Is Shay DCC ready?

[jbona]

Dear Bachman
I have an early LS 36 ton Shay (circa 1999). It has "new" power trucks #88999. Is this possibly DCC ready, or do I have to isolate motor & lights from frame for DCC decoder installation. If so can you recommend the easiest method to do this. Thx

[rich1998]

No experience with this loco but I did some searching for
Bachmann  large scale 36 ton shay dcc ready
So far 36 and 38 ton similar but not DCC ready from what I found.
Try it on a DC power pack and see if the loco runs on DC. That should tell you it is a DC loco and needs to be converted and runs ok first. Most important does it run ok.

You could do the same search.

I used DuckDuckGo instead of Google. They do not track me. More secure than Google.

Rich

[jbona]

Thx for reply
Yes it run on dc with no problems

[mickeykelley]

The older 2 truck shay was not but the newer 3 truck is DCC ready.

[Greg Elmassian]

By the way, most DCC decoders will run on DC no problem. Running on DC is not a good test for a decoder installed.

[jbona]

Greg
Thx for reply. Both my soundtrack instructions & NCE instructions say to be sure motor & lights are isolated from frame. My only question is do I have to isolate anything on my Shay with the replacement motor units #88999.
Any info is greatly appreciated
Jim

[StanAmes]

Greg
Thx for reply. Both my soundtrack instructions & NCE instructions say to be sure motor & lights are isolated from frame. My only question is do I have to isolate anything on my Shay with the replacement motor units #88999.
Any info is greatly appreciated
Jim

Yes and No.

The new metal trucks have the motors isolated from the track and provide 4 contacts at the top of the truck.

The 38 ton 2 truck shay has 4 wires going to the truck mounting plates so the motors are isolated and there are instructions on how to easily wire them for DCC
https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/LARGE_SCALE_38-TON_2-TRUCK_SHAY.pdf

For the older 36 ton 2 truck shay there are only 2 wires going from the locomotive to the truck mounting.  To make these locomotives DCC ready you need to run two additional wires from the truck mounting to the coal bunker and use the new metal trucks.

Hope that helps

Stan

[jbona]

Thanks Stan
Right now I have the "new" trucks with 2 wires  (1 rd & 1 blk) to the coal bunker. There are 4 contacts on each truck with the above 2 wires. To get 4 wires do I add wires to the 2 remaining contacts, and run them back to bunker to connect to decoder?

[StanAmes]

Thanks Stan
Right now I have the "new" trucks with 2 wires  (1 rd & 1 blk) to the coal bunker. There are 4 contacts on each truck with the above 2 wires. To get 4 wires do I add wires to the 2 remaining contacts, and run them back to bunker to connect to decoder?

Correct.

Just make sure that you check to ensure which contacts are track and which are the motor.

Also make sure you remove the connection on the connection plate that connects the track to the motor.  (The red wire corrently goes to 2 contacts and the black wire to the other trwo contacts  each of the 4 wires should only go to one contact)

When done be sure you use an ohm meter to ensure that you have it wired properly.

Stan


PS  When I did this on mine I used a larger gauge wire and replaced the two esisting wires while I was at it.