Chase car truck issue

Hard to tell from pics but, rather than bending the side frames, I would first try shimming the other side of the axle with a small washer to "push" the offending wheel away from the gear. If that does not work, I would try removing the axle and flipping it over and see if that results in the wheel being further away from the gear.  If neither of those work, it looks like you should be able to remove the axle and push/press the offending wheel further out on the axle spline towards the side frame in order to give you more clearance from the gear.

Assuming the side frames can be removed with screws, you can also shim the side frame away from its mount a little bit by using a small, thin piece of cardboard or styrene plastic as a spacer. That should allow the offending wheel enough space to stay away from the gear. 

FYI, I'm not sure of the car number, but the original Lionel cop/robber chase used an electric motor connected to a hidden loop (under the boxes), that were connected to the participants.  The motor is very noisy.  I'm guessing the loop under the boxes is the same though.  This looks to be a better solution (noise is always a problem with train sets) if the gears work.

Thank you for the responses.

Sorry for the poor pictures it is hard to see as all the parts are black, it doesn't help that the person taking the picture isn't any good with cameras.

This must be a different design then the cop/robber car, I wasn't aware they had a motor.  I never owned one just saw them.  This appears to be driven by that large gear under the truck and that spiral screw on the axle turns that gear. 

Thank you Richie C I like that idea better then bending and potentially breaking his car.  I have been playing with some thin cardboard this may work.  I will likely see if I can get something a little stronger than cardboard to use as a spacer.

@Raptor Rails posted:

Thank you for the responses.

Sorry for the poor pictures it is hard to see as all the parts are black, it doesn't help that the person taking the picture isn't any good with cameras.

This must be a different design then the cop/robber car, I wasn't aware they had a motor.  I never owned one just saw them.  This appears to be driven by that large gear under the truck and that spiral screw on the axle turns that gear.

Thank you Richie C I like that idea better then bending and potentially breaking his car.  I have been playing with some thin cardboard this may work.  I will likely see if I can get something a little stronger than cardboard to use as a spacer.

Plastic might work - styrene sheets in various thicknesses are available at most hobby shops and easily scored and cut with a hobby knife. You can also try the plastic used for clamshell packaged products, like batteries, etc.

If the side frame is attached with screws, you could also space it out with small metal washers on the screws.

If those are cast metal trucks,  trying to bend them may break them.   If the spacer washer on the opposite wheel doesn't give enough clearence, you  may want to contact lionel and see if they will replace the car under warranty. 

The newer gear connection usually does not drag on the wheel.  Even when nothing interferes, the wheel still drags sometimes. I have seen this on modern chase, aquarium and radar cars with this gear setup.  That is when you need  to add weights to the car or use something like 'Bullfrog Snot' to keep the wheel from slipping.

3444 was the original chase car, and noisy.   The aquarium car used the same horizontal flapper, buzz motor.  The flapper of the motor was connected to a cord wrapped around a cylinder and the cord anchord with a spring.  The high frequency loosening/pulling action on the string causes the cylinder to spin.   There were a few modern Aquarium cars made with a motor. 

The radar car was another wheel driven action, but it used rubber bands around the axel and a pully.  And you have to get the correct rubber bands to make it work.  Also replace them every so often...

Not to hijack the thread, but the original 3444 was noisy, but it ran when the track had power.  The one from this thread runs only when the car is actually moving.  Did they come out with a quieter motor at some point that allowed the figures to move under track power?

Thank you all for the input.

He does also have the aquarium car add on to the set.  Grandma decided that was a good birthday present.  I will agree the motor in that thing is pretty noisy.