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Re: Suspension problems
Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 8:11 am
by FLtenwheeler
You need to adjust the height of the lead truck to get more weight on the drivers. You should be able to pick up a lead wheel about 3/16" with out lifting the engine. It only needs enough weight for it to stay on the track.
Please put up some pictures.
Tim
Re: Suspension problems
Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 8:46 am
by Mike Walsh
I'm following this thread so that I can learn about suspension as I go. I have a new-to-me atlantic and I'm not sure how much it ran before I got it. As such I may need to make adjustments also.
Re: Suspension problems
Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 9:13 am
by michaellynn2
I have a LE Pacific and it has the same issues as the LE Atlantic. Before I put the boiler on my LE Pacific I noticed that the front and rear truck carried most of the weight and the drivers barely contacted the rails. When the loco was rolled forward and then backwards, the drivers would skid rather that roll. I adjusted the length of the drivers spring hangers to raise the frame and lower the drivers down for more contact with the rails. By raising the frame, the frame had less contact with the front truck and less weight on the rockers on the trailing truck. After changing the length of the spring hangers the drivers had full contact with the rails and would roll and not skid when the loco was moved forward and backwards.
Re: Suspension problems
Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 9:59 am
by FLtenwheeler
michaellynn2 wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 9:13 am
I have a LE Pacific and it has the same issues as the LE Atlantic. Before I put the boiler on my LE Pacific I noticed that the front and rear truck carried most of the weight and the drivers barely contacted the rails. When the loco was rolled forward and then backwards, the drivers would skid rather that roll. I adjusted the length of the drivers spring hangers to raise the frame and lower the drivers down for more contact with the rails. By raising the frame, the frame had less contact with the front truck and less weight on the rockers on the trailing truck. After changing the length of the spring hangers the drivers had full contact with the rails and would roll and not skid when the loco was moved forward and backwards.
That is one way of doing it.
Tim
Re: Suspension problems
Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 1:28 pm
by Brunswick Carshops
jscarmozza wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 7:16 am
I need advice on how to properly balance the wheel loads on my 1" LE Atlantic, the drivers are slipping badly. Is the purpose of the equalized suspension just to maintain wheel contact with the rails, or is it also a means to adjust the weight distribution on the wheels? If it is a means to adjust the weight distribution, how is that done, if not, how do you get more weight on the drivers?
I have the engine on a work stand, and with everything in its place on a level track, I noticed the journals are bottomed out and the drivers are barely touching the track. When I remove the trailing truck heart rockers, the drivers take much more of the engines weight and the driver journals lift up off the bottom about 1/16". I checked the heart rocker dimensions and they match the plan dimensions. The trailing truck walking beam pins are in the center of the three hole adjustment array, is there a way of adjusting the trailing truck to transfer more load to the drivers and how would that be done?
It also appears, from looking at the plans, that one of the two seat pins on the trailing truck heart rockers should lift off the seat when the engine enters a curve and return when it leaves the curve, the rockers fit so tightly they won't rock. I don't think this is causing the suspension problem, but if they are supposed to rock, then I want them too. Advice will be appreciated.
John
John-
Tom Battle came up with a nice little suspension trick for his Pacific. Next time he's at the club pick his brain for a bit. His solution was super simple but I don't want to give away his secrets!
Re: Suspension problems
Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 3:30 pm
by jscarmozza
I just came in from working on my engine, read the posts, and went back to check a few things. I can get over 3/16" lift on a leading truck wheel before seeing the front driver begin to lift, so I guess that's good. I didn't move the trailing truck walking beam pin forward yet, I want to do it and weigh the wheels before and after to see how much difference it makes. I screwed up and got the equalizer hanger lengths wrong between the trailing truck and rear driver...going to have to take the whole thing apart again. Very difficult working on the suspension with the boiler in place, can't get to things to measure or adjust.
I'll put the bite on Tom if he comes to the Spring meet, thanks for the heads up John.
Re: Suspension problems
Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 10:27 pm
by mmichaud1972
I also have a LE 1 inch Scale Atlantic. It was built in 1959 by a talented machinist who built everything to print and never ran it. In July 2018 I brought it to the St Croix railroad and found out I had a nice rail polisher. The first time it was run it would not even pull me. There were numerous issues, the drivers did not float up and down freely and I ended up filing those a bit to fit. The front truck suspension was very stiff. I could stand on it and it would not really go down. I removed all but two leaves. That helped with the suspension in front. After that I suspended it like an 0-4-0. The trailing truck is on to help guide but takes very little weight. Same with the front truck. Someone told me I should be able to turn the wheel of the front truck and they should just spin and not move the loco. That was not the case before I did work. I also removed the trailing truck heart rockers and installed coil springs. Brought it back up to St Croix in fall and it ran great and it pulled. If you would like more photos just let me know.
Mike
Re: Suspension problems
Posted: Wed May 15, 2019 10:02 pm
by pat1027
Mike, Are the coil springs restrained at the top or free to move against the cradle?
Pat
Re: Suspension problems
Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 12:07 am
by mmichaud1972
Pat,
They are free to move against the cradle.
Mike
Re: Suspension problems
Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 9:58 am
by jscarmozza
I weighed each axle as per Trainman's video:
Lead Tr front 35 lbs
Lead Tr rear 35 lbs
Front Dr 90 lbs
Rear Dr 65 lbs
Trailing Tr 60 lbs
With a total engine weight of 285 lbs, roughly 25% of the weight is carried by the leading truck, only 54% (32% & 22%) by the two drivers and 21% by the trailing truck. Now I'm going to move the trailing truck pin to the front hole and perform the weighing process over to see how much of a change it made, I'm also going to see how I can adjust the leading truck suspension to get some of the load off it and onto the drivers, I may also experiment with the trading truck rocker dimensions. I'll keep you posted on the results. John
Re: Suspension problems
Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 10:57 am
by Berkman
Lead truck should only have 20-30 lbs on it total I'd say.
Re: Suspension problems
Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 11:00 am
by FLtenwheeler
Berkman wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2019 10:57 am
Lead truck should only have 20-30 lbs on it total I'd say.
That sounds about right.
Tim