Bachmann Class 121 noisy motor

[tyl59]

Hi

 

Has anyone received a new Bachmann 121 where the motor is very loud, I had one which was noisy and started to bed down but then stopped working, sent this back and have now got a second one but this is still very loud after almost 3 hours running in.

 

The sound seems to be coming from the shaft between the motor and the wheels.

 

Has anyone else had this issue?

[MangoMidland]

Hi tyl59,   

 

Did you manage to solve this issue??

 

I bought a secondhand one before Christmas (23!) and on recently giving it a test run I felt mine was noisy too.

 

As I was not sure how long it had been since it was last run, so I gave it a quick run over, lubricating the wheels as per the Bachmann instruction sheet.

 

In reviews, different sources had mentioned the loco speeds not being the best, although I felt mine was not too bad for a realistic speed.

However, running another engine after for the first time (a Hornby King) the DMU was about half as fast!! (DC powered, single large oval of track)

 

There were also large differences in motor sound levels, with the DMU quite a bit noisier. I had thought of fitting sound to it in the future, but I would need to reduce the motor noise level considerably. 

 

If you, or anyone else, can give me any advice to reduce the sound, or reasons it so noisy, it would be much appreciated!!

 

Regards

Rich

 

[tyl59]

Sorry I didn't get notified about this, weirdly it improved by fitting a chip to it. runs like a dream now

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The only time I have had significant noise from a Bachmann model with the body mounted motor and shaft drive to bogie mechanism, is when the gear tower in the bogie was 'tight' on the gear wheel bosses. That also resulted in the model raunning more slowly than expected.

 

There will be some disassembly involved in checking out whether this might be the cause. Hopefully you have the assembly diagram, but if not a download is available from Bachmann and is worth having as a long term reference.

 

I would first want to uncouple the motor from the rest of the mechanism by removing the shaft between the motor and the worm, in order to test it independent of the rest of the mechanism. If the motor is then quiet running when off load, it's strip down the gear tower time.

 

First step, release the worm from the top of the gear train and inspect, just in case it has a poorly turned profile (most unlikely). 

 

Next push the bogie along the rails without applying any weight: if the gears don't turn there's your trouble, the wheels should drive the spur gear train. Now, this could be because it is all jammed up qwith grease that has solidifed. Feed in a  little light oil and see if it frees up when turned over by pushing it along a length of track. (Can be messy if there's a whole lot of hardened grease in there.)

 

If that doesn't sort it, then pushing out the gear shafts to release the gears - systematically arranged on a piece of paper and labelled - will be the next step. If one or more gears is tight in the gear tower, reduce the width of the boss slightly until an easy slide in fit. Clean up, reassemble and test whether the bogie now rolls freely.

 

Finally the axles: unlikely, but if everything else turns smoothly and freely, they will have to come out and the lack of free rotation be identifed and corrected...

 

Once satisfied and light application of a plastic compatible grease should keep it running for years.

 

HTH, and do report.