Is there a way to put vestibules on the 60' Madison cars?
Thanks,
Alan

When I strapped down the motor to stop gear slippage it was to the metal weight above it.  Wouldn't this act as a heat sink?  Also, when doing that home grown upgrade (thanks to members of this forum) I did notice that the motor did have holes in its casing.  In any event, I'll avoid pulling pallet boards of junked Big Haulers.
I thank everyone for their help on this topic.

Quote from: Joe Satnik on January 19, 2010, 02:42:59 PM
Dear ajzend,

Get a voltmeter and tell us the full speed DC voltage at the power pack, with loco off rails,  then with loco on the rails. 

(Careful not to fly off the curves.)

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik 

I don't want to seem lazy, but I'm not sure that I even want to test the Bachmann power pack since I have to whack it to get the train to keep moving.  The engines moves very nicely with my MRC TechII Railmaster 2400.  Do I need to check the track voltage with this?  Is there a max voltage that I should not exceed. From one of the postings here it seems that a G transformer has more voltage than an HO transformer.  To put it simply; am I worrying too much about nothing?
Thanks,
Alan

I'm new to G scale, but not to trains.  I recently picked up a third generation big hauler that was running intermittently.  I found that a minor whack on the power pack would get it going again.  I changes to an old HO transformer that I had, and the problem was solved.  Also I did clean the track and pick-up power wheels on the pilot truck.

This is probably an old topic, but I'm new to G scale stuff.  The transformer that came with this 3rd generation big hauler is quite anemic.  I got out an old HO transformer, and it gives it a fair amount of umph.  It's not about to fly off the track, but it gets up to a descent speed and smokes descently with two passenger cars.  Will this burn up my motor?  Is there any advantage or problem in using the "pulse" feature?

I did the cable tie fix, and it's running OK so far.  How many cars can this OEM run?
Thanks,
Alan

Why do you need a rectifier if picking up track power?  It's already DC.
Alan

Quote from: altterrain on January 18, 2010, 01:05:18 AM
This will help to see what ten wheeler version you have -
http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips1/big_hauler_tips.html#gears
Then you can call the service dept. to see if they have parts or decide to go with a BBT drive if you want to get serious.

-Brian

Brian,
It appears that I have the 3rd generation, and true to the posted tendancy it's a gear slipper.  I noticed on your link that there was a cable tie around the motor.  Is this the fix?  What is a BBT drive?  Is it something worth while for casual use?

Also, as I mentioned to Barry off forum, I am impressed with the speedy helpfulness of this forum.  I belong to the OGR forum, and it is really nice to see this one as genuinely helpfull.
Thanks,
Alan

Hi Barry,
I sent you an email off forum.  I re-read your post, and it seems that the problem would be solved by strapping the motor.
Thanks,
Alan

Hi,
I'm new to G scale, but familiar with trains.  I got this Big Hauler Pennsy with 2 passenger cars.  Actually, pretty cute detail.  I'm from the world of "O".  Anyway, I'm running it along when all of a sudden it's it gets a nasty plastic stripped gear sound.  I was running it with an HO DC transformer, but it doesn't seem as though there was an electrical or motor issue.  It just sounds like bad nylon gears.  I did open it before running and it appeared to have sufficient factory grease on the gears.  though probably 15 years old.
So my question really is; is it worth fixing.  can I get gears from Bachmann or another supplier.  Is it a real big pain to fix this kind of stuff.  I can field strip any Lionel postwar.  Is this a common problem with what is probably a 1990's engine?  Would it pay to simply replace the engine.  Of copurse I'd have to pay for the tender which seems fine.  this is an effort to put together a train that I can play on the floor with my 4 year old granddaughter. (Of course, getting off the floor is another matter)
Thanks,
Alan Zend