Again my thanks to every one! Now here is a progress report. SO I removed the drive rods that couple the wheels together, I DID NOT remove the wheels, none of the wheels.....Out of curiosity, i ran the engine, it seems to run smoother, not perfect though. As yet, I don't have the washer for behind the gear, but i did squeeze the wheels onto the axles a couple hairs more, taking out much of the ' slop' or 'play' seen in the video. The engine runs smoother yet, but not perfect. But that gear no longer hangs up, it runs pretty straight....so that is good, however, it was now that i noticed one wheel on one axle, appears to move with a in and out kinda motion or like it is on a bent axle! I reinstalled the drive rod on just one side and revolved the wheels over by hand, oddly enough the wheels cannot revolve a complete revolution WITH the drive rod on!???
take the drive rod off and the wheels revolve just fine.
I looked closer and longer at the wheels studying and carefully observing. I'm not certain, but one axle, may appear to maybe be bent, or at least seems to the eye to be out of sink with the other two wheels ! I am basing this ontwo things, : 1st) the wheel castings show what would in real engines be the wheel weight, and my judging of whether the weights on all 3 wheels look to be in the same position or not. The One wheel that is in front, and towards the headlight, seems to be slightly off...maybe one or two teeth off.
2ndly, on the fact that when i connect the drive rods, and no matter how i rotate the wheels , the mounting screw on one wheel ( either the front or the rear wheel, not the center wheel) the hole for the screws that hold the drive rods onto the wheel just appears to not be dead center in the hole of the side rod. Maybe it is my poor vision or perhaps i am expecting too great of precision for this toy electric motor......or maybe i am looking at a definite clue that the wheels are out of sync? Can you guys tell me?
SO Now the thought that, the gear s , may be all right after all but, perhaps some time in the past, some how one axle could have become slightly bent and allowed the gear on that wheel to become one tooth off? .......thus causing this entire issue? ..I don't know, I don't ever recall a drop to the floor with this engine. ....I'm just speculating as to if the axle could be bent... this depends on just how much clearance the center hole {mounting hole) in the small gears around the wheels, was designed at the factory to have. ... how many thousands?
So perhaps the engine needs a pros help now?
But i would like to know answers to some questions from you guys first.
1) how close of tolerances would this motor be manufactured with?......are we talking .002 or smaller, or .004 or greater clearances in regards to the 'center holes' for all the gears on this motor?
2) how close are the machine tolerances for the entire motor? are we talking thousands or hundreds of an inch or greater clearances than that?
3) How true and straight should the axles run in their bearings or bushings? I would expect a clearance of at least .002 but could these motors have been made at the factory with larger tolerances at the axles?
4) I don't see signs of bronze bushings on the axles......should there be any on the axles?
Knowing the answers to these questions will sure help me to learn what to watch for and be aware of now and in the future and to know for certain, that there is more causing the problem this motor is having than i first thought, and would fill in the blanks I have about the quality and durability this electric motor and the entire casting itself has.
Thanks guys! i await your answers.