E-R Models/Bachmann RF-16 Sharknose questions

[Power Stroke]

I have recently acquired one of these from ebay, and while overall very good, there is a bit of noise coming from the rear truck. As compared to the front truck which is very quiet, there is very little freeplay for the worm gear. How are these, and can these be adjusted?
I also wonder if there are contact strips, and driveshafts available for these as one strip is broken (can be soldered) and one shaft is missing a nub. If I can get these taken care of, it would be an outstanding locomotive.
I am hoping that someone here has experience with these, or possibly that Bachmann will service it.

[brokemoto]

It appears that you got 'used and abused' merchandise.  I am assuming that it came at a very good price.  I have a few of these.  I have never had contact wipers break or damage to the drive shaft.  As you mention that one worm gear has little play, I am wondering if something was binding or even seized which caused the nub on the drive shaft to wear out or break.  I have never had anything in these bind or seize.  I wonder if the thing got dropped.

These things are noisy, even well broken-in.  I wonder if disassembly of the rear truck is in order.  It could be that something is binding, there.  Check gears and shafts for breakage, wear and misalignment.

The slow speed control is some of the best that I have ever seen on DC.  I am not a DCC user, so there is not much that I can type about that, although many have said that this is the easiest DCC conversion in N scale.  Someone used to make a decoder board specifically for this locomotive, although I understand that the manufacturer has discontinued it.

The prototype, when it was working properly, was an excellent slow speed hauler of heavy commodities; when it was working properly, which was not often, to read what its users had to say about it.  The model does replicate the prototype's abilities:  it is a good puller at slow speed.  On mine, at least, and to read what others say, the model is far more reliable than the prototype.  It seems that you got something that was mistreated.

[Power Stroke]

I would not say used and abused, in fact it was very clean. I think that the one contact was split because the front truck was installed with the contact wedged between the truck and frame. The shaft with the missing nub is for the front, and it works well but I'd like to replace it just the same.
The rear truck worm is just tight. I have had this locomotive completely apart (including the trucks), cleaned and lubed and there is nothing binding. I associate the noise in the rear truck with the tight worm and if I could get some play out of it, I'm sure it will quiet down but how it comes apart I have no idea.
Looking over the diagrams of Bachmann N scale motive power with swiveling trucks, they all show the worm installed. It was installed somehow, and there should be a way to correct freeplay but I don't see it.

[Mike C]

 You could try cleaning out the oil from the rear truck and then putting a small bit of toothpaste in the gears and running it for a while. The toothpaste will polish the gears and it may fee them up a bit and make it quiet down.
I don't know if this applies to your loco, but a common mod is to take one bearing out of the drive shaft on each end of the motor. look down about the middle of this page http://www.spookshow.net/loco/atlasgp3840.html  too see the process. This will also quiet the loco.

[James in FL]

I bought 2 pair from thefavoritespot years ago when he was blowing them out.
One set runs excellent the other not so much.
I am going from memory as the last I ran them was when I first got them.
As to the slop between the truck tower and the worm;
My rear truck on the A unit is much like yours. The worm has only a few thousands clearance within the tower. The front truck a whole bunch more. I remember trying to open that distance unsuccessfully (spreading). I decided it would require minor surgery. I did not get that far into it to decide it was a roundtuit project. IIRC the shaft needs to be pressed from the worm to get it out of the tower, then the inside of the tower could be filed.
It may be possible to shave off a few thousandths with the worm in place with a very small chisel blade.
One of my contacts is also broken on the same truck, I rigged it using a coupler spring wedged between the contact and the truck frame. I agree that it could be easily soldered to fix.
The contacts are delicate and will only stand so much fiddling with to get them right.
Fabrication new ones from sheet stock might be best.

The forward and rear trucks are not the same, much longer molded coupler on the front.

Parts for the shark nose are only available from a donor As Bachmann and Models 11 had none. I have been looking for a donor for several years, they command a good price on eBay.
Bachmann will not service it.

If creating clearance at the worm does not quiet it down then my thoughts are to look at the alignment of the gears in the truck to see if they are running off one another.
Sometimes when wheels are adjusted as to gauge this alignment can get messed up.
I rigged a 2004 to the rear of the A unit but cannot recall if still to low?
I hope to revisit these soon but not high on priority list.
Let us know what you find and how you fix.