Squeaky Mikado Great Northern

Oil all the moving parts on the wheels

Thanks Matt.  I'll give it a go again in the morning.  I thought I hit all the points but perhaps I missed something.  Outside of that annoying squeak during forward runs, the locomotive is beautiful.

If it squeaks on curves check the front trucks. The wheels will rub on the cast brake shoe pieces and cause a squeak. One way to isolate to this is to remove the front truck and run the engine and see if the squeak is still there. Otherwise check the rod pivot points again and be sure you got all of them. Some of these are easy to overlook.

If the squeak is timed to drive wheel rotation, the most common culprit is a brake shoe rubbing. If the mounting screw goes into the side of the frame you can just swivel the shoe away from the wheel. If it goes into the bottom of the frame you might have to file some material away.

 

Pete

Thank you all for the help.  I re-oiled all moving parts that I could find but the squeak is still there.  It stems from the back half of the locomotive.  If I lessen the weight on the rear section (by pushing down on the very front of the loco), the squeaking almost disappears.

 

Should I try a different lubricant?

 

Norton - sorry for the newb question but where is the "brake shoe" on the locomotive?

 

Also, he's a video of the train and the squeak.

 

https://youtu.be/Sd0KvbAEyN0

Look at the red arrows for the location of brake shoes on your squeaker.

 

 

Thanks gunrunner john; however on this model there are no brake shoes on the mains.  I brought into a LHS and they tried to trouble shoot best they could but they were stumped also.

 

I may open the drive area and check the worm gear area, though I doubt that's it.  I will be contacting the retailer about the issue.

 

Thanks everyone,

Glenn

Check the brake shoes on the pilot truck on the front of the engine. They may be rubbing on the wheels. I have had two MTH engines where that was the problem.

Since it squeaks once for each driver rev, it's clearly related to that.  You can remove the rods and see if it still squeaks, it should still run without them.

 

I really doubt this is the worm gear, it sure sounds like something external.

 

Check the ground strap under the trailing truck. These can turn a bit and scrape against the backside of the wheel on the trailing truck.

 

As near as I can tell, it's synchronized to the driver wheel revs.  It would have helped to have the locomotive in the picture for longer while we were listening to the squeak, but that's how it seems.

 

If it's related to the driver rev, it's pretty much most likely to be either the drivers, driver axles, or rods that are making the noise.

 

It does stop when he lifts it up and holds it, drivers and rods still going, which also stops the trailing truck axle from turning 

 

If the edge of that ground strap is scraping the back of the trailing wheel it will make that high shrill squeal.

 

 

True, but it also changes the load on the drivers.

My fellow Troubleshooters,

 

I've checked the ground strap on the trailing truck and that is laying on that axle with a 4-5mm gap to the truck wheel; so there is no contact there.

 

I even brought the locomotive to my LHS (Scale Model Supplies in Minneapolis, MN) for their feedback and showed them the video and they also ran in on their test track.  He thought parts were well lubed.  We also held it upside down with clips to provide power - there was a very faint squeak present though not consistent.  In the end, still no resolution.  I thanked them by buying about $100 in track I needed

 

I did email the retailer about the issue and if I can't solve the problem I'd like to perform an exchange for another Great Northern.

 

Is there a way to full disconnect the rods from the drive wheels?  I've tried tapping the rods and drive wheels while the locomotive is in motion and I couldn't tell if that changed anything.  I'll tinker more tonight.  If you want better video, please let me know.

 

Thanks again everyone for all your suggestions!

 

 

Red

 

I had a similar problem that drove me nuts for a short.

There was a small "burr" on the inside of one of the drive rods.

Per rev it would "scrape" on the hub, most likely in the top position.

 

I took the offending side rod off and used a small rat tail file to "round" out the hole.

 

Use a pair of pliers or correct wrench and take off one side rod at a time to isolate which one may be the offending one.

 

Dave

 

RedHeckle,

Did you put a drop of oil on each of the rear driving wheel BEARINGS (where the rear driving axle meets the chassis?)  You'll need a bottle of oil with a fine-point tip to do this.  Also, these locos have a split chassis with a "bottom plate" holding the axles in place.  You might remove this bottom plate, and make sure the teeth on the worm wheel are greased.  I don't believe the LC Mikado has a "grease port" for this gear.

 

[Aside: Why does Lionel insist on perpetuating their (and American Flyer's) error from the postwar years?  On a 4-axle loco, the 2nd or 3rd axle should be geared, not the last one.  It's only a matter of time before the rear bearings wear in an oval shape.  This is the same problem that plagues a lot of postwar Berkshires and Turbines.]

 

If you take Dave's advice to clean up the side rods, just smooth off any burrs that might be present.  Work slowly and DON'T enlarge the holes.  Unlike most Postwar steam locos, this Mikado is driven through the side rods.  If those holes get large and sloppy it won't run well.

 

I don't blame you for wanting to exchange it.  It's a nice loco and seems to run well but that squeak isn't by design and it would drive me crazy too!  -Ted

I would use the proper nut-driver on those drive rods, the pliers will round the tops of the drive rod screws.

 

End of the line for this Mike...

 

Just want to say thank you to everyone for their help on this one.  I did what I could and even took off the bottom plate to oil the axels from that access point.  The worm gear was very well greased.

 

I had also called Lionel for advice and they recommended using Labelle lube which I picked up the at LHS.  I wiped off the "old" oil best I could and lubed up everything and let the train run for about an hour.  The cricket sang all the way threw the run.

 

I even pulled the drive rods to see if those were the issue.  It really seemed to stem from the main drive wheels.  With that I bolted everything up, cleaned up the locomotive and requested a Return.

 

I got the RA and shipped the locomotive out yesterday.  The retailer will send out a new GN once they get the return; they also stated they would run it prior to shipping.

 

Well, stay tuned.  Living near Minneapolis, MN, I really want a properly working GN Mikado.  Thanks again all.