RTR MDC Shay wont go. Advice?

[C&GV]

I admit, it was an impulse buy.

Several years ago I purchased a brand new HO RTR MDC Shay - back when they were first offered. I didn't have much space for a layout back then but I did test it on some track and it ran great.

Long story short, it has sat unused in its box ever since, until one day when I thought it might be fun to have a shay running on the C&GV. Once out of the box and on the tracks, the headlight lit up, the engine growled, the drive shafts turned and the piston rods flew, yet the locomotive stubbornly refused to move. Hmm. The engine is running but nobody's home. What gives? What could have possibly happened to it alone in it's little box?

Before I start taking it apart, I'd like to know if anyone else has had this problem and what their solution was.

Any help is appreciated.

Dave

Cibola & Grand Valley Ry. 

[steemtrayn]

Maybe there's a plastic coupling somewhere that deteriorated over time, causing a shaft to slip.

[cacole]

My suggestion would be to send an e-mail to Athearn and ask them, since it's their product.  I have one of those engines that I haven't taken out of the box for several years, too.  Maybe the heat here in Arizona causes a gear or something to expand, break loose, or crack over time.

[C&GV]

UPDATE:

Well, I've popped open the trucks and found that all four plastic gears are loose on the axles. Seems they were a 'press fit' that didn't fit too well. Maybe the axles have contracted in size over time or the gear holes have widened. Anyway, what I need now is a way to fix them to the axles again. Maybe a drop of epoxy here and there? Any ideas?

The shay was purchased before the Athearn/Horizon takeover so I've got no recourse with the manufacturer.

Dave

 

[espeecab4ward]

Dave, The gears are not a loose press fit.  If you real close with a pair magnifying lenses you will find each is actually cracked.  Applying glue won't correct the problem because of the crack. 

These engines were put on the market real quick in order to compete with a unit that Bachmann produced about the same time.   Parts are from the original design two and three truck shays that Roundhouse had offered for years in HO and HOn3 gauges.  Anyone who planned on building those found out that the gears with those kits were inferior from the many articles written on building the shays. 

HWSL (NorthWest ShortLine) to the rescue.  NWSL produced replacement gears for all the gearing on the shays.   You can order the axle gears from them #186-6 form NWSL __their pricing catalogue is online.  You will have to removea wheel from each axle in order to press fit the replacements.  IF you don't the tools do do this, their are fellows out there that could probably help you for a reasonable fee.  

 Doug

 

[C&GV]

Thanks for the info Doug, you've just saved me lots of time and a heap of frustration. I'll be ordering the new axle gears from NWSL. My old eyes aint what they used to be, but as I used to work on N scale locos quite a bit the retrofit shouldn't pose too much of a problem.

[BCSJ]

 

I built a MDC shay kit not quite 10 years ago. These kits are a monster to assemble. There are lots of little fiddly parts that need to be lined up well and many gears have mold parting and sprue lines on them that need to be (carefully) sanded off.  You would be well advised (if you decide to get the sucker running again) to purchase the NWSL gear sets for this loco. Note that there are actually two different gear sets from them (sorry it's been too long and I don't remember exactly) and you'll need them both.

A fellow (I think his name was Mark Johnston?) wrote a very detailed book on assembling these kits. You probably would benefit from getting and reading it. LOTS of little things to do to make the model run better (or make it run at all).

Part of the problem with the MDC shays is the double drive line. The motor spins a couple of spur gears the lower of which runs a driveshaft to the trucks. This is the primary means of motion. However, being a shay there are the "visible" crankshaft (at the bottom of the pistons) and the pair of half-shafts with universals leading from the drive shaft to the ring gears on the trucks. If not assembled with care slippage on either of these will tend to make the mechanism bind up. Heck, even when assembled with care it may want to bind!)

I got mine to run, but even with the NWSL gears and scrupulously reading the book the drive train chatters and sounds like a threshing machine about to throw its blades (LOUD). It's also kind of 'fiddly' as those halfshafts and U-joints are plastic press fit units and they don't necessarily want to stay perfectly in place. Maybe I just did a poor job of assembly...

I'm not sure about the NWSL gear prices but I think I paid about $30 total for mine 10 years ago. The book was another $20 (iirc). I doubt prices have declined since then and with NWSL perhaps closing their doors (rumor is a buyer has surfaced) it might be rather hard to get the gears.

So if you disassemble the bugger, inject some about of nice gears into it after carfully polishing and sanding casings and bearings and then assiduously cleaning everything to get abrasives out of the bearings, you can end up with a shay that runs (moderately well) but is noisy as all get out. I had to drill holes in the zamc boiler casting to run wires for the head light (maybe the pre-assembled has this already?) I did manage to cram a small DCC decoder into the water tank (might have been a DN140 digitrax).

What it comes down to is do you want a good project locomotive? If yes then get the parts and book and go for it. If you just want a shay to run that's reasonably quiet and reliable then you should look for one of the Bachman shays and chalk up the MDC as a lesson (mine is currently an end-of-track bumper keeping log cars from running off the end of the track in Oakhill on my BC&SJ layout - it does look nice though).

 

Good luck,

Charlie Comstock 

[C&GV]

Thanks Charlie.

I think I will try and get the NWSL parts and retrofit the engine. Mine was an RTR and not the infamous kit. It ran great out of the box and from all reports the RTR version was far superior to the kit. Mine came with forward and reverse constant intensity lighting installed and that still works fine (in fact its almost too bright). It also has a standard 8 pin DCC socket and I've still got the instructions for installing a decoder somewhere.

I like the looks and reliability of the Bachmann Shay - just wish they would produce a two truck version.

Dave 

[Geared Steam]

I like the looks and reliability of the Bachmann Shay - just wish they would produce a two truck version.

Dave 

Skip has modified a B'man 3 truck to a 2 truck, I just wish he would create a "how-to".

His website:   http://www.arcadialogger.com/index.htm 

 

[R. T. POTEET]

Looks to me like you should have labeled this post UTR MDC Shay wont go. Advice? Sounds to me like what you have is an Unready To Run MDC Shay.