Dave:

I think you are making a wise decision in holding off on any mods.
If you want to give me your email address, I can send you the diagram I made for GHB showing where the problem is.
Hope you have a great Christmas.

Best,
Rick

Rick--Not sure if you saw the message yet, but I did send you a PM with my email address. Thanks.--Dave

I just pulled my Crusader set off the shelf to actually make it a decent runner. After the initial purchase and blow to the wallet, (keep in mind I landed a great deal with decoder on E-bay,) I ran the engine on my whopping 12' of flex track. Well, it was horrible just like everyone else! So it sat for a good 10 months, and then I did the unthinkable, rip it to shreds. In doing so, my Dremel tool and the locomotive spent a lot of time together. After removing quite a bit of the boiler insides a tried and true, Mashima can motor fit well. The output shaft was 2mm in which I utilized a small flywheel on hand, and used a NWSL 489-6 universal coupler set. The NWSL set also worked on the worm for the gear tower, with of course thrust washers to remove any end play. For those of us who built many of old Bowser locos and installed the can motor, 36-1 gearbox, basically the same concept here. On the top half of the boiler I removed 2" from the back to have clearance needed for the motor. In all I am very pleased with the performance on the test track so far. In the weeks to come I hope to run on my friends layout with the modifications to the coaches it should be the set GHB intended to produce. Lastly, I did tear the end cover off the original motor just to see when lurked inside. When all was said and done a very poor choice on behalf of the manufacturer, a crude rendition of a DC-71. The magnetic pull was so strong which causes the poor slow speed operation everyone experiences. So into the garbage it went!

Hats off to LNE 401 or should I say the man with the set of brass spheres. My Crusader has also set unrun since my purchase. Kudoos!!!

I have a basic philosophy; I don't buy things brand-new to have to fix them.

First, I'm happy I passed on the Crusader. But, that said, I'm a lot like RDG5310, in that if I purchase something and its looks or operation don't suit me, I either sell it off (like my Ready to Roll Athearn RS-3's) or I work it over to correct the deficencies.

Anyone who paid the price for the Crusader and wants to run it should do whatever it takes to make it operate it. Thaqt said, if you're a collector rather than an operator, enjoy your model.