4-4-0 acting odd

[ftauss]

Took a bunch of locos, etc out of storage last few days. Got a 4-4-0 N scale that runs great. The other, well, it runs great off the track, it runs great in reverse, forward however, not so much. Thinking it might be the mass of the tender that helps keep the driving wheels on track in reverse. In forward, it slips, wheels spin doesn't sound healthy.

Thinking this may be my first Bullfrog Snot test. Any other thoughts on it. It runs really good in reverse, as good as the first one in forward which I had pulling 6 cars cars on the test track after clean and lube.

[brokemoto]

How old are they?

If they are of older issues, there probably ain't a whole lot that you can do with the one that is not functioning properly.  The older issues varied wildly in performance.  GF has an older one that will pull ten cars up a one per cent grade at twenty SMPH.  I have some of the same era that will not even get out of their own way.

The newer issues are much better.  If you bought some of the last issues in the cardboard box or any in the plastic box, those are pretty good.  With a large amount of break-in time, they will hold a steady twenty five SMPH and do not pull too badly.  I have two that will hold a steady fifteen SMPH.  They do still wobble a bit, but not as badly as they used to.  With a little upgrading, these would be really nice locomotives.

[ftauss]

At $25 to replace them, I am going to spend a few minutes tinkering and then just send the bad ones back. I have 2 in CP and 2 in UP. I was quite impressed with the one that ran well. The UPs have the thick drive shaft and the CPs have the thin ones (like in the parts catalog now. Haven't tried the CPs yet.

Just seemed odd that it worked so well in reverse.

I need to develop a bit more patience, I just took the N stuff out again after a long hiatus, a move and extreme frustration with getting things to work. This time I got 2 of the more troublesome units up to speed.

[bobwrgt]

Remove the tender trucks clean all the contact points for electrical pick-up. Where the springs hit  the brass strips. Where the springs hit the side frame of the truck also. Clean the wheels. Get some electrical contact lube and lube the wheels on the tender. Contact lube is a cleaner with light oil.
Use light oil to lube the engine drivers and the Axel shafts on the pilot truck. Make sure the drawbar between engine and tender is not bent lifting the rear of the engine off the track.  Check the wire between them also. Then make sure the traction tires are tight on the drive wheel and not spinning loose.
Try to loosen all the screws just a 1/4 turn to see if anything is binding ,don't over tighten the screws holding the trucks on the tender because they can prevent the tender from rocking side to side.
When you get done you should have a good running engine in fwd and rev.
I have several of the 4-4-0's and they all run good with some adjustments from time to time.

[ftauss]

I'd already cleaned everything, the wheels were turning fine it just wasn't moving. A closer examination (under high magnification) of the traction tires revealed issues. I pulled them off, it's possible they had shrunk to the point where they no longer were in contact with the track. I replaced the traction tires last night, going to try and reassemble it tonite. If it runs as good as the 1st does now, I'll be happy.