three truck shay

[glsummers]

I just bought a Bachman 3 truck shay and am having problems with it running smooth. It slows down than speeds up and keeps doing this no matter how long I run it. It is not the track because everything else runs fine, just the Shay speeds up and then slows down all around the layout. Any help from the experts would be appreciated. Thanks. Larry

[WoundedBear]

Are you running on DC or DCC?

Sid

[Stephen D. Richards]

Is it new or used?  Did you lube it prior to running?   Stephen

[glsummers]

Right now I am running on DC and I did lube the gears and moving parts on the side. Thanks

[Isambard]

Right now I am running on DC and I did lube the gears and moving parts on the side. Thanks

Probably not your problem, but here is the post that I made on the MR forum in response to another Shay owner's problem:

"Are you talking about a low top speed? Shays had a top speed of about 15 mile per hour (about 15 ft. a minute in HO). Do not run this loco at more than a fast crawl, particularly until it has been run-in for a few hours.

If you suspect mechanical problems, carefully inspect the three drive shaft connections to enure that the three rectangular connecting rods are located inside the 5/8 in. long rectangular connecting boxes. It's easy for the rods to drop out of the boxes when handling the loco. Also make sure that the three piston rods are properly seated on the crank shaft cranks. Take care not to force any of these parts so as to cause distortion. "

[glsummers]

Thanks. You are right and I do not run it very fast it just runs jerky and not smooth. Larry

[billvan]

Hi:

I have 3 of these and:

1. on level track and at a very slow speed they will jerk minimally.

  2. when going down a  steep grade (7%) they all jerk badly but I have
       made a successful fix.

I will gladly give you my modification if you contact me directly, it is quite
lengthy to describe but easy to do.

Bill

[WoundedBear]

You have email Bill.

Sid