Forney Pickup Problem

[naptowneng]

I have the Bachmann Spektrum 2-4-4 Forney locomotive. It began to stutter on my track powered layout. It had previously been a very smooth and powerfull performer. I took it to the workbench to clean the wheels. I do that by putting the loco on her side and touching power supply wires to the wheels and using alcohol and a Qtip to clean wheels.
Well, applying power to the two rear drive wheels, and wheels spin.
Apply power to the two forward drive wheels, and nothing. Ah ah, it seems there is no pickup from those drivers. Both sets of drivers have the little spinning wheel pickups, they appear intact. Cleaned them with spray electronics cleaner, still no aparent pickup. BTW, loco runs fine on battery power.

It is less then an year old so I can send for repair for cost of shipping, but wanted to ask for any obvious issues others may have had?

Thanks

Jerry

[StanAmes]

Some thoughts

Clean the backside of the wheels so that the pickups make good contact

Make sure that the springs for the pickups on the front wheels are making actually pushing the pickup wheel against the wheel.

Check the resistance from the front wheel to the back wheel on each side.  It is possible that one of the spring pickups is very dirty inside or the spring has collapsed and needs to be replaced.

Hope that helps

Stan

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Hi Jerry,

As usual Stan has great tips as to the possible solution and hopefully you will get operating again. 

As for sending it in for repair I would call service and discuss the situation with them as to your options.  You may have to remove the battery R/C components in the event they have to replace the loco.  When you call be sure to let them know you have added the battery R/C.

Good luck,

Bill

[naptowneng]

Thanks Stan and Bill for the suggestions. Some further information, I tested the loco by touching wire from a power supply to the wheels, and crossed over, and was able to determine that one driver wheel, rear axel on engineer's side was not picking up.  So I sprayed again and lubed and it seems to have returned. However, that testing also revealed that the rear truck, which has pickups and should help with running, is flawed.  Both wheels on the fireman's side are not picking up.  So there must be a broken or loose wire between the truck and the board or motors.  I am reluctant to take the body apart to trace the problem since it is still under 1 year warranty.
  So Bill I will call Bachmann and see what they say.  The only battery mod I have done is just run wires from the battery terminal on the board out the back end to plug into a trailing car. 

Thanks again

Jerry

[jviss]

Curious as to what products you are spraying and lubing.

[naptowneng]

Re: Spray and lube products;
I clean pickups with Radio Shack (RIP) spray electronics cleaner and lube.
I lubricate with the model railroad lube kit by Labelle. Those kits have three products, a # 106 PTFE grease, #102 gear oil and either #107 medium oil or #108 light oil.  As far as the BM ball or roller pickups, I use a sparing drop of #108.  #107 and 108 are labelled as conductive oils.

I do not use BM Ezlube light conductive oil.  Oddly I find that product freezes in the winter leading me to trust the Labelle products more.

Jerry

[jviss]

Thanks for the detailed reply!  I am generally very careful (now) about aerosol products and plastic!  I've also found that alcohol is a good, general purpose cleaner, but not so good at removing oxide. 

I purchased Bachmann's four lubes, and I like the conductive oil.  I wiped my indoor tracks with it, and lightly applied it to the rail junctions and everything works much better now.  I wasn't aware it could freeze, but then my layout is indoors. 

Are light oils generally conductive, or is there something special about these?

[Hunt]

. . .
Are light oils generally conductive, or is there something special about these?

There is something special about a conductive lube.  Also,  they are conductive only when properly applied – very, very, very thin layer.

[naptowneng]

Well, there have been some very interesting discussions on various forums on conductive lubricants, such as are they really conductive, etc?  So just use what seems to work for you.

Jerry

[Hunt]

Well, there have been some very interesting discussions on various forums on conductive lubricants, such as are they really conductive, etc? 

. . .

I am not aware of any oil suitable for model railroad use, including those labeled conductive, that is conductive in the context you can put two probes in the oil and measure a current flowing between the probes.

Only when the layer of oil formulated to be conductive is thin enough along with sufficient pressure between metal surfaces will the electricity flow from metal to metal through the layer of oil.