Climax grade climbing

[sailorman]

I have a Climax that I bought about 6 mos. ago. It stalls out on a small grade(1-2%). I checked the drive and everything seems to be connected. However, I noticed that I can turn the wheels on the rear truck and the drive shaft will turn. I can't do this with the front truck. I can lift the rear tuck and the front truck wheels will still turn. If I lift the front truck the rear wheels will not turn. They stall. Any ideas why this loco won't climb grades?

[richg]

Below is a link to the On330 Climax diagram. You can enlarge it a lot with your PC that might help in troubleshooting.
Open it up.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/S257X-IS001.PDF

Rich

[ChrisS]

I've got 4% with curves and my climax pulls a string up it just fine your rear truck seems to be unpowered

[2foot6]

Hi Sailorman,turn the loco upside down and look at the gears in the bogie where the drive shaft enters the bogie,spin the wheels and see which gear is not meshing.It may be a split gear or as simple as the gear may need a slight push on the shaft to make it mesh.I had this problem once,good luck Peter.

[sailorman]

Thanks guys:

The rear truck is indeed unpowered. I thought at one time it was made this way, but that is not correct. It seems like there is enough contact between the rear drive shaft and the drive gear shaft inside the main gear box, but not enough contact to actually power the rear truck. I have tried to take the gear box cover off to see if I can discover the actual problem. It seems like the main drive shaft may be broken but still in enough contact to turn.

The rear truck works fine. All the gears and drives are in contact and mesh well. So this doesn't seem to be a problem.

I have taken out the four screws on top of the gear box, but the cover won't come off. It looks like I have to take out the screws lower down. I'm not sure what the screws that I have taken out hold. Has anyone taken this gear box apart? I would like to know if I'm getting in over my head.

Thanks again, you guys are great!

Pete 

[sailorman]

Well guys I couldn't wait. I took out the remaining four screws and popped the gear box cover. This exposed the main drive shaft (part 25706 on the diagram). I could turn the rear drive shaft easily. It turned the rear coupling on the main drive shaft without the main drive shaft moving. I took the main drive shaft out with the couplings and the front and rear drive shafts. The front drive shaft was tight. I pulled on main drive shaft and it slid right out of the rear coupling!! The diagram shows a fitting that fits into the coupling and turns it.
I can only conclude that this fitting was still in coupling. There was a fine spline on the shaft to hold the end fitting but the spline didn't fit tight enough to turn the coupling under load. I put a drop of super glue on the spline and shoved it back into the coupling, reassembled the main drive shaft and truck drive shafts, reattached the gear box cover and gave it a try. It worked!!! The rear truck is now powered and the Climax is chugging right up those grades. 
I tried calling the Bachmann service people but couldn't get a technician. I probably will need a new main drive shaft. I'm not sure how long the super glue connection will last.

Again many thanks!

Pete

[GG1onFordsDTandI]

Well guys I couldn't wait. I took out the remaining four screws and popped the gear box cover. This exposed the main drive shaft (part 25706 on the diagram). I could turn the rear drive shaft easily. It turned the rear coupling on the main drive shaft without the main drive shaft moving. I took the main drive shaft out with the couplings and the front and rear drive shafts. The front drive shaft was tight. I pulled on main drive shaft and it slid right out of the rear coupling!! The diagram shows a fitting that fits into the coupling and turns it.
I can only conclude that this fitting was still in coupling. There was a fine spline on the shaft to hold the end fitting but the spline didn't fit tight enough to turn the coupling under load. I put a drop of super glue on the spline and shoved it back into the coupling, reassembled the main drive shaft and truck drive shafts, reattached the gear box cover and gave it a try. It worked!!! The rear truck is now powered and the Climax is chugging right up those grades. 
I tried calling the Bachmann service people but couldn't get a technician. I probably will need a new main drive shaft. I'm not sure how long the super glue connection will last.

Again many thanks!

Pete

Mostly I try and leave techs alone so they can repair the trains of others faster. Parts has sent me some things before when requested, after consulting techs, and me again, to see if it was something I could easily handle. Sales reps have also done more for me than I expected too. I suspect their work load is more up and down and they seem to "pitch in" enthusiastically in the other depts. when and where they can. Not gospel, just observations and assumptions.