VL NIAGARA SIDE ROD CHANGE AND MAIN SMOKE / WHISTLE SMOKE FYI

Sounds like someone else with excellent taste.  Lots of heat needed to break down that loctite.

Pete

Great job ALEX!!!!  I had a heck of a time getting the screws out to change the traction tires on my VL Niagara.  U DA MAN AGAIN!!!!!!  Thanks for the videos and all you do for us here.

Alex great service tips!!!!

Nice videos Alex, and a nice result.

I'll never understand why Lionel went with an as delivered white walled look and then stuck dark rods on it. 

Same for using Phillips screws on the side rods of such a high end piece. 

Nice job!!!!!

Excellent videos Alex!  Did Dave mention if there were hex head screws that would fit??  None theless, I like the idea of WD40 and a heat gun.

Alex

As always great information!

Ya know, with everything else going on with this model, including what I've told my family are booster rockets under the tender, I never even noticed that my gray #6001 version does not have the blackened side rods that Lionel seems to put on everything else now! This photo is a little over-exposed but shows that the once-standard brushed steel/nickel rods look right (OK, I know it's a fantasy version): 

So Alex I won't be sending mine your way for conversion. In any case your info about the main stack unit configuration is very valuable - I had not picked up the slightly problematic smoke fluid fill method from your original thread on tearing down the one Lionel sent you pre-production. Thanks a lot, as always.

Alex, great information and great videos as always. Interesting how they split the reservoir like that.

Actually there is nothing wrong with blackened side rods except Lionel opted to put them on freshly built engines. White sidewalls and running board stripes were there just for builders photos. Its pretty easy to remove the white with lacquer thinner and not harm the underlying paint at all.

That said I prefer shiny.

The new Hudsons also "feature" brand new from the Alco shops with appliances added years later.

Pete

Well, um. Can't say it's for me - in fact, I would have certainly left the cool black rods in place, then painted all the loco's whitewalls out as soon as I got it. 

Not that you care about my opinion, but you did post it. 

Norton posted:

Sounds like someone else with excellent taste.  Lots of heat needed to break down that loctite.

 

Pete

 

Hi Pete, 

Absolutely needed a lot of heat and WD40 to get those screws cracked loose

Alex

Lionel Service says you can use a soldering iron but I had to use my resistance soldering tweezers next to the wheel. Good idea to use WD40 though.

Pete

Alex   This is Good to Know. Thanks for sharing.       Tom Sr.

FWIW, the screws on mine came right out! I opted to check them before I broke out the soldering iron and was surprised with the results!

Where did you purchase the polished side rods? Are they available from Lionel? Thanks.

Pete, yours looks great too !  nice work 

George, some lube and heat on the screws and they back out fairly easy.

Don, thanks .

GRJ, thanks.

Peter, thanks.

Rick, Dave didn't mention if hex screws would fit. my guess would be there must be some that would.

MartyE, thanks.

Hancock52, i really like the fantasy paint scheme on this model. Thanks

Dave NYC , thanks.

Tom, thanks

NYC Z-man, glad yours released easily 

FCAVOLO, i got the side rods from Lionel a while back. I would imagine once the parts dept opens up again, you should be able to order them. 

Thanks to all, Alex

RickM46 posted:

Excellent videos Alex!  Did Dave mention if there were hex head screws that would fit??  None theless, I like the idea of WD40 and a heat gun.

The screws are 2.5mm diameter and 10, 14, and 17mm long. You could probably find hex head screws but they would be wrong. Here is what the prototype looked like.

Pete

Pete 

You did a superb job on those screws. I just enlarged the picture. Beautiful work !

Norton posted:

RickM46 posted:

Excellent videos Alex!  Did Dave mention if there were hex head screws that would fit??  None theless, I like the idea of WD40 and a heat gun.

The screws are 2.5mm diameter and 10, 14, and 17mm long. You could probably find hex head screws but they would be wrong. Here is what the prototype looked like.

Pete

Thanks Pete; didn't notice that there are caps over the screws

RickM46 posted:

Norton posted:

RickM46 posted:

Excellent videos Alex!  Did Dave mention if there were hex head screws that would fit??  None theless, I like the idea of WD40 and a heat gun.

The screws are 2.5mm diameter and 10, 14, and 17mm long. You could probably find hex head screws but they would be wrong. Here is what the prototype looked like.

Pete

Thanks Pete; didn't notice that there are caps over the screws

RickM46 posted:

Norton posted:

RickM46 posted:

Excellent videos Alex!  Did Dave mention if there were hex head screws that would fit??  None theless, I like the idea of WD40 and a heat gun.

The screws are 2.5mm diameter and 10, 14, and 17mm long. You could probably find hex head screws but they would be wrong. Here is what the prototype looked like.

Pete

Thanks Pete; didn't notice that there are caps over the screws

We need Pete to mass produce these....perfect upgrade for those chewed up Phillips heads we have to deal with!.....aren’t his just gorgeous?.....I definitely have Niagara envy!.............Pat

All I need is either a CNC mill or some little elfs to drill all those divots. I am hoping Stepcraft will have a blowout sale some day.

Pete

Norton posted

The screws are 2.5mm diameter and 10, 14, and 17mm long. You could probably find hex head screws but they would be wrong. Here is what the prototype looked like.

Pete

Looking at that picture makes me think Torx head pattern,maybe Lionel should have used security Torx heads instead of Phillips. I wonder if they have them in the sizes you have listed and how they would look?

Something like this:

Doug

I used flat head allens. Those security torx look good. Not sure they are available that small.

The smallest security Torx on McMaster Carr's website is 3mm.

Looks like Jeff Bezos has you covered.

https://www.amazon.com/Tamper-...pieces/dp/B01EWR9RKA

Pete

You beat me to it Pete. Hey maybe for someone that don't have the skill or equipment to do what you did (which looks great btw) or just needs replacements could use those. The price seems right.

Alex, before I forget a third time ,thanks for doing all of these informational videos.they really are priceless!

Doug

I like the idea of the safety torx screws too.....I found them in 2.5 mm in every length but the 17mm for the longest one needed...bummer!.........Pat

In this case the 17mm is the one that goes through the eccentric crank and it looks like an allen head would work there. 

Pete