Just bought one of these Shays, Specifically, the Bachmann Spectrum II, still new in the box from my local rail yard hobby shop. It was fine for a couple of hours then I had the same problem. Great, I wasted $160. Bachmann Has Discontinued the side frame kit, so that's a bummer. I was thinking about sending it to the shay fixxer, but he never responded. After watching this video, I realise that it is not such a difficult Job, and I am going to repair mine as shown, with the gear set from NWSL. Thanks so much for the walkthrough, and I will now be able to enjoy my new loco.
Thank You for this video! I just bought 3 Bachmann 3 truck Shays on eBay all are new. I read several articles about the defects in the gears so I plan to buy the new gears from NWSL. Your gear press is a great tool! , a horizontal Arbor press! Your details on repairs is fantastic. Thanks again for this video! I love Shays!
This is an excellent tutorial! Thank you! I am going to try this, but I don't think I can make a gear press like yours. But I have disassembled one truck and taken off the faulty gears, so I'm committed now! I realize this is a 10 year old video, but can i send my new gears and shafts to you to press on for me?
Nice tutorial! My middle son just bought one of these and it has the same issue (split gears) and I'll be using the NWSL re-gear kit to fix it. Your pressing fixture is fantastic!The material the gears and retainer plates are made from is Delrin or Nylon. Molded (as opposed to machined) Delrin/Nylon gears are notorious for splitting when pressed onto a shaft. A lot of Bachmann locomotives have this issue.It's not the fault of the material... Delrin/Nylon is actually an excellent material for model locomotive gears. Self lubricating (sort of), they tend to run quieter than metal on metal gearing. The issue is that being molded/cast, then pressed onto a shaft. The material shrinks as it ages. As is it already stretched because it's been pressed on (about a 0.004"/0.1mm interference fit), shrinking causes it to stretch even more, to the point they split.Delrin/nylon gears that are machined from "aged" material (so it shrinks before hand), don't have this issue.Lastly... Delrin/nylon is the best material to use for a worm gear (not just the worm, which looks like a section of a screw) as the material is much better suited to resist wear the friction of the worm, turning against the teeth of the worm gear.
Great video ! Have watched it several times over. Recently bought myself a Bachmann 3 Truck Shay which has a broken truck bolster and will do a gear upgrade while repairing that
YEs the NWSL gear puller also works as a Gear Presser, however from what I've done with them you have to be careful as the slots (for the shafts) are quite large for pressing HO axles and so forth, so your design is better for what you're doing. I usually use a restrictor plate wit hteh correct sized hole for doing wheelsets and drive parts. Good show!
I'd like to reassure anyone that's considering buying the new driveline assemblies from bachmann, they work just fine. They have a new mold and are made of a new material.
+Daniel Cortopassi I should be able to order NWSL re gear sets for the bachmann HO shay in about a week. if you are still interested send me an email to trplam@gmail.com
Thanks for the Shay video. I'm at that point in renewing one I bought. The light project was a trip, too. Too bad there's not a video on that. I had quite a time fitting a Loksound Select and a TCS Keepalive unit in mine and had to cut down the circuit board in the tender then trace all the wires and rewire them to the plugs in order for the decoder and KA unit to fit, sugar cube speaker in the coal bunker. Sweet. I noticed a reply mentioning Proto 2000 gears, you can expect about 25 out of 28 gears to be broken, how do I know? I just did 7 Proto Alco FA/B units brand new old stock, and that was the exact ratio. A-Line sells replacement gears for ~$7 for 6 and they press on quite easily. My whole fleet is now factory fresh. Proto used to replace the gears but too many folks over scammed them and they quit right after Walthers took them over. I've never used them but I've been told Athearn SD-40 gear sets will also replace the Proto gears.
I just had to replace broken plastic gears on a Proto F unit. What's going on with all the bad plastic gears. Northwest Shortline must be doing a land office business. So, thank you, NW Shortline for being here for us. Trains are for running, not for sitting on the shelf with broken gears. Come on, manufacturers!
Just stumbled onto the video after looking into fixing my 3 Truck Climax. It all looks easy enough until the video got to the new gear install. Is there possibly a simpler way to install the NWSL gears on their shafts than using the press?
If you can come up with an easier way, I'd love to share it! The gear pusher/puller keeps the pressure in the center of the shaft so it is far less likely to bend. Can't think of a better way to make that part happen. The easiest way would be to pay someone who knows how to do all this stuff to do it, but that's not always an option for everyone!
nice upgrade, i have an old 3 trk shay by MDC Roundhouse?..I think. Still in pieces in its box from yrs ago, and never liked the plastic linkages for the side trucks. Good mention on Northwest Shortline products, that's where i was looking fr brass gears before i lost interest..Gonna save this vid and try to breath life back into that cool loco
On my shay the two little pins holding the axle cover on were glued. Prying them off broke the pins! Since the plastic looks like Delrin I used Poly-Zap to try to re-glue the covers. It seems to work but I don't know how long it will last. I used the NWSL procedure on the front and center trucks and it worked fine. I used your method on the rear truck after getting frustrated at the difficulty on the read truck.
