Lee m22 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Hey Wondering if anyone can help me with issues I'm having with my GF 108 (3 car blue) When I first took it out of the box last year, I found the bogies on the dummy end really stiff to the point that it would jump off the tracks. I took the bogies off and squidged the pickup springs down a little and this helped the running a lot better. A year later, and it's finally out of the box and ready for a layout. I've put Bachmann 6 pin decoders in each end, and when I went to test it, I found that the lights in the dummy end are off more often than they are on! Track and wheels are clean, and there is no obvious problem with the powered end. I've re-raised the springs on the bogies as they were when I originally got the model, but now the bogies are stiff and won't rotate when crossing points - leading to the train short-circuiting the system I've added a small amout of ballast to each of the bogies , but the problem seems to be above the bogies and with the pickups / body. Pushing down on the roof does get the lights on. Has anybody else experienced this, or come up with a solution for it?? Most grateful for any suggestions! Regards Lee Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 The bogie contacts you mention rub on two springs set in holes in the underside of the body, and if either the contact or the spring is not in the correct position the contact can drop off the side of its spring which will lock the bogie as you have found. Try removing a good bogie and looking at the position of the contacts and also the corresponding body-mounted springs. If these need adjusting you may need to remove the seating unit to get at the PCB that they are attached to. (the above suggestion is based on a 150, which I believe has the same mechanism as the 108 and where I had a similar problem, but it's just possible I'm talking total rubbish...) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZmodeller Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Hi Lee, In my experience there could be 2 possible reasons, maybe try the easier one first. 1. Loosen the bogies so the pivot easily not only in a horizontal plane but also so they allow some vertical play to negotiate uneven track. 2. Check the connection bertween the front and top circuit boards in the trailer car, this may be causing the intermittent lighting. All the best Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee m22 Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 Thanks for the help chaps! I had tried to loosen the bogies but I found this made the car run high, and noticably higher than the rest of the DMU. I've lowered the pickups, and added some lubricant to the bogie pivot point now and it seems to be a lot better now (although not perfect) I've added balalst to the bogies but in fairness, its the body that needs it. Just don't know where to put it on the body LOL! I've done a few runs over the points and all seems well in the running too. Regards Lee Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZmodeller Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Hi Lee, On mine, loosening the bogies made no difference to the ride height but unlike you I haven't tried adjusting the pickups. I imagine if the pickups are bent too low then they will now be supporting the body and that might also account for the stiffness in the bogie movement when the bogies are fitted tightly. I know this can be frustrating and the temptation can be to over adjust (at one point hardwired the set together for 16 wheel pickup!). However, I discovered the solution to the intermittent lights almost by accident as I had to loosen the bogie to traverse a curved gradient without derailing and this solved the lights issue at the same time. Hope you get the results you are after but like me, you might have to be careful that your adjustments don't lead to bigger problems. Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee m22 Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Hey Peter Did yo uajust the pickups in the chassis? My problem was the pickups on the bogie (the little bits on top that project up towards the chassis.) When I brought the model, the bogies were stiff and also riding and a "nose down" angle, causing the train to derail when going backwards. Before I DCC'd it, I bent the bogie pickups down a bit and this solved the ride height and derailing problems, but then lead to electrical pickup problems. It's been a task of small ajustments to get a happy medium, but is seems a joint solution between bending the pickups on the bogie down, and loosening the bogie. It didn't work perfectly first time round but a second trial yesterday seemed to be all perfect It's a real shame that with all the DMU/EMU models Farish are releasing atm, that they didn't bite the bullet and look to developing a system to link all the carriages together via the passageways with a small electrical hookup in side to collectively pick up from across the length of the unit. My only gripe with the set is the wide gaps between the carriages....I'm sure a bit of research will find a closer coupling method than the one supplied though Regards Lee Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Al Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 It's a real shame that with all the DMU/EMU models Farish are releasing atm, that they didn't bite the bullet and look to developing a system to link all the carriages together via the passageways with a small electrical hookup in side to collectively pick up from across the length of the unit. That would just add cost, and really not be that necessary. The units have all wheel pickup as it is - ok yours aren't working perfectly, but that's quality control. My only gripe with the set is the wide gaps between the carriages....I'm sure a bit of research will find a closer coupling method than the one supplied though Dapol knuckles (not the new sprung ones, but the fixed ones) are perfect for closing the gap on all the Farish units - I've used them on 108s and 150s. Cheers, Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee m22 Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Agreed there is probably no major benefit to running if all the units were electrically connected - none that couldn't be achieved with decent track maintenance etc anyway - but it would offer simple solutions to things like carriage lighting etc and remove the need to have a decoder at each end just to run the head/tail lights (which is where I imagine a saving against the increased cost of cable running) For me though the best thing would be to see the gap between carriage stock banished to the history books. If tunnel ends could somehow be fashioned into close couplings in their own right, that would be the best improvement that could be made IMHO. I know I may be daydreaming here, but if ever there had been a time to do it, now with all these units and carriage stock being released would have been the time to develope the idea. I guess the reality of tight radius curves and turnouts will keep it a daydream for a long time to come...one can dream though! One can Dream! I have tried a couple of Dapol knuckle couplings that I found in my NGS snowplough box. It was a slight improvement, but then I guess there are different length shanks on the market, so I'll go shopping to see if I can get that gap down with them....Thanks for the suggestion. Regards Lee Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Al Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 For me though the best thing would be to see the gap between carriage stock banished to the history books. If tunnel ends could somehow be fashioned into close couplings in their own right, that would be the best improvement that could be made IMHO. I know I may be daydreaming here, but if ever there had been a time to do it, now with all these units and carriage stock being released would have been the time to develope the idea. It has on the Dapol 156. The reason it can't be so easily on the 101 and 108 is that they have buffers - so you either loose or retract the buffers or accept that you'll have a gap (or a longer than is accurate corridor connection). Personally, I feel once using Dapol knuckles it's a pretty small gap and acceptable. I have tried a couple of Dapol knuckle couplings that I found in my NGS snowplough box. It was a slight improvement, but then I guess there are different length shanks on the market, so I'll go shopping to see if I can get that gap down with them....Thanks for the suggestion. Try two short shank ones. I think this is what I've used, either that or one short and one long. Cheers, Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZmodeller Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Hi Everyone, I agree that it's not necessary to hardwire the units together, it's not that straightforward and can create more problems so I eventually removed the wires and the only adjust ment I have made to the trailer car is to loosen the bogies slightly and to clean the connectors berween the front and top circuit boards inside. Lee, you may find that your pressing on the roof not only aided the connections between pickups/wheels and rails but also the 2 circuit boards so it's worth checking next time you have the body off. I'm running mine with 2 short Dapol couplings which work nicely and bring the corridor connections close. The corridor connections are oversised however and although these get close the bodies of the units are still too far apart. If this bothers you you could file them down and close the gap further with 2 short NEM couplings but that would be dependent on your layout's curves. If necessary you can remove 1 buffer each side. For the record, there doesn't seem to be any problem with intermittent lights on the 101 Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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