N scale doodlebug erratic and stalls on curves

[Bkdoc]

Anyone experience this and have a fix? Runs good on sweeping curves and straights but doesn't run on 15" radius. Thx for any suggestions.

[brokemoto]

The weak point of these things is the bendy-uppy tabs that make contact with metal.  If they are not making contact, the thing will stall.  Another frequent culprit is that dirt tends to accumulate on the contact wipers.

What you do is carefully pop off the bottom retainer plate on both the unpowered back truck as well as the powered forward truck.  Pop out the wheels, clean the back of them with Life-Like track cleaner, or, if you do not have that, alcohol will do.

Clean any dust devils, accumulated dirt and grease from the contact wipers.  Before you put the wheels back into the trucks, VERY GENTLY bend out the contact wipers slightly.  When you replace the wheels, be sure that the wipers go properly up against the back  of the wheels.   Finally, make sure that the retainer plate seats properly on each truck.  

B-mann tends to overgrease at the factory, as it is.   The only thing that excessive lubrication does is attract dirt.  The number one enemy of N scale power is dirt.

If you have the decoder version of this and are running it on DC, what happens every time that it stalls is that the "smart" decoder must re-set.


Finally, do make sure that your track is clean.

[spookshow]

If you have the DCC-equipped version, this is a common issue (the cause of which is the way the two halves of of the powered truck are put together at the factory). Popping the truck out of the chassis and playing around with the screws (either loosening them, tightening them, or some combination of both) reportedly solves these problems.



Good luck!
-Mark

[Bkdoc]

Gentlemen, thanks for your suggestions. I'll give your suggestions a try.
Regarding popping the trucks out do they just pop out from the bottom. Or do I need to remove the bottom plate?if so, how is that done? I looked at popping off the bottom and top plates but wasn't easy and didn't want to break it or damage the body. Seems very tight. Thanks for any further help you can provide.

Doc

[spookshow]

The collar at the top of the truck sits inside of cutouts in the chassis. It should just pull out with a modicum of force. But if you're worried about damaging it, just take the shell off and push in on the collar from either side.



When putting the truck back in, getting the driveshaft reconnected can be a bit of a challenge. You'll likely have to take the shell off, unscrew the decoder board and then access the shaft that way.

Cheers,
-Mark

[Bkdoc]

Thx mark. It's a pretty tight fit, she'll to chassis. Are there locking tabs of the shell to chassis at certain points that I need to address? Can't tell from the photo. Just paranoid of damaging the shell. Been ther before so extra careful now. Thx for the photo.

Doc

[spookshow]

To remove the shell, use four toothpicks (or whatever) to separate the shell/window assembly from the chassis (just inward from each truck). Slots in the window inserts hold the shell to the tabs on the chassis, so it should pop off readily at that point.

Cheers,
-Mark

[Bkdoc]

Mark, thx for the tip.mtoothpicks worked great. Opened up no issues. Cleaned up the contacts and reformed them for better contact. Thanks broke too for the tip. Runs much better now. Thanks to all. One interesting thing I found was the head light led was covered with shrink tubing. It was a loose fit so came right off but weird they would cover it.