# IHC Steam Loco Driver repair



## Odyknuck (Dec 31, 2015)

After the good reviews of smooth operations on this forum, I recently purchased a used IHC Premier Gold series 2-8-2 Mikado off of ebay. It on the jerky side when running slow. I discovered what I thought was a bent axle. As it turns out the wheel sets simply ride in the plastic frame. They all have slop however the rear one is excessive. I am thinking of gluing brass shim material in the axle pocket to take up the play. Anyone done this with success . Or any other methods of repair. Other than this issue it is in great shape.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

The slop is so that it can do 18" radius curves. Shims should work just fine.


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

How slow of speed it the 'jerkyness' occurring? Is this a three pole or five pole motor? Sometimes if the motor is not turning fast enough the distance between the poles will cause it to not run smoothly. Also check that all of the rods are not to tight. If anything is binding it could be a cause.


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

It sounds like the main problem is the bent axle. But...

I have a couple of IHC 4-6-2 DC steam locos. They both had some issue with maintaining contact between the pick-up wheels and the track, especially at turnouts -- leading to jerky behavior. In my case, the first and third wheels are the pick-up wheels, and the second is the driving wheel. When the first wheel would run across the plastic frog of a turnout, sometimes the third wheel would lose contact momentarily, due to slightly uneven track.

Interestingly, the tenders had pick-up wheels and wipers, but they were not wired to the motor. in one loco the tender powered only the back-up light. In the other case there was no tender light -- the pick-ups were not wired to anything. So ran wires from the tender pick-ups to the motor in the loco. Now these locos run very smoothly.


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## Odyknuck (Dec 31, 2015)

The axle is not bent. There is just a lot of slop where it sits in the frame causing the drive rod to push and pull the wheels for and aft. I believe the motor is a 5 pole with a flywheel . This loco will not run without tender plugged in so it appears to be using both for electrical pickup.

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## Odyknuck (Dec 31, 2015)

Curios if anyone has replaced the IHC motor with a different Can motor for smoother operation. I have two of these locos and both are jerky starters at low speed. Once your moving they are fine. I may use the frame out of the standard Daylight (very little slop) to fix the axle slop on the C & O Gold loco. It appears they both use the same drive train. The Gold just has more detail with blackend wheels and side rods.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

It was practically a drop in fit and well worth the effort. I used silicone caulk to mount it, taking care to make sure it all stayed aligned. Next time, I will use an even better motor as this one was not as good as could have been used.


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## Odyknuck (Dec 31, 2015)

I have the same 490 loco only in the gold series. So this motor works way better the the factory one?


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Yes it does, but go the extra couple dollars and get a better motor...this one came in a box lot and, while an improvement, was not as quiet as it could be.


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## ma454mike (Aug 30, 2014)

I've converted 2 of my IHC locomotives to DCC. I used the pick-ups in the tender along with the ones in the engine. Ive been very happy with the performance of both.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

If at all within your skills, fit a flywheel in there...it is well worth the work.


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## Odyknuck (Dec 31, 2015)

Yea I agree on the flywheel. I recently remotored an old mantua. I had to turn the end down to fit the shell and mill the shell out for clearence.









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## jlc41 (Feb 16, 2016)

What is the advantage of the fly wheel??


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## Odyknuck (Dec 31, 2015)

The weight of the flywheel creates centrifugal force (energy) to smooth out the drive train load and binding.


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