I've found glueing anything in model trains is a disaster. Their is always some electrical pickup somewhere where the glue interferes with the contact and you have problems. Better off replacing a truck than glueing.
Hi, Thanks for this really helpful video. I have bought a set of the gears but am surprised the hole is only just over 1mm in diameter. I have not yet received the actual loco to check if the drive shafts are also just over 1mm diameter. Can you let me know the driveshaft diameter if at all possible please. Thanks Stuart
im gana be getting a bachmann shay ... can you give any other ideas other then the vice setup of getting gears on ? i dont have a vice and right now the coat would put it in that dont even buy the shay range ..
I recently bought this same locomotive brand new and want to plug a sound decoder into the tender but have no idea how to get it undone to get access to the factory chip board. I see no screws on the bottom holding it together. Hoping someone will do a video of it on here
I thought I did............. I'll have to watch it again...... Why is the brand of the gears mentioned? I may not have caught it, or my internet "jumped" it as it buffered the video..... Seems to be doing that lately and I'll "miss" parts only a few seconds here and there..... What gets me is there isn't even a pause when it does it,....
I have done this repair about 25 times. I have discovered that NWSL gears sometimes have 13 teeth sometimes only 12. The shay had 12 tooth gears when new. Apparently NWSL got some gears sets mixed up with 13 tooth gears for the Climax. You installed 13 tooth gears in this shay. How did it run after the install?
+trackspike64 NWSL hires the machining on their gearing,, it costs way up in the thousands just to set up and start producing a batch,,, so they decided that since Bachmann quit selling these shay's they "NWSL" wouldn't lay out that much money for another run in fear they would not sell enough to make it worth their while. NWSL ran out of the 2800-6 many months ago, right now you will be very lucky to find any to fit the HO Bachmann shay "the NWSL number for them is 2800-6", No other will work,, and if you do find any, expect it to be a super premium price..... BUT!!! I just received an email saying that with all of the requests for the 2800-6 they have changed their mind and have ordered another batch. I hope I will have some in stock in less than a month if anyone is interested in them or any TCS items like the WOW sound decoders, Motherboards or Keep alives email me at TRPLAM@GMAIL.COM Happy rails, Trains Planes and Music
How long did it take before your gears shattered? I ended up buying the Bachmann replacement. It was a lot easier for me to just replace the whole side than just the gear itself. I'm asking because I bought my shay used and the gears we're already stripped. Thanks, Russell Loomis
Thanks for that I have just bought a three truck shay bachmann installing looks a nightmare ill take mine to someone proffessional . hopefully i dont have any trouble . cheers
Time and patience and some physical agility. Don't hurry, take pictures to remember where everything goes. The screw for the front of the boiler is underneath the small pickup circuit board fitted on the truck pivot. Use lots of magnification.
So, if I understand this correctly, Bachmann actually has a way to fix this issue, but won't do it? I sent two of these into them for repairs. They sent them back saying that they couldn't fix them. Way to build trust in future products. This is yet another reason that I will NOT be purchasing Bachmann products ever again.
Just bought one of these Shays, Specifically, the Bachmann Spectrum II, still new in the box from my local rail yard hobby shop. It was fine for a couple of hours then I had the same problem. Great, I wasted $160. Bachmann Has Discontinued the side frame kit, so that's a bummer.
I was thinking about sending it to the shay fixxer, but he never responded. After watching this video, I realise that it is not such a difficult Job, and I am going to repair mine as shown, with the gear set from NWSL. Thanks so much for the walkthrough, and I will now be able to enjoy my new loco.
Thank You for this video! I just bought 3 Bachmann 3 truck Shays on eBay all are new. I read several articles about the defects in the gears so I plan to buy the new gears from NWSL. Your gear press is a great tool! , a horizontal Arbor press! Your details on repairs is fantastic. Thanks again for this video! I love Shays!
This is an excellent tutorial! Thank you! I am going to try this, but I don't think I can make a gear press like yours. But I have disassembled one truck and taken off the faulty gears, so I'm committed now! I realize this is a 10 year old video, but can i send my new gears and shafts to you to press on for me?
