Is it possible to turn a not working climax into a dummy locomotive to pull behind a working Climax?
I bought a Climax #2 85095 in December 2020 from Gold Coast Station in Tehachapi. In February 2022 I brought it back out to the railroad from its long winter nap. When I applied power it run for 30 minutes then just stopped. After consulting with Hans at GCS I sent the Climax back to Bachmann. They had it for 2 months then sent me an email telling me the gears and sound system were wore out and they were sending me a replacement.
The replacement they sent doesn’t work. When I apply power the rear trucks move but the front trucks are frozen. I contacted Bachmann and they say they can’t help anymore since the Climax program has been terminated. So what I was thinking is there a way to remove the motor so when I pull it behind a working Climax the wheels and gears move like it is a working model?
I think it is unlikely that you can make it a dummy.
Both trucks are powered with their own motors and gears. You’d have to remove all the internals to get them to freewheel.
The good news is that you already have half working - the rear truck.
So did you try applying power to the wheels of the front truck? Don’t expect that the 2 trucks are linked electrically. They are supposed to be but Bachmann uses crude plungers on top of the truck which don’t always work.
You could remove the motor in the front truck and run it with just one powered truck. But if you do that, you might as well figure out what’s wrong with it. Possibly a contact on the motor isn’t good.
There are several threads around that show how to fix one of these trucks. George Shreyers Tips would be a good place to start. Www.girr.com then Google “Bachmann Climax truck fix”.
I have the more recent Bachmann"MKII" Climax as you appear to have with the product # you have quoted… The one in George Schrayer’s very useful tips pages is the earlier MKI. Although quite similar there are a lot of detail differences and quite different wiring. I had some issues with one truck on mine working intermittently. A little work cleaning up and checking all the connections from the pick ups to the point where the truck mated to the body sorted it. Can you get the motor to turn out of the truck ?
If you want to to turn it into a free rolling loco remove the motors with their worm gears. Keep in mind though that the motions are connected to the trucks via the drive shafts - there is bit of " inertia" there to deal with. The schematics supplied with this product are very good to help you with this. They are available to download FOC on the Bachmann site on the parts and reference section. I have the wiring schematics for this model that I can send you as a PDF, these are not on that site. Max
Hi Max. I have a final run Climax that I have yet to convert to R/C. I’d love to have a copy of that schematic if you don’t mind. Send by PM here or email to Jon at CVSRY dot ORG - Thanks!
Will do. Give me a couple of days. If you need any of the other schematics, let me know. As I said all the others should be on the Bachmann site. I assume they are for the version you and I have. Max