REPAIRING VL BIG BOY DEPLETING COAL LOAD

Hi Alex,  that is a really interesting peak inside the tender!  Hope you are doing well.  

Nice job ALEX.

How hard was it to get the wire back to the coal load.  Was there tension or did you have to do some sort of release to allow the wire to come out? Nice job again.

I take it the wire to the left of the pliers is wound up into the cylinder on a rod, where does the wire going off to the right go?

cjack posted:

I take it the wire to the left of the pliers is wound up into the cylinder on a rod, where does the wire going off to the right go?

It looks like a tag end to me?

Is the loop just part of the molded coal load?
No eyelet or anything else to reinforce it?

Good to know Alex, when mine croaks, I'll know how to fix it!

Alex - same issue on my VL Big Boy - def in need of an Alex M tune-up!!!  Great post and extremely informative as usual!

Michael 

C W Burfle posted:

Is the loop just part of the molded coal load?
No eyelet or anything else to reinforce it?

I was thinking the same thing.  Poor design.

Definitely not something easy to repair, that much is certain. I myself didn't care for the depleting coal load feature, though I thought it was sort of interesting. Good to know how to fix should I ever get an engine with the feature.

I'd like to see the depleting coal load in action.  

LOL just found one;

https://youtu.be/1j_iPaYKI-g

Mine has been replaced by Lionel once already.  Havn't used it since it came back except to test it once.  I wondered if this was the cause.  It would of been better to mold a wire in the loop and into the coal load to reinforce it so that it does break like this.  I do wonder what the life testing results for this part were.

Well, one thing is for sure that with stuff breaking or not functioning properly, room for improvement should be around the corner. Always room to make a better way of doing things.

Thanks Alex.  Always appreciative of your informative posts.

Good post Alex.  I have been involved with some VLBB at Charles Ro.   I find the VLBB very user friendly to work on.  I love the 4 screws and the engine is open.  Hope to see you at my house before the Big E.

Good information, Alex, thank you.  The only time my BigBoy went back to Lionel was when the coal load failed, exactly as you described.  It was under warranty then; next time it will be up to me and your photos and narrative will come in handy.

Hi Dave thanks , all is well

Hi Laz , i had to spin the shaft to the fill position to gain the length i needed, so it would reach.

Chuck, the wire on the right is just excess left from the knot they tie at the factory, it's just the wire on the left that goes around the shaft.

CW Burfle, the wire has a brass eyelet for reinforcement, but unfortunately it still rips through the rubber

GRJ , yep once opened up it's a simple fix, it's just that everything has to come apart to get there lol

Mike, anytime you want to bring it to me just let me know.

Dave , the repair isn't to difficult, its just that the entire tender has to be dismantled. But the design of this engine and tender makes for a nice smooth job.

Dan, I'll post a video sometime tomorrow.

Hi Marty E , thanks my friend

Hi Marty, yes i totally agree , nicely designed engine to work on

DanR , Thanks if you ever need any assistance just let me know

Thanks to all ,

Alex

Here's a video 

@Alex M posted:

Just finished this job, and thought i would share it . It's quite interesting.

The complaint was coal load not moving most of the time we all think its electronic, and that's what i thought too. But this time it was mechanical, this coal load moves up and down with a strong wire tied to the rubber coal load at one end, and tied to a spinning shaft at the other end. The end that's tied to the rubber coal load is the weakest point and that's where the issue usually is, As you will see in my photos below the loop that the wire is fed through rips and then we lose the connection. Two choices here either order a new rubber coal load or repair the original one , i decided to repair it.

That's all i did was slip the wire back into the rubber coal load loop held it with a pliers and applied Gorilla glue, once the glue dried i applied hot glue for extra strength. It's actually stronger than the rubber loop was. Please understand the entire tender has to be dismantled to get to this mechanism, so it's quite involved.

Thanks, Alex

Alex, excellent post.  I just discovered my Big Boy's depleting coal feature does not work. I've reset the engine a few times...the whistle smoke works better... :-)  but it did not fix the coal feature.  I suspect I have the same problem you fixed.  I would like to try to fix it myself, but, frankly I would feel much better if there was a video of the whole process.  I searched YouTube...no luck. Not sure if it's my search skills, or simply that none exist.  Are you aware of such a video?  I've taken apart my VL Hudson and repaired the pantographs on my Acela using your most excellent advice and guidance but I'm unsure about this repair.  One tip you gave about taking off the shell of the Hudson was that small rod, not easily apparent in the process.  So, is/are there any tricky things like that in dissembling this tender?  Thanks, and as always, any advice is welcome.

Awesome posting, how does a person get the coal load removed from the tender to do the repair? I got one end of it open I could only slide to coal load a little bit out. So I decided to put it back together and do my research.

good to know! thank you

https://ogrforum.com/...c/154026430934254334

Above is a new method i have for repairing this

Alex