I posted a week or so ago about having scored one of the early Korean-built 4-6-2s. It didn't seem to generate a whole lot of interest and I get it; if one wants a 3 rail Pacific, there are much better options now available. Me, I enjoy getting an old, less than perfect model and seeing what I can do to improve it. That's where I get my kicks.
Anyway, I've been running this and it's not what you would call "great"; even after a good cleaning and careful lube it still seemed a little rough and rather noisy. I took it apart (again!) and decided much of the problem was that the motor- coupling- gearbox tower was just too "tight". Here's a repeat photo of the area I'm talking about:
Dunno if you can tell by my lousy photo, but there was almost no front-to-back room for those brass coupling pieces. All I did was loosen the allen screws on those couplings and remove the (2) screws holding the motor to the motor mount. I just kinda "jiggled" things around a little until it felt free, but not sloppy, tightened up the set screws on the couplings then put the motor screws back on (but didn't tighten them all the way), so the motor now sits slightly further back on its mount, thereby giving everything just a bit more room to move. And...
...whatta difference! It now starts at about 2.5-3V, is much smoother and also much quieter as well.
Again, I doubt if this will hold much interest, but anytime I can find a quick and easy fix, I figure it's worth mentioning here...
Mark in Oregon
