Had it on my small oval and I noticed it stopped! Front set of wheels were stopped cold, rear set spinning on the track. Pulled the engine off and while I could get the wheels to move forward, there was a binding in reverse. My guess is we need a little grease in there but the manual shows nothing.
Thank You.
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Before you worry about grease, try looking for crap in the gears on the truck.
I had it upside down looking... Nothing. I'm going in!!
Jeff - check the motion is properly aligned - if the crank screw has come undone it can move and jam. See my post re my challenger on here - some of that advice might help.
MIKE
On the bench and I noticed a couple side rod screws quite loose. Going to tighten them up, clean the wheels and track and try to give it a spin before I dig deeper.
That could be it - other wise see my posts conclusion - fixed!
OK, on the bench with the shell on one set of wheels has a definite grinding sound. Pulled the shell off, no sound.
Set it aside for now, need to get some real work done!
Sounds like a flywheel rubbing, to me. Look at the inside of the shell, see if there are any areas near the motor(s) where it looks like paint and metal are rubbed off. Die-cast metal shells don't usually amplify vibration. Either the shell is rubbing, or putting the shell on causes a wire to be pinched against the flywheel.
An articulated on O31 is already a miracle of physics. But a vertical motor in a steam loco? Sometimes I think Ryan Kunkle should write on the blackboard 100 times: "Steam loco motors belong in the firebox" 
Popped the shell off and tried turning the wheels. Front motor smooth as silk, rear motor not so much. I typically run this engine "low and slow" and I've always heard a bit of clicking. Thought it was normal.
Decision time. Take it in or try myself... I'm leaning towards a trip to Milw and Sommerfelds.
I have this engine. If the motor and rear drivers are not turning smoothly, there is a single screw holding the rear chassis onto the frame. Removing that will allow you to inspect each part separately (motor and wheels) to see which is binding. Be careful here because there are 2 wires attached to the chassis and 2 more going to the IR on the drawbar. If neither are binding separately then them being matted together would be the issue. I've had that happen to me, where that screw became loose and the wheels locked up. Rematting it together fixed that issue for me.
Awesome, Thank You!!!
2-22 update. Took it in to my LHS today. The rear motor was loose. Before it was tightened up we took it out to see if there were any obvious issues with the gears, nothing. Reassembled and tightened. Powered up the chassis on their test track and the front motor was spinning twice as fast as the rear that had been loose.
Darn, didn't get lucky on this one. Left it with them...
Anyone have any ideas on what could be causing the issue??
That's a new one to me. I believe the odyssey speed control works from the rear set of drivers. At least that's what I've noticed on mine when cleaning the wheels upside down. More resistance when cleaning makes them go faster, on the front more resistance does nothing. So If it's turning slower on the rear my only guess would be something wrong with the odyssey. That would make it the RCMC which it a $120 part. This of course is just my guess. I hope your LHS finds a cheaper repair for you.
Dave, the RCMC board was his first thought as well.
With a locomotive with dual motors and speed control, it's not at all unusual to see one truck going faster than the other when suspended or running on rollers.
gunrunnerjohn posted:With a locomotive with dual motors and speed control, it's not at all unusual to see one truck going faster than the other when suspended or running on rollers.
In this case it was running on their test track.
How did one motor go twice as fast as the other? Was it spinning wheels?
gunrunnerjohn posted:How did one motor go twice as fast as the other? Was it spinning wheels?
Yes, rear motor was going along and the front was spinning like the traction tires were greased.
Since the motors are wired in parallel, either the gears were slipping, or you have a defective motor. Are you SURE the wheels were moving and not just the motor spinning like crazy? The reason I ask is this locomotive has Liondrive, and the little nub on the motor frequently breaks free and allows the motor to freewheel. I'm having a really hard time with the idea that the tires were actually slipping, at least unless you oiled the rails. 
I've had decent luck using Loctite 680 Retaining Compound to secure these.
John - The wheels were definitely turning. Front were trying to do a burn out!!
Oh, and there's another thing, there is a little coupler that goes between the motor and the truck to couple the motor to the truck. That is a loose piece, and it frequently gets dumped out when someone removes the truck and more than once it's gotten lost because they didn't notice something fell out. So, if you twist off the truck and the coupler isn't there, that's the first thing to fix.
I did see that, it's in there!
I'd be checking the rear motor, clearly something is amiss. I presume you've checked that it rotates freely through a complete rev of the drivers?
Yes. It's in their hands now, I'll pass along a link to this thread.
Thanks for your help GRJ!
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