I have two remotes one of then the thumb wheel is really hard to push down to select a loco the other one is fine they both have the newer version wheels in them. any ideas?
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Not an issue just order a replacement from MTH parts. If you do a little searching here on the forum for past topics on thumbwheel repair there are several helpful guides for replacement and the part #'s. They are easy to change you just need to follow the instructions and take your time. If you have to re-solder the connections I took mine to a small electronics shop and they did it for me.
Or a tech can change it out if you're not comfortable with it. I do them. G
had it changed and it is still stiff any suggestion?
@warren wagner posted:had it changed and it is still stiff any suggestion?
Is it working? If so, you're set. I have 8 remotes. They all have varing degrees of pressure.
yes, it works so I won't mess with it thanks!
Out of my four remotes I had one that seemed to need what I thought was an excessive amount of pressure to make the connection. Thinking I had a cracked/broken thumb I ordered the part and proceeded with taking it apart for repair. Turned out there was nothing wrong with it. I cleaned up the contacts on the board and the back of the buttons and put it back together, still had the same issue. After another disassembly I noticed that when pressing the button under the thumb wheel to the circuit board it worked just fine. My fix for the problem was to glue a small piece of .030 styrene to the bottom of the thumb wheel where it makes contact with the pad. It works so much better now.
thanks, i might give that a try
i found out that the pins that hold the wheel in place one is broken off thinking about ggluing it in place. any thoughts?
You are going to be pushing this button a million times. Easy to just buy a new MTH thumbwheel or the cradle alone and will have to solder it to get it over the new cradle. They are cheap get a few and you will be set for the next time.
They work OK if you do not push them to hard but they will wear out after a few years the plastic bit that bends.
Again search and read the details on replacing them on the forum.
I agree with the previous comment, don't start gluing stuff in there! The thumbwheel cradle is only a few bucks, even the full thumbwheel isn't all that expensive.
The cradle is $4.
The full thumbwheel is $23.
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I might add that you have to unsolder the wheel PCB to change the cradle.
i got it fixed works good now one of the location points for the wheel was broke off thanks for sll the sugestion
