Broken Shay

[Greg Joseph]

I need some info.on my H o 80 ton 3 truck Shay. The gears on the drivers broke is their some place I can get new ones or replace the trucks I would like to run this engine .I was told it was discontinued sure could use some info thanks.

[686 Shooter]

Bachmann no longer sells parts for these unfortunately.

The good news is Northwest Shortline sells metal replacement gears.

The bad news is that I found them almost impossible to get on the shafts. There are videos online that make it look really easy. It's not. I ended up sending my two Shay's to 7th Street Shops in Hamilton, Montana. Derrell Poole there does amazing work. His work does not come cheap, but it's worth it.

[VTBob]

I ended up hunting down a master modeler (some years ago) that was repairing the shays, & he gave me a plan to make a steel bar jig to lightly tap the NWSL gearings on to the shaft. That's the easy part. The troublesome part is getting the drive shaft itself out of the truck without damaging the small plastic bearing caps that hold it in place.

Rob

[686 Shooter]

I ended up hunting down a master modeler (some years ago) that was repairing the shays, & he gave me a plan to make a steel bar jig to lightly tap the NWSL gearings on to the shaft. That's the easy part. The troublesome part is getting the drive shaft itself out of the truck without damaging the small plastic bearing caps that hold it in place.

Rob

Those bearing caps are a real pain alright. I found the easiest way is to push them out from the back. But even then those small tabs don't always survive. Thank God for adhesives.

Would you be willing to share that plan? I've tried almost everything, and finally gave up and had someone else do it. I have 2 Shays now and would like to build a fleet.

Jeff

[686 Shooter]

I found these on Ebay. I messaged the fellow who is selling them and he assures me that there is no fitment issues with them. I have ordered two sets just to have on hand, I have a weakness for these locomotives and I am sure I will eventually be purchasing more that need to be repaired.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/305444954879?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=irzUYn5vTGi&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=ulh9LFj1Sh6&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

The only drawback is that they certainly aren't cheap.