Nice tutorial! My middle son just bought one of these and it has the same issue (split gears) and I'll be using the NWSL re-gear kit to fix it. Your pressing fixture is fantastic!The material the gears and retainer plates are made from is Delrin or Nylon. Molded (as opposed to machined) Delrin/Nylon gears are notorious for splitting when pressed onto a shaft. A lot of Bachmann locomotives have this issue.It's not the fault of the material... Delrin/Nylon is actually an excellent material for model locomotive gears. Self lubricating (sort of), they tend to run quieter than metal on metal gearing. The issue is that being molded/cast, then pressed onto a shaft. The material shrinks as it ages. As is it already stretched because it's been pressed on (about a 0.004"/0.1mm interference fit), shrinking causes it to stretch even more, to the point they split.Delrin/nylon gears that are machined from "aged" material (so it shrinks before hand), don't have this issue.Lastly... Delrin/nylon is the best material to use for a worm gear (not just the worm, which looks like a section of a screw) as the material is much better suited to resist wear the friction of the worm, turning against the teeth of the worm gear.
Great video ! Have watched it several times over. Recently bought myself a Bachmann 3 Truck Shay which has a broken truck bolster and will do a gear upgrade while repairing that
Eggggggggggggggggggggcellent video. Dan has much more patience than I.
YEs the NWSL gear puller also works as a Gear Presser, however from what I've done with them you have to be careful as the slots (for the shafts) are quite large for pressing HO axles and so forth, so your design is better for what you're doing. I usually use a restrictor plate wit hteh correct sized hole for doing wheelsets and drive parts.
Good show!
Thanks for watching!
Compared to the work you would have to do to a Roundhouse Shay just to get it to operate, the Bachmann Shay is far from a piece of junk. :)
Thank you for video, I learned a lot. My shay has no light. Is there any video showing how to change or replacing brighter light?
I'd like to reassure anyone that's considering buying the new driveline assemblies from bachmann, they work just fine. They have a new mold and are made of a new material.
+Daniel Cortopassi I should be able to order NWSL re gear sets for the bachmann HO shay in about a week. if you are still interested send me an email to trplam@gmail.com
Thanks for the Shay video. I'm at that point in renewing one I bought. The light project was a trip, too. Too bad there's not a video on that. I had quite a time fitting a Loksound Select and a TCS Keepalive unit in mine and had to cut down the circuit board in the tender then trace all the wires and rewire them to the plugs in order for the decoder and KA unit to fit, sugar cube speaker in the coal bunker. Sweet.
I noticed a reply mentioning Proto 2000 gears, you can expect about 25 out of 28 gears to be broken, how do I know? I just did 7 Proto Alco FA/B units brand new old stock, and that was the exact ratio. A-Line sells replacement gears for ~$7 for 6 and they press on quite easily. My whole fleet is now factory fresh. Proto used to replace the gears but too many folks over scammed them and they quit right after Walthers took them over. I've never used them but I've been told Athearn SD-40 gear sets will also replace the Proto gears.
I just had to replace broken plastic gears on a Proto F unit. What's going on with all the bad plastic gears. Northwest Shortline must be doing a land office business. So, thank you, NW Shortline for being here for us. Trains are for running, not for sitting on the shelf with broken gears. Come on, manufacturers!
Thanks for watching!
Just stumbled onto the video after looking into fixing my 3 Truck Climax. It all looks easy enough until the video got to the new gear install. Is there possibly a simpler way to install the NWSL gears on their shafts than using the press?
If you can come up with an easier way, I'd love to share it! The gear pusher/puller keeps the pressure in the center of the shaft so it is far less likely to bend. Can't think of a better way to make that part happen. The easiest way would be to pay someone who knows how to do all this stuff to do it, but that's not always an option for everyone!
nice upgrade, i have an old 3 trk shay by MDC Roundhouse?..I think. Still in pieces in its box from yrs ago, and never liked the plastic linkages for the side trucks. Good mention on Northwest Shortline products, that's where i was looking fr brass gears before i lost interest..Gonna save this vid and try to breath life back into that cool loco
On my shay the two little pins holding the axle cover on were glued. Prying them off broke the pins! Since the plastic looks like Delrin I used Poly-Zap to try to re-glue the covers. It seems to work but I don't know how long it will last. I used the NWSL procedure on the front and center trucks and it worked fine. I used your method on the rear truck after getting frustrated at the difficulty on the read truck.
Did it end up working OK?
I've found glueing anything in model trains is a disaster. Their is always some electrical pickup somewhere where the glue interferes with the contact and you have problems. Better off replacing a truck than glueing.
Thanks, as I have to do the same. And the tip on the lighting was great too.
Thanks for watching!
Beautiful model
Do you solder both wires to the plate that the screw goes Into I could nt see where the one wire was at on the engine frame
Hi Joe I don't recall there being any soldering for this project...?
