Starting to wonder if its me, as loco storage gremlins dont exist - Fixed

[stevieboy]

 

I seem to be having a bad run again when it comes to loco's. Recently my 5MT developed an issue having been fine, and now my class 20 has begun to sound like a hammer drill.

What puzzles me the most is that it sounded fine when I last ran it, since then it's been stored in its box. Until today.  I handle my loco's with the greatest of care so I really don't know what else I'm doing wrong.

I've removed the bogies and it appears that the noise is related to the well lubricated drive shaft area. Worms are not dry and bogies run free. At first I thought it was resonance but even at low speed there sounds like something is catching in time with the shaft rotation. No real running issues, just sounds rough.

While this post could be in the surgery area, my question is, should I be doing something different other than, get loco out, run loco, put loco back in box? Do I need to apply an anti gremlin lining to my boxes?

[PLD]

Certain Farish locos do have a reputation for the pick-up ships going out of shape if stored for a long time on their side...

This is a possible cause with your 5MT but the 20 sounds like something more serious with the internals of the mechanism, possibly something loose inside the body?

[Pete Mc]

With the bodyshell off and the bogies removed,try applying power to the chassis halves to get the motor running.What you may have is some crud in the mechanism somewhere.I am referring to the class 20 here.

With the motor running,if it still sounds rough,start with the worm gear by having it running whilst lightly scraping out any crud on the worm gear.If it still sounds rough,it probably needs taking apart and checking the driveshafts are still in situ,although,if memory serves me correctly,these have the same sort of arrangement as the class 24,ie worm gear fixed directly to one side of the motor shaft with a uv joint and driveshaft at the other end.

As can be the case,there may have been a small particle of dirt that has found its way into the bogie tower.

Pete

[Jonny]

Could be that the carbon brush inside the can  has worn away and what you have is the brass where the brush is glued to is clicking on the commutator.

Just replaced a motor in a class 43 for this reason.

Regards

Jon

[stevieboy]

Thanks for the replies, might get Ollie to take a look/have a listen. They'll be getting fed up of me up at Rails soon!

[stevieboy]

Well, like a crying baby it seems all my 20 needed was a car journey to Leicester and back, as its now super silent again.