Question Regarding Disassembly of HO K4

[ferroequinologist]

Hello,
I'm looking to add weights to the front of my HO scale Bachmann Spectrum K4 Pacific #1361, as the front of the engine seems to jump up whenever the driving wheels hit a switch frog. I've seen diagrams for an exploded view of the K4, and while I noticed that the smokebox door isn't molded to the boiler and can come off, I'm wondering what the best method of removing said door would be. I'm thinking either an X-Acto knife or a pair of needle-nosed pliers, but wanted to know what your thoughts are. Thank you very much.

[Len]

Looking at the exploded diagrams it appears the smoke box area of both versions of the K4 is already filled with weight. If the loco is jumping to switch frogs, more than likely the flangeway needs to be deepened. This is fairly easy to do with the edge of a jewelers flat file. Vacumn up the filings before running trains though.

Len

[trainman203]

I can't think of the right name for it, but sometimes the little pointy-point in the frog is slightly bent the wrong way just enough to catch certain wheels that it doesn't like.  I had a few plastic frogs on the layout that did that. A very delicate leprechaun level action with a needle nose plier fixed it.

I would guess that this happens when the engine is heading into the diverging route of the switch. Steam engine drivers have a pretty long wheelbase compared to anything else on the layout and the first driver will always be pushed hard against the rail on the outside of the curve. When it gets to the pointy point, it can very easily snag on the point if the point somehow is bent to the inside of the curve ever so molecular-ly slightly.  It doesn't take much, I'm here to tell you. My decapods, which have a longer wheelbase than the K4, caught on several frogs which were corrected as noted before, and there's never been a problem in several years since.

I should note that the only problem switches were number four switches in a yard.  More gradual ones were never a problem.

[ferroequinologist]

Ah, OK. I have a pair of needle-nose pliers, so I'll try that method of fixing the pointy end of the frog. I did, however, also notice that the tender on my Bachmann K4 tends to follow the locomotive a tad too closely, as it has a habit of coming off the rails at times. I initially had the connections between the tender and loco tightened, as the tender would jerk behind the engine, but now the connection seems to be too tight. I'm wondering, then, how I can loosen this connection just a tad.

[ScottyB]

Check the gauge of the wheels of the pilot truck. I've had several over the years that were off.