Just swapping out the traction wheel made a huge difference in the performance of my Rapido Algoma FP9. It would struggle to start and could not run at low speed without shutting off. Now it runs great! Thanks for posting this.
Its crazy that I ran into this video as an auto-play recommendation that began playing while I was busy not watching the videos 😅 I had order some F units from Rapido. Not this exact model, and I was sooo very disappointed by the running quality. Jittery motion, and sounded just like a coffee grinder. For the price I paid, this was just unacceptable. So I knew I would have to get in there and do some work on them (2 units have the exact same issues... Hello quality control?) When this video auto-played and I heard the sound in the beginning of the video, without even hearing you mention Rapido, I dropped everything I was doing. Thank you so much for posting this walk through, I don't know if I would have figured out the nature of the issue any time soon without it.
Yah it's a shame they need this much work. They run the way they should once the hacking is taken care of. Glad you found the video helpful. Cheers. -grant
Excellent video - but I don't have the eyes or courage these days. I had noise problems and contact problems with mine and I sent it back to Rapido. The regauged it, sent it back and now it runs really beautifully. Great engine. Thanks for the video!
This is extremely helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to put this video together. I was tremendously disappointed when I first ran the model--the sputtering and stalling was so frustrating! Popping off the truck cover as per your instructions, replacing the traction tire/axle and cleaning all contact areas with alcohol solved the electrical pick up problems! No more sputtering or stalling! Thanks, again!
Wow Grant, thanks for another Rapido Fix video. First the crappy rollability of the Canadian coaches, and now this. I’m going to start calling the company “Repair-doh”! I used your technique to remove the shell, and it worked like a charm. One of my two F9’s had died on the track, shorting out the NCE Procab repeatedly, so wanted to get in there and have a look. Didn’t see anything untoward, put the chassis on the track, and the problem was gone, just as inexplicably as it had shown up. Beats me. These are the most finicky locos I’ve ever had, but they sure are purdy!
I swear I commented on this a while ago, but I guess it was the Canadian modification video. I just finished doing the first of my 7 locos and now need to run it for an hour or two. I was a bit weary of trying it at first, but decided I would give it a go and it was actually pretty easy. I expect it will take less than 20 minutes for the other 6. Hopefully I see a significant reduction in the noise from a few of them. Thanks for being the guinea pig for this as I would never have tried doing this without someone doing it successfully first.
I got so anxious when you were trimming the tabs off of the trucks, my fingers are covered in scars from xacto knife slips. Great video though very interesting, thanks for sharing.
All of the wheels on the one I ordered were grossly out of gauge. This was a easy fix. I also changed out the traction tire axle. However, the one show stopper for me was the lack of installed ditch lights. The housings, light pipes and lenses were in the parts bag but I was not about to try and install those myself and potentially ruin the shell. So, back to Rapido it went. With the current mail situation in the lower mainland, I don't know if I'll ever see it again.
Hoping you're above the water out there. Nasty business.... Did you have the Action Red 8" units? I wasn't aware of the ditch light install requirement. Hopefully all works out with mail. -grant
@@SouthernAlbertaRail No water worries here. We're about 800 miles north of Vancouver. I ordered a VIA unit that had the ditch lights installed on the prototype. I believe the photo in the ad showed them but there was no choice given on the order form so I figured it would come with them installed. Rapido is going to either install them or substitute the shell with one that has them installed from the factory. We'll see what shows up, if it ever does :) - Doug
Good to hear on the H2O front Doug. Rapido should pull through, they're really good about taking care of customers. Now Canada Post............. Fingers crossed.
I had emailed Rapido a while ago aout the ditchlights and received this answer from Jordan: "For our N scale FP9A, all of the CP Rail 8" striped units as well as the former CP-VIA painted units will be coming with ditch lights installed from the factory." Those were the units I was ordering so I felt happy to not have to do an installation. I have to clean my wheels and ditch the traction tires since both of mine stall on clean track. The traction tires were coming off no matter what. Seeing the traction tires put me back in 1979.
@@SouthernAlbertaRail Grant, I forgot to add a hearty "THANK YOU" for taking the time to document your maintenance work for the FP9A. It's much appreciated.
