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Athearn Electrical Pick Up Issue

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Espeelark:
Thanks for the update Alan - good information.
That was a great little experiment you devised to quantify the effects from residual lubricant-type cleaners.

Espeelark:
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!

What it comes down to is the fact that the design of each truck takes the electrical pick-up from three axles and funnels them through a single grommet/rivet that connects to a metal plate on the inside of the plastic gearbox. That plate has the tab the electrical pick-up wire is attached to. Additionally, the wall of the plastic gearbox is sandwiched between these two metal plates - an insulator!. What genius thought that was a good idea? So, if the grommet is not making good electrical contact (via loose or dirty surfaces) with these two metal plates, you are hosed. Like I was!
I've attached an excerpt from Athearn's Parts Explosion to illustrate my point.

* The pink circled item is the single grommet and only electrically conductive item connecting the two metal plates.
* The blue circled item is the metal sideframe that the three axle's square, bronze bearings rest in.
* The green circled item is the metal plate on the inside of the plastic gearbox that has the tab (on top) for the electrical pick-up wire.I wound up drilling a small hole in the metal sideframe, soldering a small jumper wire into that hole, and then soldering the other end of that jumper wire to the pick-up wire tab thereby completely circumventing the grommet. Attached is a photo of the truck showing the jumper wire in place but not yet soldered.

Happy to report that after doing both sides of each truck the electrical continuity problem disappeared - which to me pretty much proves the grommet to be the root cause...

Woo-Hoo!

Alan:
Congratulations!

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