I found this a very useful video. My 47 had working lights but did not move. Watching you remove the circuit board so easily gave me the confidence to dismantle mine (tiny Phillips screwdriver required). I was able to access the motor and it was working fine. The problem was the contacts from the circuit board weren’t touching the motor contacts properly. A gentle inward bend to get them touching better fixed the problem and my loco runs perfectly now. So thank you
Thanks rich, ive now managed to get my Graham Farish 47 running, thanks to your video.i left it for a couple of years out of sheer fustration ,and not touching my layout in that time .Glad to say ive got new added vigor now my 47 is running .I have also degunked my class 33,which runs amazing 30 plus years old.Please keep the vids comming ,you sir are an inspiration .thank you!
Thank you, lovely words👍, glad your enjoying the videos Chris. Im glad i filmed this one as it had me a bit stumped half way, got there in the end though 🤣
Hello Rich, great videos, well done. I've serviced quite a few GF 47's and have found the newer Chinese models with the Can motors can be quite unreliable. One of the 47's I did was a DCC fitted 371-825 Class 47/0 - Diesel BR Two Tone Green - D1500 which ran intermittently well then like a dog then well again. I stripped the whole thing down and checked everything - clean as a whistle. Decoder was fine too. I tested the motor after pulling it out of the chassis and found it was faulty. Ordered a new one from the UK (I'm in Tasmania) and when fitted the loco ran good as gold. But wait there's more..... One rainy Sunday afternoon I decided to strip the faulty motor (I never throw anything away). I built a mini press to remove the flywheels and opened up the end cap on the commutator end (It's a fiddly job not for the faint hearted!). This loco had little use but the carbon dust in the end cap had clogged the commutator segments and I suspect caused intermittent tracking between the carbon brush fingers and the case. I think the carbon brushes are softer than the round ones used on the GF open frame motors as there was a lot of dust which has no way of escaping. Anyway, it all cleaned up fine and after reassembly worked perfectly. Last week, one of my new Chinese GF Class 47's had the exact same problem. I replaced the motor with the one I refurbished and it's now back in service. After stripping that motor, I found the same problem. That's the third one I've done lately! So, keep any 'dodgy' can motors to refurbish on rainy days! Cheers, Barrie
Good to know Barrie, yes i generally keep ahold of dud motors too just incase 😁ive taken most apart so far but not the can motors you tend to find in the new tool gf locos. Next time i get a dodgey new tool gf motor il be sure to do a video on it 👍
Very informative - i always remove the bogie tower out of the frames to allow access to remove the wheel sets. Under strong light and a magnifying glass the amount of hair / fluff you sometimes need to remove is astonishing. The brass wipers which make contact with the wheel backs - quite often need to be bent a little further out to ensure contact is maintained when the loco is traversing curved track and points. Cheers Euan
Thanks Euan, I did remove and clean the axles and wheels, I just did not show this in the video, absolutely make sure they are dirt free 👍, cheers Rich
Hi Rich, brings back memories of a similar issue I had with exactly the same loco a while back. The disappointing thing is that it was brand new and ran just like the one in the video. Good idea to first test in in DC (something which I didn't do at the time). I like your filming, giving us really close up shots of what you are doing so we can see exactly what's going on👍👍All the best. John
Thank you John 👍, sometimes the locos arent always as they appear, got there in the end though, i do try and get the close up shots when i can, it helps to explain just what it is im on about half of the time 😁, Cheers Rich
Hi Rich! Another enjoyable watch! When the loco 'exploded' was like something from a nightmare I had before fitting my first DCC decoder! Lol! Wish all locos were this easy to get into! When you say "Need to remove the battery box because there's a screw under there", how do you know there's a screw under there? This is the type of thing that should be stated in all loco instructions! Keep up the good work mate! All the best, Ian.
Thanks Ian, with regards to the hidden screw under the battery box cover, i knew it was there as ive been inside these 47's before.. nonetheless the battery box cover had to come off to split the chassis halves so youd eventually find the screw anyway 🤣. Glad you liked the video👍 Take care dude
Hi Rich, always informative and for someone that has only half a clue (which can be dangerous!) is very useful. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, cheers for now, John
Excellent video and one that I found particularly useful. I have about a dozen current tooling Farish 47s and they can be really inconsistent runners, with issues similar to this one. I have found that those produced from 2016 onwards (47522, 47581, 47209, 47550, etc.) are better, although that could just be coincidence. I have just followed your instructions with my 47701 (from 2015) and so far it is running noticeably better. I may need to retrospectively do this with a couple of others as well. Thanks for the video - I very much look forward to more!
I did also clean the axles/wheels.. in my case it made no difference but i didnt video that as i do it all the time in my other videos.. just clean everything and they'll run great 👍 Cheers Rich
@@ThisWayWorksTWW I did that as well, before having to try your solution. On another one I have, it looks like a previous owner has also had a go at this and has actually damaged one of these four pickups, to the point where it snapped when I gently tried to reshape it. I have just ordered some spares.
Excellent and informative video. Can I ask, in regards n gauge locos, would the “system” of troubleshooting be similar across the board, ie I have a couple of DCC 37’s which initially start but quickly stop and can start for a little while with a push, so if I followed the process you showed for the 47 might I be on the right track? Cheers
The troubleshooting is very much the same accross any model loco really. There can be exceptions sometimes as builds can be different with manufacturers.. but yep start with the easy stuff and work your way to the harder stuff... With regards to your 37's.. it sounds like they just need a clean too, if they are new tool type( ie they have lights) shell comes off like this 47 and the lights remain on the chassis.. the chassis from memory is nearly the same, they are very similar indeed. The only thing i would say is remember which way your shell came off and if you need to remove the battery box then remember its orientation aswell 👍 good luck and if you get stuck at all just drop me a comment 👍
Great video! I have this loco but in the BIG BR logo livery “University Of Leicester”. I need to clean the pickups and backs of the wheels but the bogies seem really reluctant to come out, you make it look so easy. Any further tips ?
If your 47 is the new tool chassis like this one is then the bogies should pop out just like in the video. Some can be a little stubborn, some almost fall out. Just check your chassis is the same as in this video because the earlier poole type 47's bogies would need to be unscrewed 👍
@@ThisWayWorksTWW thanks for the reply. It is the new tooling, yes. Lovely machine! Anyway, I’ve managed to pop them out with a little more pressure, looks like the copper pickup plates that you had issues with on this loco are also dirty in this one. Possibly a bit of grease has worked on to them. Rather than completely dismantling, I might try and make a miniature cotton swap to get in the gap and keep them in place.
Its normally the other way around to be honest. DCC because of frequencies is normally better. It could simply be my DCC power was only rated at 1amp whereby my DC control can chuck out nearly 10amps on DC so i suspect its a current thing with the superglue barrier that needed to be cleaned off those Brass/copper pickups above the Bogies 👍