Thanks for the video . I had allready change the traction tires axle and always clean the wheels with the same method you do . Happy to see how to dismantle the boggies , for now I don't have to go that way , the loco is operating very well as is , but will keep in mind your boggie modification .
You're welcome Louis. Keep an eye on the axle wear on your units. The truck modification will help to balance out any uneven wearing between axles. Cheers. -grant
Thanks. Great video on a very frustrating line of products with consistently variable quality and no factory response. Factory new units should not require this amount of work to get them running. Kept buying these for the accuracy of the aesthetics but after too many of these issues, I'm done with Rapido n scale.
@@SouthernAlbertaRail Yes I did the modification to the cars as well, shown in your other video, I still find them stiff and I still have some couplers to adjust. When reversing they tend to come apart at the most inconvenient of times.
Gotcha. Hopefully the uncoupling issue is just tight coupler boxes. Might go away if you back the screws off a half turn. Have fun Doug! Cheers. -grant
Wow. That is a great fix and an excellent tutorial/how-to video. You have great skills as well. However since these loco are new I am surprise the work you did was needed in the first place.(?) QA issues ? In my opinion my expectation is that a new engine should run quite well out of the box especially for the $$$ they go for. Again well done
Thanks! I do agree that these units should run top notch from the get go for the cost. That being said I hack apart and modify 95% of my rolling stock to get it to run they way I want it to so I've settled on the fact that most models require some tweaking. That's why I bought all those tools after all!! Cheers. -grant
So, instead of just pivoting them to give one axle pickup, what I did was pivot mine around the same pivot for the pickup. Then attach some 0.010" wire from Tichy (1101) on, to make a spring pickup onto the other wheel set. I just did this on the front trucks, as the rear trucks were still picking up.
I can't help but wonder if this is why the F40's have suddenly not being talked about by Rpido. They were supposed to be arrived in the fall and had posts of them all completed and in shipping for October and now delayed until spring 2022 somehow!
All N scale. I’ve a first run GMD-1 with sound and it’s the best running engine I have. I have two of the same engine with DC/DCC and the performance is average at best. I also have two of the Rapido-Prairie Shadows FPA4 and one runs great the other at certain speeds shows some jerkiness,I’ll run them for a while do the ESU function this adjust that cv and push f whatever it is and see what happens. Other than to install a decoder I’ve never had an issue with an Atlas or Kato engine or a reason to disassemble and reassemble an engine. The Atlas Alco S2 switchers run as nice as the GMD-1 but are not whisper quiet. It’s just not acceptable that to have smooth running engines like you’d get from Kato or Atlas you’re having to do major surgery on a new engine.
Agreed, Pretty much exclusively Kato power on the layout. Brings up the age old question... Should we have to fix this stuff. Nope, but hey, It's a choice after all. Is it worth the time and effort? I like tinkering with stuff so for me yes but there is a pile of initial frustration. Hoping the F40's don't have the same issues..... Cheers.
@@Vman7757 Yup did that and made no difference. My guess and it’s only a guess is that the ESU decoder is just a whole bunch better than the Digitrax DN136D it came with. If the Digitrax plug was an common plug I’d swap in an ESU decoder but it’s unique to Digitrax. I think the second run of the GMD-1 was straight DC and with some kind of NEM plug. What’s really annoying is that my Atlas and Kato engines that have mostly Digitrax decoders that I installed ran nicely before and after decoder installation.
Very informative, thanks. Can you do a video on how you get your Athearn FP45/F45's running so smooth and how you overcome the issue with the axles that often crack? After seeing this video, those Rapido axles look exactly the same as the Athearn.
Unfortunately I don't have any Athearn units. The F45 you see in the videos is actually a resin and etched metal kit that I offered way back before Athearn had made theirs. It sits on a Kato SD40/45 drive and that's why it runs so smooth. -grant
Yah some of the units had filthy wheels from the factory, my pair included. Other people's units I messed with were fine. Seems to be (bad) luck of the draw. One of the workers at the factory was skipping a step I'm guessing.....
@@SouthernAlbertaRail I read from a Rapido employee that that they made a mistake by chemically blackening the wheels. They recommended soaking the wheels in alcohol to remove the blackening. There's a design flaw in the plastic axles that makes all the models undergauged. You'd think they'd have spotted that when received the samples at Rapido HQ.
I did clean the wheels with Iso but it didn't change their lack of performance. The wheels were in guage ...I'm thinking chips issues. Just by way of contrast, my Marklin and Dapol locos never had any mechanical issues right out of box like these. I guess quality control is poor at Rapido.
Pilot steps! Thats what those little black things are!? I wonder if your fix would improve electrical contact? I have 2. After much fiddling, they run quieter now but 1 still on occasion looses contact where the other one doesn't. If I get annoyed enough again, I may try your fix, but things are running pretty good now. I wonder if this is the hold up on the N scale F40PH's? I really hope they shine right out of the box! Thank you for the video. Leon
Better contact for sure. Swapping the traction tire axle out makes a big difference. Allowing the contacts to pivot keeps the axles in contact with them and the wheels on the track. Have fun! -grant
I just did the mod on the front truck and it is running much better now. Mine would sometimes stop at the bottom of a 3% grade and the headlight would flicker all the time.
@@Poliss95 I think they are a bit overwhelmed with the problems this model has. They are pretty good about following up on faulty product. Here's hoping that all gets straightened out with time.
Terrific video! Very much appreciated! I have a question: My Rapido FP9A without traction tires is unable to pull more than one Rapido LRC carriage up a 2% grade. Has that been an issue for you? Thanks.
I don't have any LRC coaches Gary so can't comment. I'm guessing the LRC cars don't roll freely... My pair of FP's can easily pull a full Canadian set (modified) over my layout. Sorry I couldn't be more help.
After swapping the traction axles on my pair and running the units for over a real mile the noise was still present in one unit. I pulled the gear box cover off the offending unit and discovered uneven wear on the axle bearings. In fact the trailing axle on the lead truck had no wear while the other was developing a groove. Trucks came out and the mod was made to allow even pressure across the axles and voila... problem solved. I modified both units to keep things uniform. Electrical pick up improved because all the wheels now touch the rails. Cheers. -grant
Grant, Did you have any weird things happen with the decoders in your two FP9A units? I was trying out the various functions and got some weird results. For example pressing F3 sent the prime mover sound into run 8 and after a couple of seconds, it shut off completely. Pressing F7 shut down the prime mover sound and F12 killed all of the lighting functions. Thought I'd ask as I'm trying to ascertain if anyone else has had these issues.
I don't have any thing like that happen Doug. Have you tried resetting the decoder? In the past if I had any issues with other decoders setting CV 8 to 8 fixed things up.
Great video. My FP90 stalled all the time. Rapido weren't much help. Their instructions were very vague. I snapped the axle cover trying to remove it. Received the loco in October. Rapido promised to send a replacement cover to my retailer in early November. He still hasn't received it. He had to cannibalise one from stock to send me the part. Even after regauging the wheels it still stalls at times. I also cleaned the pickup points on the rear axles. I didn't dare trying cleaning the ones on the front axles in case I broke that cover too. You've shown me a much better way to remove the cover. Have you had any problems with the steps on the trucks falling off? I have. They don't seem to have been glued in properly. Even the replacement I had sent to me had missing steps. I certainly didn't expect these problems on a brand new £249.00 loco.
Sorry to hear of the problems you had and I do feel the model should be much better for the price paid. I'm happy the video proved to be helpful. Yes I did notice the part you're talking about on the bench a few days later on the work bench. On the prototype it has to do with the spring stack on the truck. Cheers. -grant
@@SouthernAlbertaRail I removed the axle covers as shown in your video. Tried Rapido's suggestion of soaking the wheels in alcohol to remove the chemical blackening. Didn't help much. Resorted to using a glass fibre pencil to remove it. Runs much better now, but still not perfect. Never had similar problems with Kato locos.
Kato is the gold standard as far as I'm concerned. Rapido crapped the bed with these units. My units do run way better and I am relatively happy with them. As stated though there is no way new models should need this kind of work.
After a few weeks of flawless running, one of my Rapido FP9A's has developed a loud growl. It sounds like a gear mesh problem but I can't see anything wrong with either truck. I've done all of the mods you suggested a while ago. Any suggestions?
Not off the top of my head Doug. Mine still seem to be rolling along A-OK. Did you pull the trucks out of the unit and pull them apart?? Maybe some gunk got picked up off the ballast??
