Hi all,
After a 3 week wait, I finally got my BR18.4 (starter set 29857). [:p] Imagine my dismay when my first attempt at driving the lok ended when it moved about 1cm, then sat there with motor humming[:(]. Reverse direction, and it moved about 1cm, and again sat there with motor humming! My first reaction was that something was binding in the wheel linkages, but I couldn't find any fault. The binding was "tight", but not "rock solid".
I was sure that it wasn't the motor, since 1cm of movement corresponds to several turns of the armature. But I had to start somewhere, so I removed the armature. No change: I could only rotate the wheels through 10deg or so, and they would bind tight. Next, I removed all the linkages: still no improvement. So the problem was in the driven axle, or the drive gears! I rocked the driven axle back and forth many times, hoping that it would eventually come free. No luck.

After maybe 30min of patient back and forth rocking of the driven wheel, with time spent looking, thinking, cussing[xx(], I finally "lost my cool", and pushed the driven wheel a little harder than I probably should have[:0]. Still, it did the trick, and the wheels could be driven through full rotations, with only slight binding at the problem spot. Still, some progress! I thought that a tiny piece of foam packing may have become stuck between a couple of gears, as there were many small (<1mm diam) balls of foam covering other parts of the starter set (probably rubbed off the foam packing in transit). I looked hard, but couldn't see anything like it. The frequency of the binding seemed to correspond with the second gear from the axle, so I looked very carefully at that spot, but nothing untoward could be seen.
Still, I reassembled the lok, and gave it a test run. It ran OK, but there was still evidence of binding, but I think it is getting better with every turn of the wheels. This supports the "foam in the gears" theory. I'll try again tonight, to see if it gets even better.

I would, however, like to dismantle the drive gears, and thoroughly inspect them (looking for the elusive "piece of foam").. I know, WARRANTY you are all saying, but I don't want to wait, and I consider myself capable of the job, with a bit of advice from my learned colleagues[:I]... so to a question: it looks to me as though the stub axles on which the gears run are a press-fit into the body of the lok... if this is so, then I expect that it is a specialist job to dismantle and reassemble the "geartrain"? Has anybody done this? Any general tips for disassembling a geartrain? I'd really like to get to the bottom of the "binding geartrain", because somehow, it has taken the gloss off running the lok.[V]

Thanks for any help/moral support...

John
PS my first problem with any M product...

Hi Francisco,
One of my first thoughts on seeing the problem was "stiffened oil" (thanks to previous threads in this wonderful forum), but somehow it just didn't "feel right". When I finally freed up the drivetrain, there seemed to be a definite tight <u>point</u> in the rotation, and not a general continuous tightness. Perhaps some oil hardened on the gear teeth, rather than on the shafts? That could explain the way it felt. I did lubricate the gears early on with Ma oil (sparingly), but that didn't seem to make a difference. I didn't clean first with solvent, though - I'll try that tonight. I had intended to dismantle the gears first, so that I could <u>thoroughly</u> clean them, but maybe it won't be necessary...
Thanks so much for the reply!

regards,
John

John:

Here comes the next moral support
Foam balls in M locos We're talking about M quality - not a junky Roco ...

Give 'em hell
Regards
John

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But about servicing new loks, we have to consider that perhaps if you buy it factory new you might have not troubles at all, but since they are not too cheap, they stay with dealers some time, allowing oil to stiffen.

Absolutely agreed Bruce, i think Marklin actual oil must be some prehistoric formula, i´m not a Chemistrian but i think there must be some superior synthetic compound in the XXIst century....