A few weeks back I got my 2-8-0 back from the service department and after one revolution of the wheels the main pin on one side came out and the bars fell out. I put the pin back in and it is holding now, however, it seems like the wheels and/or bars may be out of sync. The loco performs badly at lower speeds. If I have the throttle above 50% it seems to run well, but under that it may come to a halt and the loco appears to rock a bit from side to side. What is the easiest way to get the drive bars back into sync if that is what the problem is?
From my experience with the 2-8-0's, you have to make sure all 4 drivers are in sync first. Make sure the drivers on the right side of the engine are pretty close to 90 degrees ahead of the left side. If one set is off then it will through the engine off and make it run with a lope. Also the eccentric which is the main pin that feel out on you has to be precisely positioned so it will not bind up the drivers as it rotates and move the little rod its a attached to back and forth. If that is off even on one side the engine will run terribly. The best thing to set it is look at some photos or videos of real engines that have the same valve gear and just start adjusting it a little at a time. you can do that with a simple pair of tweezers. Send me a pic of the engine and i might be able to help you out.
Dear Doug,
I'd send it right back!
They'll take care of it.
Thanks!
the Bach-man
So if I have to send it back I have to pay again even though it was not done completely well the first go around?
It should be on bachmann, but you will probably end up paying shipping.I avoid this problem by repairing my locos