Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Fired up my first traction engine purchase, a D405/1 and notice the flywheel in constant contact with the drive gear pinion, making a heck of a grinding and clanging. Needs about the thickness of a business card adjustment between the flywheel and gear to stop the contact. Did search our forum and saw some mention of contact but not much else.

Question is, can I loosen the engine mounting bolts and make a slight adjustment or is there something else that needs getting into. As with all things heat I can see as the boiler heats up everything expands a bit. The noise, burning esbits, burning oil got the Mrs. attention last night so I better get the noise addressed and open a window next time.

Cheers.

Hello s3bolt, I have the same D405/1 and mine does not rub but does make the clang ringing sound and I hope to improve this in the future! You may be able to improve your setup by adjusting the engine bolts, they are slotted. Do make sure your gear mesh is good before running. I will have another look at mine to see what could be done.
  Also if you would like to avoid the cost and aroma of Esbit, you Can run your engine on fuel gel, there are many types. I have some used to start pellet stoves and charcoal grills. It is Mostly Alcohol with a thickening agent and I can only smell faint steam oil aroma when I run fuel gel. It's a good idea to line your fire tray with Aluminum foil as the gel is thin enough to oze out the holes. I can post a photo of the brand fire gel I am using. Do let us know if you get her quieted down.

Appreciate the information. I did dig back into the engine mount last night, the engine base is attached to the top of the boiler at 3 points, 1 - screw, 2 - smaller nut/bolt. I loosened up the mounting points to move the base, it may have helped. What I noticed is the tolerances are all close between the drive wheel, fly wheel and drive gears, probably not much can be done, it is basic to the design of the tractor. I'll get it all setup for another bench run, attach an accessory and get some video and posted. Thanks for the tip on alternate fuels.