Hi, Thanks for this really helpful video. I have bought a set of the gears but am surprised the hole is only just over 1mm in diameter. I have not yet received the actual loco to check if the drive shafts are also just over 1mm diameter. Can you let me know the driveshaft diameter if at all possible please. Thanks Stuart
Note that Bachman no longer has the truck frames.
awesome video just bought one and have to do this to it but you made it look so easy iam sure I could do it if I take my time
+trackspike64 It just takes practice and patience. As long as you like your results, that is what matters the most!
im gana be getting a bachmann shay ... can you give any other ideas other then the vice setup of getting gears on ? i dont have a vice and right now the coat would put it in that dont even buy the shay range ..
You really need a gear puller/pusher to do it right. And a lot of patience!
I recently bought this same locomotive brand new and want to plug a sound decoder into the tender but have no idea how to get it undone to get access to the factory chip board. I see no screws on the bottom holding it together. Hoping someone will do a video of it on here
OK GREAT video..... question....? Wheres the METAL "Bevel Gears" from???? I need a set for a Bachmann Spectrum 3 Truck Shay....
I would try searching for them on the internet.
OK I would, HOWEVER not not sure to look for them by? Who manufactures them to fit the locomotive?
Did you actually watch the video? I mean with the sound on.
I thought I did............. I'll have to watch it again...... Why is the brand of the gears mentioned? I may not have caught it, or my internet "jumped" it as it buffered the video..... Seems to be doing that lately and I'll "miss" parts only a few seconds here and there..... What gets me is there isn't even a pause when it does it,....
Yes it's all in there. all within the first 4 minutes too even.
How well do those work in ho I want to do a logging line
I heard not very well but I still want one
I have done this repair about 25 times. I have discovered that NWSL gears sometimes have 13 teeth sometimes only 12. The shay had 12 tooth gears when new. Apparently NWSL got some gears sets mixed up with 13 tooth gears for the Climax. You installed 13 tooth gears in this shay. How did it run after the install?
Do you have a link to the NWSL site I cant find the gears on e bay
+trackspike64 Sorry, I do not. Did you try google?
+trackspike64
NWSL hires the machining on their gearing,, it costs way up in the thousands just to set up and start producing a batch,,, so they decided that since Bachmann quit selling these shay's they "NWSL" wouldn't lay out that much money for another run in fear they would not sell enough to make it worth their while.
NWSL ran out of the 2800-6 many months ago, right now you will be very lucky to find any to fit the HO Bachmann shay "the NWSL number for them is 2800-6", No other will work,, and if you do find any, expect it to be a super premium price.....
BUT!!!
I just received an email saying that with all of the requests for the 2800-6 they have changed their mind and have ordered another batch.
I hope I will have some in stock in less than a month if anyone is interested in them or any TCS items like the WOW sound decoders, Motherboards or Keep alives email me at TRPLAM@GMAIL.COM
Happy rails,
Trains Planes and Music
How long did it take before your gears shattered? I ended up buying the Bachmann replacement. It was a lot easier for me to just replace the whole side than just the gear itself. I'm asking because I bought my shay used and the gears we're already stripped. Thanks, Russell Loomis
Does the company that makes the gears have a website? And what are the steps in replacing the shay light bulbs with LEDs?
Could you tell me which MV lenses reference did you use, please? Thanks a lot.
Thanks for that I have just bought a three truck shay bachmann installing looks a nightmare ill take mine to someone proffessional . hopefully i dont have any trouble . cheers
+Albert Weir As long as you take your time and have patience with the process, you will do fine! :)
Time and patience and some physical agility. Don't hurry, take pictures to remember where everything goes. The screw for the front of the boiler is underneath the small pickup circuit board fitted on the truck pivot. Use lots of magnification.
Very Nice video .....thx
Thanks for watching!
Is bachmann the only person who makes ho scale shay
You can get brass Shays too.
Nice work. That sound was somewhat horrible though....
*****
thx 4 info
I'm surprised ESU ever made something that sounded like that.
find people that work on these and they can stay working for a while.
like this one
Thanks for watching!
Great repair, to bad that thing sounds like a Helicopter more than a steam locomotive ;)
synthetic oil will work clings Bardahl engine honey was the secret.
So, if I understand this correctly, Bachmann actually has a way to fix this issue, but won't do it? I sent two of these into them for repairs. They sent them back saying that they couldn't fix them. Way to build trust in future products. This is yet another reason that I will NOT be purchasing Bachmann products ever again.
deoxit contact cleaner!
In real life these thing sling oil everywhere.
That sound decoder sounds terrible
LOL it does sound like a machine gun
Wasn't that noise awful?
You will be sorry if you buy any Bachman products. They make junk. There are many other good manufactures that make good model trains.