Overland C39 pick up problems

[conrailnut2484]

Does anyone have a overland c39-8 and did you have problems with the pickups. If you did or even if you had repaired one what method did you use to correct the problem
I have one that I bought from a guy and at first I thought it was the motor so I athearnized it fix the problem then. About a week ago I got it and took it to the train club to run it went about 4 feet then quite well I took it to the work bench and removed the shell so that I could just run the chassis then tinkering around with it on the track I touch the contacts and off it went left go of the contacts and it quit so if anyoe has experienced this problem and has fixed please help me out thanks

[rdg5310]

If you are referring to the wipers at the wheels, all you have to do is gently re-bend them so they make better contact. Personally, I would put the Cannon motor back in, much, much better than the Athearn. Hope that works!

[bcrmlw]

OMI pickup wipers can be sensitive at times, and it is important that ALL the wipers touch EVERY wheel, otherwise you will bet the jerky running charateristic. A small flat bladed screwdriver works well for adjusting the pick ups, make sure they do not touch the metal gearbox or sideframes. I too would put the Cannon motor back in, its a pretty good motor. One thing you didn't mention is if this model is a tower or tank drive. The later tower drives run very smooth, but the tank drives are a little noisy and can bind.
-Trevor

[wvsecondary]

Biggest problem with these are they are only really 3 wheel pickup. 3 Front for one side and 3 rear for other sided. I have tried numerouse things and found very difficult to change this to all wheel pickup as the sideframes are not isolated and really a no win way to fix. Best to do what I did with mine andlet it hit the floor and just give up on it.

[bcrmlw]

I think I still have some parts kicking around from an OMI C30-7, including pick ups, I'll take a look around. Or you could do what I did to an OMI SF30C- drop the shell on an Atlas C30-7 drive.
-Trevor

[conrailnut2484]

It is a tower drive but i am thinking of making a brass plate but with little time this weekend not much going on in the hobby room I only athearnized it so that I could MU it better to my NS sd40-2s that I got