I was going to comment on how I don't understand how you N scale guys can tolerate that Athearn bluebox grinding noise in all your locos? Great video on how to tune them up right !
Thanks! If it runs like crap what's the point? I won't tolerate a poor running model and will do whatever it takes to get it right. If it can't be fixed it gets turfed. Cheers.
Just swapping out the traction wheel made a huge difference in the performance of my Rapido Algoma FP9. It would struggle to start and could not run at low speed without shutting off. Now it runs great! Thanks for posting this.
Glad you found it useful, cheers! -grant
Its crazy that I ran into this video as an auto-play recommendation that began playing while I was busy not watching the videos 😅
I had order some F units from Rapido. Not this exact model, and I was sooo very disappointed by the running quality. Jittery motion, and sounded just like a coffee grinder. For the price I paid, this was just unacceptable. So I knew I would have to get in there and do some work on them (2 units have the exact same issues... Hello quality control?)
When this video auto-played and I heard the sound in the beginning of the video, without even hearing you mention Rapido, I dropped everything I was doing.
Thank you so much for posting this walk through, I don't know if I would have figured out the nature of the issue any time soon without it.
Yah it's a shame they need this much work. They run the way they should once the hacking is taken care of. Glad you found the video helpful. Cheers. -grant
Excellent video - but I don't have the eyes or courage these days. I had noise problems and contact problems with mine and I sent it back to Rapido. The regauged it, sent it back and now it runs really beautifully. Great engine. Thanks for the video!
Thanks for the comment. Yah the mod is not for the faint of heart but it does the trick. Glad to hear Rapido got your FP's up and running. Cheers!
After watching this video I can only come to one conclusion: you are a very brave man.
Haha.... I actually get a kick out of doing this kind of stuff. What fun would life be if there weren't wee problems to figure out?? Cheers! -grant
This is extremely helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to put this video together. I was tremendously disappointed when I first ran the model--the sputtering and stalling was so frustrating! Popping off the truck cover as per your instructions, replacing the traction tire/axle and cleaning all contact areas with alcohol solved the electrical pick up problems! No more sputtering or stalling! Thanks, again!
No sweat, glad it was helpful Steve. Have fun! -grant
Wow Grant, thanks for another Rapido Fix video. First the crappy rollability of the Canadian coaches, and now this. I’m going to start calling the company “Repair-doh”! I used your technique to remove the shell, and it worked like a charm. One of my two F9’s had died on the track, shorting out the NCE Procab repeatedly, so wanted to get in there and have a look. Didn’t see anything untoward, put the chassis on the track, and the problem was gone, just as inexplicably as it had shown up. Beats me. These are the most finicky locos I’ve ever had, but they sure are purdy!
Repair-doh!!! Love it. Glad the video helped out and hope the phantom issue doesn't return.
Grant, thanks very much for this video. I tackled the front trucks today and did your mod. Actually it was very easy. BTW I'm 81 yrs old.
Nice work! Glad you took on the mod and found success.
I swear I commented on this a while ago, but I guess it was the Canadian modification video. I just finished doing the first of my 7 locos and now need to run it for an hour or two. I was a bit weary of trying it at first, but decided I would give it a go and it was actually pretty easy. I expect it will take less than 20 minutes for the other 6. Hopefully I see a significant reduction in the noise from a few of them. Thanks for being the guinea pig for this as I would never have tried doing this without someone doing it successfully first.
Hope it works as well for you as it did for me David. Cheers.
Great tutorial! Having to take these steps seems inexcusable for a new, expensive, locomotive.....
It's not ideal... All part of the N scale adventure I guess. Thanks for watching. -grant
I got so anxious when you were trimming the tabs off of the trucks, my fingers are covered in scars from xacto knife slips. Great video though very interesting, thanks for sharing.
Scars are just the tattoos of adventure!! Glad you liked the vid and hoping it helped out. Cheers!
Hi,
awesome layout, good work man. Regards, Martin
Thanks Martin! Cheers! -grant
All of the wheels on the one I ordered were grossly out of gauge. This was a easy fix. I also changed out the traction tire axle. However, the one show stopper for me was the lack of installed ditch lights. The housings, light pipes and lenses were in the parts bag but I was not about to try and install those myself and potentially ruin the shell. So, back to Rapido it went. With the current mail situation in the lower mainland, I don't know if I'll ever see it again.
