Model Railroading > Athearn Genesis GP 38-2W Wheel Jump ?

So I bought this a couple months ago and as stated it gets to one section on a 33" radius and the front axle jumps the track, turn the engine around and reverse move and it doesn't, take it off the track and rotate the truck through normal turning axis and it will hang up BUT its not visible, I removed the body and still not visible, any suggestions would be appreciated as it pulls like a 20 mule team, TIA Ed

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

Try adding some length to the wire running down to the truck frame. My MP GP15-1 had that problem. I stretched the wire running from the board to the truck and added a bit of slack in the truck side... No more issues.
—espee4ever

Check the wheel gauge and make sure the gears are not broken.
You may need to remove the front truck and place it on a flat surface. Then slide a piece of paper under each wheel and see if the truck is equal on all four corners. I found this problem on all of our SD60s.
I found some trucks need some tweaking to get them equalized. Also the truck bolster (where the centering hole is) may not be level. This will also cause a truck not to equalize.
Let us know what you find.

KR
Road Foreman of Engines
Phoenix Turnbow & Apache Railroad
Thunderbird Model Railroad Club.

As mentioned it sounds like one of the wires going to the truck may be a bit short. The pickup wires are routed between the frame and the frame weights, on my GP38-2W one wire to each truck was pinched between the weight and the frame rather than routed through its proper channel and holes. If this is the problem you should be able to loosen or remove the weight, pull a bit more slack into the wires, route them through the proper place, and tighten the weight back into place.

Andrew C

Also if you can take the truck out of the frame, check their bolster interaction for a burr or other flash that might impair truck rotation. But as an above poster said, the wiring is a usual culprit.

If you do have to disassemble, instead of reusing the plastic clips, SOLDER the wire connection while you have it all apart. You'll save yourself the same disassembly/reassembly a later time.

Thanks all, going to be a fun one ! LOL, p.s. I printed the response's to make sure I didn't miss something

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL