Silver Bullet engine wheels locked

Did it run before? Do the drivers move at all? Or are the rigidly locked up?

@Vernon Barry posted:

In general, modern MTH PS2 engines are not back drivable  gear trains so let's just be extra sure we know the difference between actually locked up vs you just can't turn the wheels.

I said nothing about new fangled Lionel back drivable gears. I asked if it has ever run and are the wheels froze in place now or do they move.

Did MTH ever produce any items with back drivable gears? We have none that do.

@BobbyD posted:

Did MTH ever produce any items with back drivable gears? We have none that do.

If they did, I've never seen or heard of them.

The MTH engine ran beautifully before, however, it has been sitting for two years. When I fired it up on Sunday it moved forward about two inches. The engine won't budge now. I'm trying to figure out if it something that I can fix or send it to be repaired.

Start with the obvious, look carefully at the power truck gears and see if there's something wedged in them.  Frequently a grain of ballast gets picked up and jams the gears.

Thanks, gunrunnerjohn. I'll tackle that this afternoon. It is rainy and dreary outside plus I'm stuck inside with Covid. I'll let you know what I find.

There is nothing caught in the gears. I have disassembled the trucks from the motor. When I place the wheel set on the track they roll freely and when I rotate the motor it revolves freely. Everything works as it should when apart, but when put together the wheels stick in one place. The fix is probably simple, but I am stumped! Got any ideas?

That makes little sense, can you rotate the motor, or is it locked?  If it's locked, can it move back and forth at all, even slightly?  I'm wondering if the motor shaft is projecting down and getting squeezed inside the truck.

I'm thinking this would be a ton easier if I was looking at it!

Yeah, I agree with John, that’s odd …..put the motor back in the truck THEN try and rotate the flywheel on the motor by hand, …..if it’s locked up then, something is out of whack,…..the silver bullet engine will not roll free like a hot wheels car with the motor installed, and not powered,….

btw fellas,  some Premier steam, late PS4 Pacifics, late K4 Pacifics & a few others are all back driveable ….

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

btw fellas,  some Premier steam, late PS4 Pacifics, late K4 Pacifics & a few others are all back driveable ….

That I didn't know, I've never experienced that.  I don't have a lot of brand new MTH, most of my stuff is at least a few years old.

@harmonyards posted:

btw fellas,  some Premier steam, late PS4 Pacifics, late K4 Pacifics & a few others are all back driveable ….

Wow Pat, I know that Lionel's PS4 and K4 are back-drivable, but I didn't know that any MTH locos had this feature.  I would love to have a comprehensive list of which are, and which aren't!

@Ted S posted:

Wow Pat, I know that Lionel's PS4 and K4 are back-drivable, but I didn't know that any MTH locos had this feature.  I would love to have a comprehensive list of which are, and which aren't!

Let’s make that another thread for another day Ted, and not hijack J’s thread so hopefully the group can help him solve his issue with his silver bullet engine….but sure, we can discuss it elsewhere…..

Pat

Will the "sticking point" go away if the motor screw(s) is/are left a tad loose? Any shims between the motor and block?

Gunrunnerjohn, it's yours to figure out. Having someone else work on it makes sense. However, I can't send it to you until the week of Thanksgiving as we will be out of town. I'm hoping it's something minor. What is your mailing address?

Any chance there's a nylon gear on the driving axle?  If it's split, you can get this sort of lock-up.

When you say the motor by itself spins freely, and the chassis sans motor will roll freely, I'd be looking at the marriage point of motor and wheels.  That ol' split nylon gear bugaboo comes first to my mind, but I have no familiarity with this particular model.

Just a thought...FWIW.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

KD

Thanks dkdkrd. There are no nylon gears; they are metal. I used a toothpick to clean out gears and relubricated them. I've rotated the flywheel separate from the truck. No problem. I rotated the flywheel with the truck attached and the wheels turned. But, when I attach them and rotate the flywheel, it catches. The wheels run true as do the gears attached to them. I'm still stumped.

Closely examine the worm and mating worm gear in the truck for any issues.  Obviously, something is causing the issue.

GunnrunnerJohn. I have held the flywheel, motor and truck in place with no issue. However, when screwed in place, that's when it starts to bind.  I'll work with it again tomorrow.

Did anything happen to it before it locked up?

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Did anything happen to it before it locked up?

Yeah!!….it quit running right before …..🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪

Pat

Another long shot...  But, again, I'm not familiar with the assembly.  (Some photos of the internals, gears, motor mount, etc., would help here).

Is there any possibility that the motor mounting screw is penetrating to the motor armature?  IOW, if the screw axis intersects the armature axis might the screw end be interfering?

If you back off the motor mount screw a quarter turn at a time, does the mechanism free up?

If any of this seems to help, was this assembly serviced recently, after which the problem began?

For example, is there supposed to be a washer...lock-type or otherwise...beneath the head of the mounting screw, and is it missing?

Is there anyone else out there with the Silver Bullet having experienced this or able to chime in.  Without photos or our own experience with the mechanism, we're shootin' in the dark a tad here.

These sorts of buggers are frustrating, I know.   Been there.  Suffered that.   Probably so for many of us.

KD

Thanks for the ideas, but I'm going to continue to frustratingly work on it until it magically runs OK.

So if you loosen the motor mount screw does the flywheel turn freely then?  I have seen the motor can bend slightly which binds the motor.  I have seen the axle gear that connects to the motor split and cause binding.  G

Thanks GGG. Nothing appears to be bent and the flywheel spins!  I finally gave up and sent it to Joh Nestlerode. He fixed my other MTH problems.