Hoping you're above the water out there. Nasty business.... Did you have the Action Red 8" units? I wasn't aware of the ditch light install requirement. Hopefully all works out with mail. -grant
@@SouthernAlbertaRail No water worries here. We're about 800 miles north of Vancouver. I ordered a VIA unit that had the ditch lights installed on the prototype. I believe the photo in the ad showed them but there was no choice given on the order form so I figured it would come with them installed. Rapido is going to either install them or substitute the shell with one that has them installed from the factory. We'll see what shows up, if it ever does :) - Doug
Good to hear on the H2O front Doug. Rapido should pull through, they're really good about taking care of customers. Now Canada Post............. Fingers crossed.
I had emailed Rapido a while ago aout the ditchlights and received this answer from Jordan: "For our N scale FP9A, all of the CP Rail 8" striped units as well as the former CP-VIA painted units will be coming with ditch lights installed from the factory." Those were the units I was ordering so I felt happy to not have to do an installation.
I have to clean my wheels and ditch the traction tires since both of mine stall on clean track. The traction tires were coming off no matter what. Seeing the traction tires put me back in 1979.
@@SouthernAlbertaRail Grant, I forgot to add a hearty "THANK YOU" for taking the time to document your maintenance work for the FP9A. It's much appreciated.
Thanks for the video . I had allready change the traction tires axle and always clean the wheels with the same method you do .
Happy to see how to dismantle the boggies , for now I don't have to go that way , the loco is operating very well as is , but will keep in mind your boggie modification .
You're welcome Louis. Keep an eye on the axle wear on your units. The truck modification will help to balance out any uneven wearing between axles. Cheers. -grant
Thanks. Great video on a very frustrating line of products with consistently variable quality and no factory response. Factory new units should not require this amount of work to get them running. Kept buying these for the accuracy of the aesthetics but after too many of these issues, I'm done with Rapido n scale.
Couldn't agree more Chris.
Unfortunately their HO offerings aren't any better. Had same issues with no factory response. Also not buying anymore of their products.
Just did the first of my 3 FP9A’s based on your tutorial - very helpful Grant, thanks for the video!
No sweat Nick.
Perhaps Rapido should market these as a do-it-yourself kit?
Hahaha.... Roger that. And an added bonus... getting to dis-assemble the model first!! Cheers. -grant
Great video! This was an easy fix. I was having issues with intermittent power loss while pulling my 14 car set and this has corrected the problem.
Awesome. Glad you found the vid useful. Have you modified your cars as well?
@@SouthernAlbertaRail Yes I did the modification to the cars as well, shown in your other video, I still find them stiff and I still have some couplers to adjust. When reversing they tend to come apart at the most inconvenient of times.
Gotcha. Hopefully the uncoupling issue is just tight coupler boxes. Might go away if you back the screws off a half turn. Have fun Doug! Cheers. -grant
Great instruction How to Video Grant, enjoy it. Bob
Thanks Bob. Appreciate you stopping by for a look.
Interesting tutorial, thanks for sharing.
No sweat, thanks for watching Paul. Cheers.
Wow. That is a great fix and an excellent tutorial/how-to video. You have great skills as well. However since these loco are new I am surprise the work you did was needed in the first place.(?) QA issues ? In my opinion my expectation is that a new engine should run quite well out of the box especially for the $$$ they go for. Again well done
Thanks! I do agree that these units should run top notch from the get go for the cost. That being said I hack apart and modify 95% of my rolling stock to get it to run they way I want it to so I've settled on the fact that most models require some tweaking. That's why I bought all those tools after all!! Cheers. -grant
I have to have more faith, I was holding my breath through a lot of this video. Great job, and very well explained!👍
Hey thanks... I was holding mine doing it. Definitely a "measure twice cut once" situation!! Cheers. -grant
So, instead of just pivoting them to give one axle pickup, what I did was pivot mine around the same pivot for the pickup. Then attach some 0.010" wire from Tichy (1101) on, to make a spring pickup onto the other wheel set. I just did this on the front trucks, as the rear trucks were still picking up.
