3rd Rail Q2 Siderods rubbing on wheels

Well, since the "damage" picture is so small, it's hard to see exactly what you're talking about.  However, my guess is there may be a shim or washer missing from the drive rods, but I can't really see anything from what we have.

Agree with John, we really can’t see what’s going on here,…..however, plastic shims on something that rotates that much is not going to last. Material handlers such as McMaster Carr, & Kimball Midwest sell razor thin metal shims in a varying degree of thicknesses, ID’s & OD’s …..First thing that needs to happen before you go tossing parts at it is to diagnose the issue, then come up with the remedy,…..

Pat

Sorry, here's a better photo, had the engine when I made the post. It's happening on both engines, rear set of drivers in the front one and the middle set in the rear.

If there’s no obvious mechanical defects causing the rod to scrub the counterweight face, you can use a set of feeler gauges to determine what you need to add for clearance ….keep in mind, when you put it all back together, you don’t want the rod to bind on the crank pin from too much shim. ….that’ll be a quick trip to Carnageville…..only add the bare minimum to get the rod off that face,……while you’re there, adjust that brake arm that’s being eroded by the driver…..

Pat

The eccentric on the rear set of drivers looks a bit suspect. Did someone work on that engine and swap drivers around?  A photo with the rods down would help. In any case, here’s the stack up on one of my Q2’s:

Here's a couple photos of the front and rear set with rods down on the fireman's side after I moved it around. My 3rd Rail S2 is currently apart on the bench so the Q2 will have to wait for its turn again.

I dabble in post war American Flyer as well and the steam engine armatures have metal shims in three different thicknesses to adjust endplay and may work for you. They come in .005", .010" and .020 thick,   1/8" ID X 5/16" OD. I usually buy them from Port Line Hobbies or the Traintender.

The eccentrics are backwards that's for sure. I'd have to look at mine I'm pretty sure they have indexed crankpins. If that's the case then at some point your rear drivers got flipped 180 about the vertical. That's not hard to fix. I'd do that while checking the 'stackup' on each driver.

If I’m understand correctly, the eccentric crank is facing the wrong way on the wheel, so I need to swap only those wheels end for end? I think you did this in one of your videos, can’t remember if it was a recent one or an old one. I’ll take a look at it and update when I get the S2 off the bench.

My Allegheny had that issue. It was a lot of fun pulling them! I just turned them 180 so the cranks pitched forward with the rods down. It seems every time I need to work on the drivers on a 3rd Rail I have to rewire the rollers because the leads are always too short.

@Norm Charbonneau posted:

My Allegheny had that issue. It was a lot of fun pulling them! I just turned them 180 so the cranks pitched forward with the rods down. It seems every time I need to work on the drivers on a 3rd Rail I have to rewire the rollers because the leads are always too short.

Norm, didn't you just have to take the wheelset out and flip it around?

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Norm, didn't you just have to take the wheelset out and flip it around?

I believe that’s what he means John, …..it’s still a lot to take apart to flip an axle. It always seems the pickup roller lead wires are always too darn short, and you just can’t scoot the axle out without it being a bit of a PITA, ……I have a couple 3rd Rails where the eccentric was way off, ……

Pat