MWaz Get off your duff challenge

[twilight]

I'm really getting tired of winter :x. In between rewiring the house and snow removal for three Nor'easter's, I was finally able to get the right thrust washers to show up at my house:



I also found this little piece knowledge on NWSL website in they're tutorial section about noise from the gear box(echoing what Wayne shared in another post about gearbox noise):

"NOISE Markedly different noise levels between forward and reverse locomotive operation can almost always be traced to end thrust problems. Either there is excessive endplay in one or more shafts or thrust surfaces are poorly made or damaged (a ‘thrust surface’ is a bearing surface and therefore should be of bearing quality). Motors which are noisier in one direct than the other can usually be corrected by adding thrust washers to the armature shaft until a minimum of end play is achieved. Gearboxes which are noisier in one direction usually have worm problems of some sort caused by rough end surfaces, excessive end play or poorly made bearing surfaces. Remove the worm and bearings and inspect for damage to the end surfaces including burrs in the area near the intersection of the worm and shaft or near the bearing bore. Frequently, a clean-up of these surfaces along with the addition of thrust/shim washer(s) will solve the problem. In severe cases, the worm or bearings may need to be trued on a lathe or replaced. The same problem and solution is less frequently observed in the worm gear".

After taking the drive assembly apart....again, it was pretty straight forward for putting the thrust washer in. Notice the shiny brass washer next to the worm on the forward side of gearbox:



I re-assembled the gearbox and drive assembly and tested things out. Less noise, that's a good thing .

I also found that if I wedge this piece of styrene in behind the gearbox, pushing it a slight bit forward, that also reduced more noise(see white block behind gearbox):



I am not sure of any other way to correct this, But the drive is running pretty smoothly now and is pretty quiet. It will be something I'll need to keep an eye. I think its now ready to do another test run up at the club.

Struggling through the gearbox catastrophe and the pickup fiasco really has taken its toll on the appearance of the H9. So, I need to devote some time to touching up some of the paint and details on the locomotive up.

Hopefully I'm on the other side of these failures(I think I said that before) .