Always love multiple solutions to a problem.
I can't help but wonder if this is why the F40's have suddenly not being talked about by Rpido. They were supposed to be arrived in the fall and had posts of them all completed and in shipping for October and now delayed until spring 2022 somehow!
Not delayed for this Josh.
All N scale. I’ve a first run GMD-1 with sound and it’s the best running engine I have. I have two of the same engine with DC/DCC and the performance is average at best. I also have two of the Rapido-Prairie Shadows FPA4 and one runs great the other at certain speeds shows some jerkiness,I’ll run them for a while do the ESU function this adjust that cv and push f whatever it is and see what happens. Other than to install a decoder I’ve never had an issue with an Atlas or Kato engine or a reason to disassemble and reassemble an engine. The Atlas Alco S2 switchers run as nice as the GMD-1 but are not whisper quiet. It’s just not acceptable that to have smooth running engines like you’d get from Kato or Atlas you’re having to do major surgery on a new engine.
You might think about turning off the DC so they runn just on DCC. That improved some of them that I had issues with.
Agreed, Pretty much exclusively Kato power on the layout. Brings up the age old question... Should we have to fix this stuff. Nope, but hey, It's a choice after all. Is it worth the time and effort? I like tinkering with stuff so for me yes but there is a pile of initial frustration. Hoping the F40's don't have the same issues..... Cheers.
@@Vman7757 Yup did that and made no difference. My guess and it’s only a guess is that the ESU decoder is just a whole bunch better than the Digitrax DN136D it came with. If the Digitrax plug was an common plug I’d swap in an ESU decoder but it’s unique to Digitrax. I think the second run of the GMD-1 was straight DC and with some kind of NEM plug. What’s really annoying is that my Atlas and Kato engines that have mostly Digitrax decoders that I installed ran nicely before and after decoder installation.
Very informative, thanks.
Can you do a video on how you get your Athearn FP45/F45's running so smooth and how you overcome the issue with the axles that often crack?
After seeing this video, those Rapido axles look exactly the same as the Athearn.
Unfortunately I don't have any Athearn units. The F45 you see in the videos is actually a resin and etched metal kit that I offered way back before Athearn had made theirs. It sits on a Kato SD40/45 drive and that's why it runs so smooth. -grant
Mine never worked at all. Sent them back to Rapido for them to fix.
Yah some of the units had filthy wheels from the factory, my pair included. Other people's units I messed with were fine. Seems to be (bad) luck of the draw. One of the workers at the factory was skipping a step I'm guessing.....
@@SouthernAlbertaRail I read from a Rapido employee that that they made a mistake by chemically blackening the wheels. They recommended soaking the wheels in alcohol to remove the blackening. There's a design flaw in the plastic axles that makes all the models undergauged. You'd think they'd have spotted that when received the samples at Rapido HQ.
@@Poliss95 Rapido stuff is notoriously tight on gauge. Easy fix that should be addressed at the factory to be sure.
I did clean the wheels with Iso but it didn't change their lack of performance. The wheels were in guage ...I'm thinking chips issues. Just by way of contrast, my Marklin and Dapol locos never had any mechanical issues right out of box like these. I guess quality control is poor at Rapido.
@@LJ-qj5pu Could be.
Awesome tips. Great video. 👍
Thanks William. Glad it was helpful.
Pilot steps! Thats what those little black things are!? I wonder if your fix would improve electrical contact? I have 2. After much fiddling, they run quieter now but 1 still on occasion looses contact where the other one doesn't. If I get annoyed enough again, I may try your fix, but things are running pretty good now. I wonder if this is the hold up on the N scale F40PH's? I really hope they shine right out of the box! Thank you for the video.
Leon
Better contact for sure. Swapping the traction tire axle out makes a big difference. Allowing the contacts to pivot keeps the axles in contact with them and the wheels on the track. Have fun! -grant
I just did the mod on the front truck and it is running much better now. Mine would sometimes stop at the bottom of a 3% grade and the headlight would flicker all the time.
I hope you passed this solution to the guys at Rapido Trains.
You bet Joel. They're in the loop.
@@SouthernAlbertaRail Thank you! I know how I'm going to spend the first week of June 2022, once I move...
