice replacement motors are no longer available from Bachmann, which tells me they have had considerable problems with these motors. I would like to hear some customer feedback from you guys to maybe get an idea of the actual extent of these problems. Is this widespread, or am I just "lucky"? The idea of constantly returning an item and getting another (which may have the same problem, or WORSE) seems ridiculous. I have become very proficient at disassembling/reassembling these engines with ease. I really would like to hear from those who have had problems. Maybe then Bachmann might supply us with adequate motors. And let's not forget the WIRING......
Thanks guys!
The two J's I recently got, seem to run OK, no problems with the motors, yet! Both are NEW, one with a non-working knuckle coupler and one with a working knuckle. I assume they are from different production runs, but I don't run them much. I'll keep my fingers crossed!
As I've already said, in your other post, I have had motor issues with a H-4 and a RS-3. The H-4 responded to the "highspeed burnout fix". The RS-3 had a pinched (under the shaft thrust washer) pole winding intermittently grounded to the motor shaft. Both are still running good, for now.
Edit: the N&W J, H-4, RS-3, GP-7, 2-10-2, 4-8-2 Heavy, that I own have the same "can" motor. They just have different shaft configurations (single/double). Or different couplings (u-joints), and flywheel setups or lack of flywheels, to suit the requirements of the locomotive type. I added this, because you may have problems with any of these locomotives, related to this motor. The 2-8-0 and some of the big diesel locomotives use an open frame motor, not the can motor. I have not read that this open frame motor has had the same problem. I still think that the main problem is "quality control", due to problems with the winding machines. However, I have 12 loco's with the can motor and only the one with the pinched winding was a verified problem. The H-4 may have been over lubed, by ME! One bad out of twelve, is a good percentage for a small motor like this, IMHO. Should they have caught it, yes, but all manufactured goods have failures. Can you say Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, and Toyota.
Regards Charley.