Bachmann 9f Evening star Quartering issues

[Gazbo]

Got my Bachmann  9f Evening Star out for a gentle shunt the other day. (As part of my "running them all occasionally to keep them healthy"- routine)

It seems to have lost some, but not all quartering, and only  on one side. Hard to describe, as I'm not near the loco at the moment, but basically the right hand side (UK car driver's offside) has all the link rods running parallel. On the Left (Nearside) however, it's looking like at least one wheel has misaligned, causing the rods to run parallel /parallel / dropped into a vee misalignment/ then parallel again. ( kind of  - - v - -) (Maybe only one wheel at fault here). only a few degrees off, but not useable.

 Strange thing is that everything still seems tight. ie. I can't easily move any of the wheels on their axles, to realign them.

Mysterious as to why it should go out of quartering, parked in it's box ? It has been fine for 2 years. It was fine when it was last used. The waddle is horrendous/ unusable, and suddenly appeared at a steady shunting speed test, on straight track, so the loco was immediately stopped, and removed for inspection, not being run since. Note, she's never been above half speed since she was bought so not been hammered. Strange.

Unsure what the axle setup / spacers are on this one. I know my old Split chassis Std 4 was on "fat drinking straw"  plastic axles with round bores - to coin a phrase.

that discussion took place on here.

This isn't a new 9f, but much newer than the 4MT. It's otherwise mint, and was my main Xmas present from the wife and son. I daren't tell them it has an issue.

What's (Or is there) an easy fix to realign the offending wheel / link rod, without damaging anything? Ideas ? Photos, or site links would be appreciated guys.

I have the engineering savvy, tools and capability, I'm just not sure how this one was put together - axle-wise.

Thanks in advance.

Stay safe.

Gaz.

[Harlequin]

Has one of the crank pins come loose?

 

[Gazbo]

Hi Guys. Thankyou for the inputs.

No pics yet - sorry. I'll take some once I'm near the loco.

I will re-check the crank pins, (although they "seemed" nipped up ok). If that proves to be the case, I'll then try the pliers idea.

The reason I hadn't tried that before messaging, and the main reason I posted in the first instance, was that I was unsure as to how the wheels were fixed to the axles,

ie: simple round on round, press-fit, or square drive, or some other attachment method.

I was concerned if they had been mounted on - say a square drive peg for instance, that I may have sheared something by trying the pliers method.

313201 has now given me a bit of confidence to try that next.

Thankyou both for the ideas.

 Still strange though, that it's moved, but yet is stiff enough on the axle to maintain position,which begs the question - why ?

 Well -   hey-ho - there ya go! 

I'll upload some pics, and let you know how I get on. thanks again guys. Gazbo

[Gazbo]

Update : I finally got back to the loco. Sorry - no photo's, they turned out not to be necessary in the end. the issue turned out as follows: Valve crank on left (Nearside) main driving wheel had moved out of timing, to such an extent that it caused the valve rod to try to pole-vault it's support through the boiler. this in turn put an opposite load onto the associated wheel connections, which had then upset the quartering. Once the valve crank was repositioned and tightened in position, the quartering just required re-aligning to the adjacent drivers (Pliers, and a bit fiddly). She runs fine now, and has stopped with the Bachmann waddle ! in fact, I think she now runs even smoother than as bought !!

I hate doing stuff like this, as I'm usually a bit Ham-fisted, and have developed a bad habit of populating carpets with lost screws and springs etc ! haha. This time though - complete success - to great relief !

Thanks for the inputs guys.