I gave my granddaughter the Royal Blue Passenger set, 90016 I believe, three years ago. Last Christmas, the front 2 drive wheels seemed to come loose and were almost at a 45 degree angle instead of 90 degrees.
I took out the engine to fix for my granddaughter's Christmas tree this year. I took off the cover and the two wheels appear to be the power pick up and had come loose from the plastic bushing that ties the two wheels together. Well, I made a mess, lost the bushing and broke two wires that were attached to the 4 front wheels, just behind the cow catcher. I tossed it and have just bought a complete set on EBay.
My concern is that this is a prevalent problem. I had also bought my son a set and it had the same problem before it had ever been run. The replacement set I bought from EBay is the Thunderbolt which I believe is the same era. If this happens again, how do you fix the problem? Do you super glue the two wheels back into the plastic bushing?
Oh my Goodness... You tossed it? :'( Bachmann has a wonderful service department and a refurbishing deal on their locos for reasonable prices.
I have a 4-6-0 I had the same problem after my youngsters played with it and derailed it a number of times. it is a press fit others may have tried to glue it, but I just make sure I keep an eye on it when the kids are playing with it and squeeze the wheels together once in a while.
NM
I knew I should not have tossed it the next morning but the trash was gone. At the very least, it had lots of parts. The motor had hardly been used.
If I understand the pony truck wheels came loose from their plastic axle. The way to fix this is to use a small drop of CA on the wheel stub that goes into the axle.
Place the CA on the sxle stubs, insert the stubs in the plastic axle and set the wheel gauge. Usually pushing the wheel in tight agains the plastic axle will give the proper gauge.
It's a good idea to check any of these 10-Wheelers for these loose pony truck wheels.
For the main dirvers it's also a good idea to use Loctite 222 on the screws that attach the drivers to their axle.
(http://www.largescaleonline.com/eimages/lsolpics/Team_Member_Pics/jlsrails/Steam_Locomotives/Steam_Locomotive/100_4808.jpg)
This is a view of the plastic "cap" removed from a driver. Once this is removed the mounting screw can be removed, a small drop of Loctite 222 placed on the Phillips head screw threads and then replaced. Once this is done the main drivers will stay tight on the axles.
Hope this helps.
One of the "Enthusiastic Children"
JD
Jon covered the current drive wheel design. But the wheel set up just previous to that one had wheels with a half shaft which plugged into a plastic insulator. The end of the axle had a square tip this aided in the quartering process. As was mentioned adding a couple of drops on these square ends would help keep them in place.
Barry - BBT