Has anyone ever swapped out drivers on an HO Scale steam engine? I'm considering a kitbash and want to swap out drivers on a Bachman 2-8-4 for some Greenway Boxpoks. Any advice or tips would be appreciated.
I replaced the drivers on a friend's brass Mogul. The original drivers' centres were disintegrating from a severe case of zincpest. While I had it apart, I also replaced the open-frame motor and the gearbox, using parts from NWSL, and gave it a fresh paint and lettering job too....
The driver swap was basically a drop-in, as the Greenway drivers had identical metric-size axle diameters that matched those of the original. However, I'm not sure if Bachmann's axles are sized in metric or North American sizes, commonly 1/8".
I plan to re-driver this old John English Pacific...
...using Greenway drivers, but because it was designed for 1/8" axle diameters, I'll be shimming the existing slots for the axles. While the original drivers are still in good condition, the brass wheel treads require constant cleaning for reliable operation. I have the new drivers on-hand, and just need some time to do the work.
Wayne
The great thing about 1/8" axles and 3mm axles is that they are practically the same size. They are within 0.007" of one another, about two human hairs.
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This is a huge difference in some things, but for steam locomotive axles (with the drivers installed already) it seems to be OK. They will generally drop into the chassis and work OK. Press fit drive gears might not work from one to another.
Do you know the new drivers you will be using?
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190...Press fit drive gears might not work from one to another....
Thanks for that reminder, Kevin. I plan to fit the locomotive with a NWSL gearbox, as they have one for this particular engine. With cleaned wheel treads, and even with it's original open-frame motor and existing gearing, mine is an extremely smooth runner.