The mods actually go pretty fast so you'll be able to do something else for a few days!! Cheers. -grant
@@SouthernAlbertaRail It's a pity that Rapido have left their customers out of the loop. Their after sales service for this loco has been appalling.
@@Poliss95 I think they are a bit overwhelmed with the problems this model has. They are pretty good about following up on faulty product. Here's hoping that all gets straightened out with time.
Terrific video! Very much appreciated! I have a question: My Rapido FP9A without traction tires is unable to pull more than one Rapido LRC carriage up a 2% grade. Has that been an issue for you? Thanks.
I don't have any LRC coaches Gary so can't comment. I'm guessing the LRC cars don't roll freely... My pair of FP's can easily pull a full Canadian set (modified) over my layout. Sorry I couldn't be more help.
super job thank you sir
My pleasure. Glad you found it helpful.
Very clever Grant. How did you figure out this was the problem? Also have you had any problems with power pickup since the fix?
After swapping the traction axles on my pair and running the units for over a real mile the noise was still present in one unit. I pulled the gear box cover off the offending unit and discovered uneven wear on the axle bearings. In fact the trailing axle on the lead truck had no wear while the other was developing a groove. Trucks came out and the mod was made to allow even pressure across the axles and voila... problem solved. I modified both units to keep things uniform. Electrical pick up improved because all the wheels now touch the rails. Cheers. -grant
Grant, Did you have any weird things happen with the decoders in your two FP9A units? I was trying out the various functions and got some weird results. For example pressing F3 sent the prime mover sound into run 8 and after a couple of seconds, it shut off completely. Pressing F7 shut down the prime mover sound and F12 killed all of the lighting functions. Thought I'd ask as I'm trying to ascertain if anyone else has had these issues.
I don't have any thing like that happen Doug. Have you tried resetting the decoder? In the past if I had any issues with other decoders setting CV 8 to 8 fixed things up.
Great video. My FP90 stalled all the time. Rapido weren't much help. Their instructions were very vague. I snapped the axle cover trying to remove it. Received the loco in October. Rapido promised to send a replacement cover to my retailer in early November. He still hasn't received it. He had to cannibalise one from stock to send me the part. Even after regauging the wheels it still stalls at times. I also cleaned the pickup points on the rear axles. I didn't dare trying cleaning the ones on the front axles in case I broke that cover too. You've shown me a much better way to remove the cover.
Have you had any problems with the steps on the trucks falling off? I have. They don't seem to have been glued in properly. Even the replacement I had sent to me had missing steps.
I certainly didn't expect these problems on a brand new £249.00 loco.
Sorry to hear of the problems you had and I do feel the model should be much better for the price paid. I'm happy the video proved to be helpful. Yes I did notice the part you're talking about on the bench a few days later on the work bench. On the prototype it has to do with the spring stack on the truck. Cheers. -grant
@@SouthernAlbertaRail I removed the axle covers as shown in your video. Tried Rapido's suggestion of soaking the wheels in alcohol to remove the chemical blackening. Didn't help much. Resorted to using a glass fibre pencil to remove it. Runs much better now, but still not perfect. Never had similar problems with Kato locos.
Kato is the gold standard as far as I'm concerned. Rapido crapped the bed with these units. My units do run way better and I am relatively happy with them. As stated though there is no way new models should need this kind of work.
After a few weeks of flawless running, one of my Rapido FP9A's has developed a loud growl. It sounds like a gear mesh problem but I can't see anything wrong with either truck. I've done all of the mods you suggested a while ago. Any suggestions?
Not off the top of my head Doug. Mine still seem to be rolling along A-OK. Did you pull the trucks out of the unit and pull them apart?? Maybe some gunk got picked up off the ballast??
I was going to comment on how I don't understand how you N scale guys can tolerate that Athearn bluebox grinding noise in all your locos? Great video on how to tune them up right !
Thanks! If it runs like crap what's the point? I won't tolerate a poor running model and will do whatever it takes to get it right. If it can't be fixed it gets turfed. Cheers.
Sir I may need your assistance 😂
Pretty straight forward for the most part Will. That being said I'm really hoping the F40PH-2D's won't need the same treatment... Cheers. -grant
I think you should work for rapido 👍🚂🚃
Too far from the mountains for me!!!!!