The Ranger wheel problems

[Conn-rod]

It is sometime since I have posted on the forum but I keep an eye on what is going on. A few months ago I purchased The Ranger. R3558. Ordered sound decoder, speaker and stay alive. All had to be installed in the tender. The tender had to be cut away inside to allow room. Installation was very successful and the sound great. However, when I tried to run the loco there was a problem in that in one direction the wheels only turned about three quarters a revolution. In the reverse direction it ran okay. After trying several times it started to have the same problem in the reverse direction as well. Then I found that I could actually push the loco along the rails. This surprised me as I thought this would be impossible due to the gearing ie worm gear. When trying again I could hear the motor running but no traction. I should say in DC the loco ran well in both directions. I have now taken the body off, taken the motor out along with the central gear. The gear showed no signs of distress. Turning the driving gear below by hand the wheels did turn. Fitting the central gear back and turning this by hand the wheels did turn, however when there was any sort of resistance the gear did turn but the wheels did not. Could the driving gear have come loose from the axle?
I am aware that this is long winded but I don’t know what else could be wrong. Any help and advice would be appreciated.

[teedoubleudee]

Sounds like the gears are not fully meshing. I've seen this before when the motor wasn't sitting properly.

[Walkingthedog]

Did you remove the motor when wiring the decoder?

[Conn-rod]

Thanks for the replies. The decoder is located in the tender so the loco had not been touched except to remove the tender and refit.

[Walkingthedog]

I was thinking when you wired the decoder to the motor.

[Conn-rod]

The motor is located in the loco and the loco has one of those connectors that Hornby have to link the loco’s motor to the tender where the decoder is located so I did not need to touch the motor and it’s wiring.

[Conn-rod]

After the problem I did take the motor out and checked it and it ran well.

[Walkingthedog]

Does the cog on the axle slip.

[Conn-rod]

This is what I think might be happening. I have no idea on how it is attached ( glued, fastened or integral with axle). I wouldn’t have thought it would be just an interference fit as it is the main driver. But you never know. I haven’t dropped the lower casing yet which holds the wheel sets in as I don’t want to upset the wheel pick ups. That might be a last resort.

[Walkingthedog]

If you remove the motor you should be able to turn the cog on the axle in situ to see if it is slipping.