Yes when holding the loco in hand the pilot truck has full movement and quite easily too. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
And, when held so the tread of the tyre is in line horizontally with the tread of the drivers, and turned to the side, the pilot truck wheels do not hit the cylinders or the lead driver? The other possibility (without photos) is the centre pickups are bent to one side and dropping off the centre rail and catching the edge of the rail. Dave
In the bottom photo, it looks like the rear axle of the front truck comes close to touching the first driving wheel. Could it be that on tighter corners, the wheels do touch, causing the front axle to derail? But yet again, you did say it had a free range of motion. You seem to have one interesting issue here.
That's where I was headed with this. Free angle of motion is here measured statically, not dynamically. No wheels are turning. I would remove the lead truck...looks like the screw between rear pilot wheels and lead drivers. Then try it. The rear roller looks from the photos to be way off to one side.Look at them closely from the end of the loco...are they both parallel with the axles, and somewhat centered? Dave
In the top photo, it is well clear of those drivers. I believe this is due to simply hanging loosely in two different positions, and when on tracks, this would not occur.
I did notice the front truck has two different pivot points. Never seen anything like that before. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Update: Yesterday I stopped in one of my LHS's and told them what's up. They haut so happen to be Lionel dealer and repair point. They told me that they have one of these running on O36 track in the back and it needed to be tweaked a little so that it would run perfectly. So I have two choices. Let them do the tweaking or just get O48 curves at $5 a piece from them. Thanks for all the help. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Is this engine still under warranty? If so, get them to do the work. Unless you really want to go with a larger circle?
Not yet. Lionel doesn't answer emails apparently so now I get to call and complain loudly. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Well, if many businesses actually do that any more? Unless they planned to reset or remodel, or have a traditional annual vacation period? There really isn't much reason to be down long today. Everything should already be computerized. That can be a fair amount of cash flow lost, depending. There are professional inventory services which will come in and do the job, then produce a report. They move fast, and have hand carried electronics, which download straight to a provided computer. Hand them a check, they hand you a finished report and leave.
Update: took the loco in to a LHS that handles warranty work. Runs great now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free