Legacy 0-8-0 Issue

I own a TMCC 0-8-0, assuming the design is the same the front driver set has some lateral play in the bushing to allow the wheels to float to maintain a good ground over uneven track.  Unlike most other steamers there is no pilot or trailing truck wheels to maintain a good ground.

I typically run mine at slower switching speeds and have never notice the wheels actually moving up and down. If your running at higher "rod blurring" speeds it could just be the excessive motion of the rods rocking the axle in the bushing.

Rick, I knew you would figure this one out. When I first read what Ron posted I couldn't figure out what the problem could be. What your saying makes total sense, I curious too see the out come.

Alex

Good thought Rick, but I was running at low speed. More significantly, it wasn't doing it yesterday.

I'll give a closer look in the am.

FWIW, if you haven't already.  Turn the locomotive over and grab the front axle with two fingers it will rock side to side in a "teeter totter" motion. If you hold the wheels steady and try to raise or lower the whole axle it does not.

Its kind of a neat design, a two way bushing where it can move but its still tight.

My loco has a grease port for this front axle, I know I greased it before i ran it with "red n tacky" which is pretty sticky stuff. Regardless if you overlooked the grease port on the front axle, a little added grease likely "slows down " the floating "action".

Hmm, interesting!  I pulled up some of the exploded views from Lionel's website and it just lists the chassis and wheels as a single piece, no detail about the front axle bearings or when this design was first implemented.

Does anyone on here know whether the two-way bushing was used on the older scale 0-8-0's with Odyssey (i.e., pre-Legacy) such as the 38047, 28700, 11109, etc.  

Thanks as always for sharing this interesting tidbit of info!

Yes Ted, my loco is actually the TMCC B&A version, 28702. As I stated in my first post, I'm "assuming" that Rons legacy loco is the same aside from the newer electronics of course.

With steam drive wheels being rigid as they are on top of it the rears have tires on them so that leaves the center blind drivers which don't always make contact with the rails and the front set for ground. 

Steamers tend to "bridge" most of the weight between the rear ("tired") drivers and the front making the front the best choice for a reliable ground having no tires.

Upon further reveiew, the whole axle does indeed make the teeter totter motion, but it moves up and down as well.

After shooting grease into the ports I ran the engine for a bit. The problem actually got a little worse. I had it creeping along a straightaway this time and the noise is very audible and rythmic. It is coming from the front driver on the fireman's side. I suppose I'll send it back to Lionel at some point, or maybe I'll just buy a new frame.

Thanks for the responses guys.

I noticed the teeter-totter play in the front drivers on mine, too, and like RickO I think it is kind of a nifty idea.  I missed the grease port, though.  No need on mine now (it runs well) but nice to keep in mind.  

It is probably necessary to give these puppies the capabilities they need to ride various types of track and situations and its an example of the engineering and design that often goes unappreciated.  I checked the Lionel R-T-R 0-8-0 I also have out of curiosity and it doesn't seem to have this feature, just a little play there: I guess you get what you pay for!