Time to take the wheels off two locos...

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EngineerKyle

Member
Oct 3, 2005
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Troy MI
Happy Labor Day weekend all... :wave:

I've got some time to do a little maintainance on my two oldest Altas HO scale Geeps. As I have never had the wheels off before, I was wondering if the experts here could give me a few pointers.

One Geep, an IC gp38, seems to need a wheel gauge adjustment, as my template rocks onto the wheel sets pretty tight compared to all my other locos. Another reason why I diagnose this one as needing a wheelbase length adjustment is it will occasionally derail. My other locos do not.

How 'bout a step by step for that proceedure, or maybe there is a website out there that shows it?

The other Geep, a BN gp40, ALWAYS needs cleaning. Once around the track and the wheels are gunked up. All my other locos need cleaning about once a month. I figure this "dirty" one has pitted wheels, or poor plating or something. Do I need to replace the wheels? It is my oldest, but I only purchased it about 18 months ago.

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond!
 
whoops kyle i did not take time to read and comperhend i thought the IC was a IHC loco the blue on blue is a bit hard to read you can take a paper towel put a bit of what ever you use for a cleaner and lay it over the rails and drag loco over it.other than that can't help you because i don't have any Atlas locos. :(
 
I think Atlas powers their locos the same way Athearn does with all locomotive wheels picking up power. In order to do that without creating shorts through the axles each wheel is cast with a stub axle that fits into a plsatic gear in the gearbox. The gear fits the axle tightly, transfers power to the axle from the motor, and locates the wheels for proper gauge. I think if you hold the locomotive carefully upside down and using your thumbs twist the wheels on the axle that is out of gauge in oposite directions, you can move them in closer together or out farther apart as needed.
 
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