MPC GP7 "wobble"

Look at the wheels and see if they have a seam from the mold that needs to be filed down, even under the traction tires.

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Dennis

Run the engine slowly at eye level and look for a drive wheel that has been pressed on the axle off center. That is the most common problem with these engines. Also running them with the motor to the rear improves their performance considerable.

Thanks for the tips Jim and Dennis. You were both right - there was a small flange on the cast wheel AND they are out of alignment on both. I tried to realign the wheels with eyeballing it and adjusting with a screwdriver, but it would be so much simpler to remove the truck sides and get at it with a clamp or vise. I dont see an obvious way to remove the truck sides - is there a trick to it?

Thanks

Ah ....eccentric wheels. The curse of Lionel from the distant past til now!   Actually,

the Chinese and especially the Koreans have a much better time of this than we

ever had over here. 

Get some new drive wheels that are centered properly and then grind just enough of the crimp away to free the truck side. Replace the wheel, I press them on in a bench vise. Then drill a small hole into the truck where the crimp was and reinstall with a small screw. The metal is soft and will easily take a drill bit.

Great advice and solid cures for the dreaded MPC "wobble". Nicely done folks.

Silly people, MPC thought these Lionel engines were toys and didn't think a little wobble mattered.

Ed Boyle

Maybe MPC was trying to replicate what they saw in train videos in the 60's and 70's, with deferred maintenance and neglect, a lot of the trains rocked as they rolled down the track!

Good thinking - I like that one! 

There was a story I read a number of years ago in Trains magazine, I think, some humorous recollections from old-timers. One retired engineer recalled a running argument he had with management; he quipped that he wanted to be paid by the mile, because with the old engine on the old rail line he was assigned to, he figured he traveled about two miles side-to-side for every mile he went forward.

Thanks for all of your help. I ground the excess metal from the wheel seams, removed the truck sides, replaced one wheel, aligned the wheels in a vise, replaced the traction tires, added some weight (4 oz), added some washers to under the retaining clip on the non powered truck...and the wobble is gone. Honestly, it was fun. I looked at the engine as a kit with "some assembly required" and with your help, it was an inexpensive way to enjoy these trains.

You guys are great. Enjoy the Holidays.

Spider 82,

I think you are looking at your MPC diesels in the right way.  The decoration for these little dears was significantly better than the Post War versions, even though mechanically they were blaaah. ( I am being kind here because it is the Christmas Season)

A little fix-up and you have a good running diesel that is much better than the originally made MPC toy.

Your "some assembly required" should become a part of our O gauge vocabulary!

Nicely phrased and I am going to borrow it for a future column...unattributed, of course.

Best,

Ed Boyle

Spider82, glad to help. I have had a lot of those MPC GPs and the wobble was always their biggest problem. That off center wheel thing went on for years..Keep the motor and gears lubed and it will be a fine little engine....Jim

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