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Please forgive me as this is going to be a bit of a rant.  For those who just want to know what I need help with here it is....how on earth do you get to the gearbox to put a little grease in there?

So now the rant....This is a Williams 773 Hudson (not Williams by Bachman as they may have upgraded the directions).  The included directions say the following..."The only area of the engine that receives grease is the gearbox.  This should be done every 25 hours of operation.  Steps to removing the gearbox for service are as follows:

1.  Place engine on smooth padded surface - chassis side up (done)

2.  Remove the pilot truck (2 screws) and trailing truck (1 screw) Note - the drawbar/ashpan assembly will come off with the trailing truck if you remove the 2 small Phillips screws in ashpan.  (now I did get through this one but at first I could not tell if they were trying to warn me NOT to remove the ashpan.  Almost sounded like a warning, don't do this.  But apparently you need to do this to get to the next part so I made it past here)

3.  Remove the two chasis screws, which were exposed after removing the ashpan (I guess it pays to read ahead.  Kind of like instructions for difusing a bomb..."cut the red wire......but FIRST cut the blue wire.)

4.  Now the chassis can be lifted from the boiler.  (it did after some wiggling and such)

5.  Remove the eccentric crank screw. the flexible drive shaft, and the gearbox mounting screws.  This will allow you to remove the gearbox.  (ok...this is the part I failed at.  A diagram or picture would have really helped here.  I'm pretty sure I identified the gearbox but not 100%.  And whatever it was I could not get it to come out and I was not going to try too. hard cause I was not sure if I followed the so called directions correctly)

6.  The gearbox can be examined and greased by removing the bottom plate (4 screws).  (now I just want to stick my head in the oven).

So those are the directions.  Can anyone assist?  I gave up and put the loco back together which I almost could not do.  Thanks much....BigRail

 

 

 

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WOW!! I feel your pain! I wish I could help with your scale steamer.I just bought WBB 027 alcos and thinking now I have to open up a new engine and grease the gear box because they are not doing this at the factory! I pay money for their product and now have to finish their work for them in the process!  I want to run my new engine right out of the box...not have to open it and add what should have been added at the factory!

rick king posted:

WOW!! I feel your pain! I wish I could help with your scale steamer.I just bought WBB 027 alcos and thinking now I have to open up a new engine and grease the gear box because they are not doing this at the factory! I pay money for their product and now have to finish their work for them in the process!  I want to run my new engine right out of the box...not have to open it and add what should have been added at the factory!

The WBB alco diesel is much different then the Williams scale 773 steam engine. The alco has 2 motors.

To lube the WBB diesel all you need to do is apply some good quality oil to the axles near the bearings and after 25 hours of running check the gear for lube. To check the gear and motor  shaft take out the phillips head screw on the bottom of the truck assembly. When re-assembling be careful to make sure the motor meets the gears or it will turn without moving the engine, turn the flywheel and see if the wheels turn if so you are good to go.

Lee Fritz

rick king posted:

Thanks Lee, so taking off the shell of the alcos is not necessary? In the instructions it says to. Also been reading on the forum that it is really a good idea to grease the box of a new engine as they are skipping this at the factory.  

Yes, you will have to take the shell off to make sure the motors seat properly, because you can't turn the motor flywheel with the shell on. Usually there are 4 screws to remove on most diesel engines; 2 at each end, you may have to swing the truck assembly some to access the screws. If there is a small ladder on the diesel be sure to remember how it came off as it will limit the turning radius of the truck assembly if installed wrong.

One of the reasons that WBB don't put grease in the engines is because the engines can sit for 6 months or longer before being sold.

Lee Fritz

phillyreading posted:

One of the reasons that WBB don't put grease in the engines is because the engines can sit for 6 months or longer before being sold.

That doesn't make sense at all, any grease is better than no grease, even 45 year old MPC grease.

My experience with the diesels is that the blob of grease is there, it just missed the gears.

These should all be lubed with Red 'N' Tacky before hitting the rails.

I just opened my WBB New Haven Alco 027 set for grease.  I did find that although not a lot there was some grease in the gear box. Put in some more and it looks ready to go.  When putting the trucks back on I tightened the back truck screw until snug but the front screw when snugged did not let the truck to pivot like the back. I had to back off the screw a bit to get a smooth pivot. Sound correct??

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
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