Help with a Shay shell!

Lionel? k-Line? MTH? Bachmann On30?

Maybe if you say what kind it may help trouble shoot. 

Silver Lake posted:

Lionel? k-Line? MTH? Bachmann On30?

Maybe if you say what kind it may help trouble shoot. 

Did you not read the first line of his post?

dennish posted:

A question - Has anyone ever attempted to grind down the inside of a die cast shell. I have a Lionel Shay locomotive (Westside with TMCC) and the shell is a TIGHT fit!

It would appear that it's a Lionel 3-rail model given that it's TMCC and Lionel.  I will agree that an actual model number would be useful.  I'm guessing most likely it's the Lionel 6-28022 West Side Lumber Shay #10.

In defense of Silver Lake, I did add the "Lionel" and "TMCC" after he pointed it out. Sorry about the confusion. It is the 28022 Westside Shay #10.

Thanks for the defense from the forum police. 

I only have the K-Line shay so I don't know the engine. 

Well, that's different, I can see why he made the comment in that case.  Sorry SILVER LAKE, things are not always as they appear.  

I will note that from what I saw in thread yours was an unnecessary comment, the same goes for your "forum police" comment.

I have the 6-38057 which appears to be an identical locomotive, but I've yet to attempt to take the shell off.  I've been led to believe it's somewhat tricky, did you have any major issues popping the top?

John,

I think that all Lionel 3-truck shays are the same except for the decorations and possibly sounds. I have 3 of them and they appear identical in structure. There are 3 screws that hold the shell on.

The top was VERY tight to get off and even TIGHTER to get back on  The cable that attaches to the tender was run between the control and sound boards. One board had to be removed in order to disconnect that cable. I needed 5 hands to hold the shell and remove the various wires and cables!

As far as putting the shell back on, I can get it almost on and then it has to be "persuaded" with pressure. That seems like NOT the right thing to have to do. I can't seem to see if there is a wire or something in the way. If so, that may be interfering with the motor and causing my original issue.

dennis

I know it has to be a tight fit in there, I wonder if I'll be able to fit a Super-Chuffer in there.   You should be able to inspect the wires and see if any are being crushed by the shell, that certainly makes sense.  I plan on putting a ERR Cruise Commander M in mine, and the Super-Chuffer if it'll fit.

Maybe you need to take the shell off another one to see if it's the nature of the beast.

GRJ, I may do that!

As far as adding any components, severval years ago, I had the Western Maryland Shay (18023) down to Boxcar Bill. That is the conventional Shay. I wanted him to upgrade it to command. After working on it for a while, he determined that there simply was no room to install any additional components in the locomotive.

If you are able to work your magic and upgrade yours, I would be VERY interested in pictures/notes on how you managed. I still would like to upgrade all of my Shays with Super-Chuffers (the best add-on to locomotives that I know of!), but was operating under the assumption that "spacing was limited".

I'll let you know about any info I get from the other Shay shells.

Looking at it, I was afraid the space would be limited, so it may not receive my Super-Chuffer.  I am thinking of rolling some new software for my Chuff-Generator to build a poor man's Super-Chuffer.  It wouldn't have dynamic braking for the smoke motor, but it could offer programmable chuffs and idle smoke, so it would be somewhat cool.  Again, that would be dependent on the ability to fit that into the shell.

Its been a couple of years since I had one of these apart but I recall it had to reassembled in a certain order. Its not a simple shell over the frame. The (simulated) cylinders have to be guided in place.

As for room inside, there is little. I was hoping to put in a Cruise M which is barely a 1/16" longer than the stock DCDR. No way unless you took everything out and reinstalled in some other configuration. I think the DCDR butts right up against the smoke unit and some other board.

Replacing everything with a Cruise Lite and small railsounds would work but then is it worth the investment. The engine is geared very high numerically (slow speed) and creeps along so Cruise is not really necessary.

Pete

That's bad news about the CC-M, I thought that would fit.

Worth a Look John. Maybe you will see a way I missed. This was going to be for a friend and I didn't want to mangle it trying.

Peter

I have had to move the holes in the heatsink, and in one case even make my own heatsink to mount a CC-M in small engines.  There's usually some way to find the extra space.  Of much bigger concern is trying to fit the Super-Chuffer in there, I suspect that's not going to happen.

Shay shell? By the seashore? Say that fast...

Sorry. Not helpful. Unavoidable, though.

If I can't fit it back on, you may see the Shay shell by the sea shore! (Couldn't resist )

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I have had to move the holes in the heatsink, and in one case even make my own heatsink to mount a CC-M in small engines.  There's usually some way to find the extra space.  Of much bigger concern is trying to fit the Super-Chuffer in there, I suspect that's not going to happen.

Your super chuffer may be overkill. Remember these have 6 chuffs per crankshaft revolution and many more times that per wheel revolution. The real ones sound like a steady stream above a couple of miles per hour.

Pete

I just think it should have chuffing smoke, not continuous smoke.   However, as you say, it probably looks pretty continuous when it's moving.