Quote from: Doneldon on May 21, 2013, 02:57:59 PM
Joe-

It's not unusual for a body shell to resonate to some low-level noise or vibration in a powered locomotive. It doesn't necessarily mean there is a problem in the mechanicals. . . .
                                                                                                                                                -- D

Don,
Thanks for the response.  While it might not be unusual for your locomotives to have vibrations,  it would be highly unusual for mine. With some 30 DCC engines, none of them vibrate unless they have malfunctioning drive trains or something wrong with them. My doodlebug has something wrong with it, and I long have suspected it was the early pre-Tsunami decoder making the motor hum at low speed.   I'd thought it might have been the gear problem which is the subject of this thread and the object of my question.

Joe

Pulled the doodles out and looked at them.  The visible difference between them is the newer one has traction tires on the front wheel set and it has Bachmann Spectrum logo on the bottom of the floor.

Thinking about it, the old one made a growling noise that I assumed was the AT100 Decoder I had installed. I took the shell off and the noise went away so I am wondering if I have gear issues which brings me to my question.

What are the symptoms of gear failure?

Thanks,

Joe

Nice article.  I have 2 doodles, 1 early and 1 late with car.  So far no gear troubles. I like the tail light though.

Thanks for sharing.  Here is link
http://cs.trains.com/mobile/forums/thread.aspx?ThreadID=217394

Joe

As others have said, the Bachmann 2-8-0 is an extraordinary locomotive, reliable, fun and inexpensive.  I have 4 of them. 

I hope your dis of your Dad was intended as a joke.

Joe Daddy

UTDave,

I'd never heard of shelf couplers and was skeptical of your suggestion but I went to the LHS and got a couple of sets of Kadee 118 & 119 (difference in length) and put a set of 119's on my Royal Gorge Dome coach and you are so correct!  That car is connected and I'm sure it is going to stay that way.  I did have to trim the bottom of the diaphragm to clear the upper shelf on the coupler else the couple would lock in the extreme angle hung up on the bottom of the diaphragm.

Thank you for a very good tip! 

Joe

I agree with CHOO CHOO, the GP9 and GP38's would make great additions to your sould value line!

Joe

Quote from: bapguy on May 14, 2013, 06:10:11 PM
Nice install. I did replace the orange LED's on my unit.  I prefer the board style decoder myself. I've installed 6 of these in various models. Joe

Thanks Joe, your posts here were my source of encouragement.  I used the decoder I had on hand else I would have used the Micro Tsunami or some other choice.  There is very little if ANY extra space in there!

Joe D.

You can find my write up on my installation of a Tsunami Sound Decoder in my Bachmann GP9 DCC On Board locomotive.


http://wwwjoe-daddy.blogspot.com/2013/05/bachmann-gp9-installing-tsunami-sound.html

Quote from: Jerrys HO on May 10, 2013, 05:07:25 PM
J Daddy

Here is the link to SoundTraxx's factory installed  cv's. Bachmann's sound value loco's are equipped with Soundtraxx decoders specially designed by and for Bachmann.

http://www.soundtraxx.com/factory/OEM%20pages/bachmann/bachmann.php

Wish they would put sound in the GP's.

Jerry

Jerry,

Thanks for posting the link, however, I could not find the F7 before or after    you shared the link.

Joe

Quote from: Doneldon on May 13, 2013, 08:34:17 PM

Quote from: Joe_Daddy on May 13, 2013, 08:08:42 PM
The problem is with the coupler box mounting. According to the Kadee website, you must replace the stock bachmann coupler box with Kadee PN 454 http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page454.htm and the coupler with a #37 coupler.

Stub-

As I mentioned two days ago, "replace the present couplers with Kadees and new Kadee boxes, all of it mounted to spec with a coupler height gauge."
                                                                                     Doneldon

Don, one must replace the PIVOT mechanism which is the root problem and different from the coupler box. Replacing the coupler box as you said two days ago would NOT fix the problem and is rather impractical because of the production bell crank.  All of this is explained in the referenced PDF.  The Kadee 454 kit appears to be hard to find, perhaps going out of production.  It is listed as while quantities last and my LHS is out of stock. I got what was listed as the last one on Amazon. 

Joe

Changing just the coupler will NOT fix the problem.       And adjusting the height is not a solution either.

The problem is with the coupler box mounting. 

According to the Kadee website, you must replace the stock bachmann coupler box with Kadee PN 454 http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page454.htm and the coupler with a #37 coupler.

Find the correct   facts at this site http://www.kadee.com/conv/pdf/b39.pdf

Quote from: richg on May 11, 2013, 12:58:15 PM


You are trying to hijack a thread. You would do better by starting your own thread.

Rich

I doubt anyone looking for information about a Bachmann F7 with Value Sound would agree with you, sir.

Quote from: Doneldon on May 13, 2013, 07:09:29 PM

Quote from: Joe_Daddy on May 13, 2013, 05:38:50 PM
As you stated, SoundTraxx and some other speaker vendors claim a 1.1 inch (28MM)  speaker is one inch however QSI also makes a 1 inch round speaker that is actually 1.0 inch  (26MM) and it fits the Bachmann Speaker receptacle perfectly.

Joe-

This irritates me no end. Soundtrax knows very well that an inch is 2.54 mm. Why they try to
peddle their 28 mm speakers which won't fit a one-inch space as fitting is just wrong. I suppose
they figure some folks have enough fudge factor room to get them in but I still think this is
downright dishonest.
                                       -- D

Don,  Annoyed me too, this being the reason I went to the effort of documenting it here.

Joe

Thanks Joe for your reply, which was exactly what I anticipated.  

As you stated, SoundTraxx and some other speaker vendors claim a 1.1 inch (28MM)  speaker is one inch however QSI also makes a 1 inch round speaker that is actually 1.0 inch  (26MM) and it fits the Bachmann Speaker receptacle perfectly.

Like you, I will be fabricating some kind of baffle out of tape or RTV.  When I picked up the speaker this morning at my LHS (http://www.caboosehobbies.com) Roger, one of their DCC tech reminded me of putting some kind of cloth over the speaker however, I am thinking that drilling out the Bachman grill holes with the appropriate small drill will be more effective than cloth.  I can always retrofit with cloth/hose if needed.

I'm doing an install on the GP9, so I assume things are the same. (risky to assume I know)

Joe you specify a 1.0 speaker which is actually 1.1 (according to Soundtraxx and other sources).  I am assuming you mounted it in the belly which is milled for a speaker (on the GP9 anyway).  Two questions:

1 - How did you get the larger speaker to fit in the belly hole  GP9 is 1.08
2 - What did you do for a baffle?

Thanks

Joe