Shay Trucks

[tmiller]

Greetings Guys,

I have a 3 Truck Shay that I just yesterday added a sound decoder. It runs fine on level ground, for the most part. But I find it is a problem pulling any degree of grade. So in checking the trucks I see where the front and rear trucks are not turning , or better yet free wheeling, not turned by the gears. I am aware of the problems that Bachmann had with the gears in the trucks. I did replace the middle truck a year or so ago because of a broken gear.

Now,  I do not see either truck listed on the Bachmann web site. I just sent them an email to confirm my fears. So, does anyone have any idea where I might look to solve my problem? The part numbers that I need are H81907 and H81910.

Hope someone can help. It sounds so good with the added sound. I hate to just retire it to a display piece.

Thanks for any help.

Ted

[Barney R]

Hi Ted-
You just made me look in my supply cabinet. I have an 80 ton shay and anticipating a problem back in 2015, I bought a spare set of drivelines from Bachmann. Front, middle and rear drivelines. Well, I have not had to use them and they are still rapped as I received them.
So, I hope Bachmann still offers these parts for you as well.

Barney R

[WoundedBear]

http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68_92&products_id=1651

No more trucks.....just driveline assemblies. These are not difficult to swap and have updated gears.

Sid

[tmiller]

Thanks for everyone's reply. That would work for me. One question. The web site states that the gears are plastic. Would I be better to get some metal gears from NWSL, or stick with plastic? Probably wouldn't run the engine all that much, so maybe the plastic would suffice.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

Ted

[tmiller]

Went ahead and ordered the driveline assemblies. Guess will take a chance with the plastic gears. Almost ordered two sets but will see how these last. Curious, the WoundedBear mentioned that the gears have been upgraded. Upgraded to what, better quality plastic? Also where did you have to go to find these, since they are not mentioned with the other Shay parts?

Anxious to get this loco moving again. Thanks to you guys for your help. You made my day!!!! and saved it too!!!
.
Ted

[WoundedBear]

Impossible to tell if the plastic itself is a different quality or not......only a Chinese factory knows for sure.

The gears do, however, have a completely new design from the older original gears. These new ones have a collar molded into them around the center bore that significantly strengthens the part.

I found the parts listed with all the other HO scale 80 ton Shay parts on Bachmanns eStore. See link in previous post.

Sid

[tmiller]

Beautiful Shay. Nice job with the weathering. Still haven't figured out what to do with mine. It came unlettered. First to get it running then start having fun with the body.

Thanks for all your help. It really brought me out of the woods.

Ted

[tmiller]

Ok guys, need some help before I lose my mind. I installed the front and rear drivelines today. Now I can't get the engine to respond. The shay was running prior to the new gears, but not to good of course on one truck. Now, it will respond momentarily every so often for just a second. I have removed the driveline on the front truck and reinstalled, nothing new. I have checked the continuity between the wheels, and the pick-ups. Continuity is there on the non-geared wheels, but not steady on the geared side wheels.  Even tried applying power to the power board on the chassis, still nothing. I thought this would be so easy, but as I sit here pulling my hair out, I have different thoughts.

Hope someone can offer me some advice.

Thanks.

Ted

[tmiller]

Here is what I have found. The problem is on the geared side of both trucks. To make better contact with the small pcb board for the pick-ups, I soldered a wire from the contact on the trucks to the pcb board. On the non-geared side I get continuity. If the truck is mounted on the chassis, I get continuity on the non-geared sided. On the geared side I get nothing. If I remove the truck and turn it over upside down, I get continuity. That makes no sense, but it is what it is. I double checked the screw that holds the side on is tight.

I hope someone has some thoughts. This is driving me crazy.

Thanks guys.

Ted

[WoundedBear]

Offhand.....this has me stumped. Best I can do is wish ya good luck. Keep checking contact points.....you'll find it eventually.

Sid

[tmiller]

Hey Sid,

I am totally stumped like you. If it was just one truck, it would be bad enough. But both trucks? I did discover that the entire side rail is metal. Thought maybe the brass contact that is sandwiched between is not making contact, but again, both trucks? I am going to take it apart again and make sure the area of the contacts is dry. I did lubricate the gears, so maybe some oil ran into the sandwich point and is not allowing it to make contact. I have metered these trucks every way possible.

I have a call into Bachmann for their repairman to give me a call. Anxious to see whether he has any ideas. Like you say, it is probably something stupid. Will keep  you updated.

Ted

[tmiller]

Problem solved. Found a couple of problem areas.

First, I found the axles were not making good contact with the metal side piece. Cleaned that off and scraped some paint away form the side piece. Next, the brass contact piece was not making good contact with the metal side piece. Again, scraped some paint away on the side piece. Much better.

Next, I soldered wires between the metal contacts to the small pcb board that is under the truck, and wires to the decoder. This eliminated the brass contacts merely brushing on the pcb board, and created a better connection from the trucks/wheels to the decoder.  Would be a good suggestion for future production models, not that I see that happening.

Anyways, she is running great as I write. Thanks for everyone's advice in getting me through this conversion.

Ted