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quote: The "pickup plate" I am talking about is the brass plate under the truck assembly. Thank you for the pictures, it's helpful to see how the truck assembly should look. Thanks, ChessieRR Originally posted by ChessieRR - October 29 2014 :  3:08:50 PM Hey, does your front truck have a brass plate? I only have one in the power truck, there is none up front in the non-powered truck. The only contact is the axle points into the side truck frames. Or, are you talking about the black bottom mounting plate I have, which is probably brass....that is not supposed to contact the axles, I don't believe. At any rate, here's how my metal shark repair went tonight - took it apart, cleaned the front truck assembly up, not happy with just the axle point contact. Moved to the rear power truck, it wouldn't even turn over, the light on my Tech II supply would dim. Ok, pulled it out and got the power truck apart, and tried moving the armature by hand. Boy was it TIGHT. One of the side motor plates was touching the rotating assembly. I loosened the screw holding the two plates to the magnet, and putting it on a flat plastic surface, I pressed until both plates were square and even with the magnet along the top. Tightened the screw, and saw that both side plates were not touching and had good gap. I hit the brush contacts with the power wires, and it started spinning. Main power problem solved! Got some alcohol and cleaned the brush plates, brushes, and cleaned out any hair in the worm gear area. Luckily Tyco made this pre-MU2 motor with screws instead of rivets, it is easy to disassemble and clean everything. With the motor plates re-aligned, the gunk and junk out of the electrical paths, I reassembled the motor/truck assembly, and powered it again, still working, not a high-revving motor, but had plenty of RPMs at this point. Back to the front truck. With only the axle points giving direct contact through the frame, I decided on an "upgrade". I used a brass wire brush in my dremel, and cleaned up inside the truck housing the brass wheels, and the axle shafts. And the wire screw-down area. Then I headed to the basement, and got some fine copper mesh I had from days working at a hush-hush company building shielded computers. I folded some scrap strips multiple times, and put them down in each end of the non-power truck. I placed the axle plate assembly on the main truck body, and made sure that the copper was giving some rolling resistance, but not a heavy contact. The wheels turn, not truly free, but not much resistance, either. Putting it all back together, I found some screws to replace the missing one holding it to the body. Got it all back together while watching the World Series, and at 11:30, I took it upstairs to my stairway layout for it's first run after repairs. Got it on the rails, and applying power, it proceeded to move slowly, until I turned the MRC up to 3/4 power, then it moved faster. Not a very fast engine, but it was fairly smooth. Still has a few fits and starts while running, I suspect the power truck brass contact plate needs cleaning. This type of plate is also used in the Trolleys, and they are not exactly the best way to conduct electricity to the motor. On the other hand, I think the copper mesh up front really helps the contact, as there are more points of contact, and it's not a heavy contact, either. Not sure I can use that on the power truck, but will clean it out and see if it will work or not. Here's some pictures of my mesh install in the front truck assembly. Originally posted by AMC_Gremlin_GT - October 29 2014 :  11:57:55 PM