"Timing" on an HO steam locomotive?

Hi all,

I have an old AHM HO scale 0-6-0 saddle tank switcher that I inherited from my uncle. When I got it, it was not functioning. The motor spun but there was no motion. Some poking around made me realize that the cause of the problem was that the drive axle had actually become "loose in it's wheels", I guess I'd say, and the motor would spin the axle and the axle would just spin inside the wheels and the train would go nowhere.

I happened on a replacement drive axle on Ebay, so I bought it and replaced it. The loco now runs, but something's not quite right. It's very jerky when it moves, and the drive axle seems to want to work itself sort of crooked after a while of turning. Sometimes it will just freeze up altogether.

This has me wondering if maybe I haven't somehow put the drivetrain back together incorrectly. Since all the wheels are tied together by the push rods, I found myself wondering if it was possible that these wheels require a sort of "timing" so that the wheels and rods are all arranged in such a way that they align with the geared axle best, thus avoiding having the push rods on one side pushing the axle out of alignment.

Hopefully this is making sense to someone besides me. If anyone can offer an opinion on this, I'd appreciate your help.

It's possible that the replacement axle might might not be "quartered" right,NWSL use to have a "quarting tool" in their catologue,
not sure if it's still avaible.
There's a website, http: //hoseeker.net/ , that has the "exploded views" of 90-95% of AHM locos produced in the past.
that might help you as well.


Not sure if the link works.