Sound value rs3 wheels causing short through switches

[ALCO0001]

Knowledgeable,
When out and got a new ALCO RS3 .Runs smooth and after a zimo speeker install it has great sound except when you run through a switch then it shorts the system.I checked the wheel gauge and it is perfect.All others run through the switches fine.Correct me if I am wrong please,but that leaves the thickness of the wheels and the flanges themselves??Amazed and Disappointing at the same time.Any Ideas or knowledge of this issue would be greatly appreciated

Jack

[jonathan]

In order to help...

Are you DC or DCC?

Powered frogs or not?

Type of turnouts...Atlas, Bachmann, etc?

As an aside, I have found the sound value locos to be extra sensitive on my DC layout AND the club DCC layout.

Regards,

Jonathan

[ALCO0001]

Johnathan,
Running DCC SYSTEM atlas switches,everything else run through the switches fine no short ,that would eliminate the system,switches and narrowed down to

the wheels on the rs3 themselves .So just to Thank you for responding I got back into it by measuring the wheel s compared to a good

set off an old spectrum gp 35 parts doner (same truck) and found the wheel thickness at the flange is oversized at the flange on the RS3. ,wheel defect yep!!!!

Installed the spectrum wheel set problem solved! Funny how a 15 year old part can fix a 1 day old loco.Had some past experience with a

Broadway rsd 15 A year ago SAME ISSUE .Seems that someone owes me a set of wheels Humm.Things must be busy in service since they

are not responding to there phone or e-mail so I go ahead and fix them myself if I have parts .But these parts were not free for me.Hope

this helps Someone since it to me is quite odd that with all the fine machines for manufacturing they have they got this wrong.
Jack

[rogertra]

Alco0001

The only way to check the flange thickness and depth is with the NMRA HO gauge.  Is that what you used?  AFAIK, all Bachmann wheels conform to NMRA RP25 so it's likely not the wheels.  I would also suspect that Bachmann use the same 40" diameter wheels under all their diesel models.  After all, why would they manufacture a set of wheels just for one diesel when all North American diesels ride on 40" diameter wheels?  That's not smart business.

Cheers

Roger T.

[ALCO0001]

Roger,
Well I used  a NMRA  gauge to check the gauge of the wheel spread , then I  found that was good .The wheels are the same size old spectrum to the ....

new sound value , but the wheel  cast is a little different along with the flange , the spectrum is not as thick from the wheel tread to the tip

of the flange .I used jewelers specs to visualize, and old school calipers to measure the differences between the  two. The castings are

different  from the center pin to the tread.The hub AREA

The old Spectrum wheels work and the new ones  short out in switches.I can run all the other sound value locos through the switches

with no short .I cannot dought these findings since the Spectrum wheels work and actually fit snug in the bearing area in the gear case

like they should and the new ones were loose and just fall out when you remove the sideframe lower cover. Did a bad batch get past qc.I

am not going there , But it is fixed and retested.In the shop we had a saying dot your eyes and cross your tees with testing and

remember the 3 Cs. Cause ,correction,cure!
Best Regards,
Jack

[rogertra]

Got me baffled then.  Still don't understand why they would not use the same wheels on every diesel model.

Fortunately, I already have older Atlas RS-2s and RS-3s from ten years ago so I don't see any Bachmann RS-3s on the horizon.  Trouble is, mine being older now need DCC and sound installed so they'll be off to Ontario and my friend later this year.  Sadly, adding DCC and sound is a little beyond my eyesight ability.  .

Best of luck with yours.

Cheers

Roger T.

[ALCO0001]

Roger,
I have a B-maN sd40-2 with dcc and had found those wheels are also different from the rs and the older spectrum .Had a issue with one of

the press pins in the wheel that rides in the truck bearing journal that ran dry and actually wore out kind of like a hour glass pattern,  tried

installing the spectrum wheels and they would not fit ,different size half shaft and gear .Ended up having to replace the truck  ,but that was

  my fault I guess for not keeping them lubed properly.The baffling thing is the bearing journal is made of some type of resin /plastic and the

half shaft is metal.I use  a type of jewelers hood with a light and different interchangeable lenses to do all this stuff ,my eyes are the same .
they did not need lenses when I first got into the hobby .Harbor Fried sells them if your interested ONLINE TOO.Hope this helps.

Jack