Bachmann Springloaded Roller Pickups

[Gavin Sowry]

Some of you will be familiar with the Bachmann spring loaded pickups on the trucks of some Climax and Shay locomotives. You may have also discovered, like I have, that if you remove the wheelset for cleaning/maintenance, that the the little ball bearing part of the pickup is liable to spring out, and, Murphy's Law, never to be seen again.

I have since found that the carrier for the pickup can actually be levered out, thus allowing the wheelset to retain, to some extent, the ball.

So, after much messing around, I've ended up with 3 balls missing from one of the trucks. Even though the trucks are theoretically electrically joined through the frame, the one with missing pickup balls was stalling (this happened to be the truck driving the valve gear), so replacement of the balls was imperative.

So, apart from ordering from Bachmann, where to get spares? Well, I just happened to try a Bicycle workshop, and voila, just what I wanted, 1/8 inch balls.

 

[PhilP]

http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/pr...ts_id=222108&gclid=CPmi6KXohroCFTIQtAod-y8AEg

£2.89 for pack of ten..

 

[Gavin Sowry]

OOPS! Turns out that the balls needed are actually less than one eighth. How do I know, they were too tight a fit, and nothing worked. So, now the drama continues. Tempted to make up some good old fashioned brass wire contacts... at least I won't have to go fishiong around in the gearbox for balls and springs.

 

[minimans]

oh balls they must be metric! Little oriental ones.......

 

[beavercreek]

Hi Gavin
Greg Schreyer's site is a fantastic resource. He has done a whole thing on the Climax and Shay pick-ups

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips5/climax_tips.html#pickup < Link To http://www.girr.org/girr/...limax_tips.html#pickup

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips1/shay_tips.html

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips1/shay_tips.html#contacts < Link To http://www.girr.org/girr/...hay_tips.html#contacts

 

[JRinTawa]

Hi Gav. Are you coming over to Brian's on Sunday? I should still have the ones I removed from my Climax (my battery powered Climax runs without balls). If I find them I'll check the size to and see if I can get some spares from Mana Bearings.

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Hi Gav. Are you coming over to Brian's on Sunday? I should still have the ones I removed from my Climax (my battery powered Climax runs without balls). If I find them I'll check the size to and see if I can get some spares from Mana Bearings.

Thanks John.

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Hi Gavin
Greg Schreyer's site is a fantastic resource. He has done a whole thing on the Climax and Shay pick-ups

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips5/climax_tips.html#pickup < Link To http://www.girr.org/girr/...limax_tips.html#pickup

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips1/shay_tips.html

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips1/shay_tips.html#contacts < Link To http://www.girr.org/girr/...hay_tips.html#contacts

8| Compulsory reading that stuff.

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Thanks to JR for 'parts no longer required due to battery conversion', my Climax is now running like a watch.... spent a pleasant half hour after tea watching it run around Taita Gorge, without missing a beat.