Scale Trains GE Body removal and truck disassembly

[Teditor]

My Scale Trains GE scored a load of rubbish in the front truck, how do you remove the body and dismantle the trucks or does the bottom of the truck come away without having to dismantle the whole thing.

I searched the net without success.

Ted (Teditor) Freeman

[kiwi_bnsf]

Hi Ted,

Unfortunately the process of servicing the trucks on Scale Trains N scale GE units is reasonably involved as you cannot remove the trucks without removing the shell and the pickup wires are soldered at both ends.


The process is as follows:

1. Unscrew the coupler pockets from below and push/pull them through the pilot face to remove them (be careful of the plow and pilot details).

2. Remove the shell by lifting upwards on it and with some wiggling of the long hood and continuous pressure and gentle pushing up on the underside of the pilots at each end it will come free (you can lever it off the subframe using something soft like a plastic spudger above the trucks if its really stuck but it shouldn't be required).

3.  The trucks are retained in the frame via the worm housings. You can unclip the top of the worm housings by pulling them upwards while using your fingernails and/or a fine flat screwdriver on both of the side retaining clips at the same time. I typically remove the worms, universal shafts completely at this point and set them aside. They are lightly clipped into the motor flywheels and release with a gentle pull. Be careful not to lose the bearings on the outer side of the worms.

4. At this point you have a truck that can be wiggled free from the chassis, but still has pickup wires attached via solder to the copper pickup strips and the main circuit board at the other end. It is possible to carefully disassemble the truck without de-soldering the pickup wires, but it requires care and patience. If you want maximum freedom to work on the truck, it can be easier to de-solder the pickup wires at the decoder board (as this is easier to re-solder than the copper strips). This is now what I do for all Scale Trains loco truck servicing, as for the sake of a minute or two of soldering, it completely frees up the truck. I recommend taking the opportunity to paint the outside of the copper pickups black as it really improves their look when viewed side on.

When re-assembling, be careful to check that the trucks can swivel freely when re-clipped into the shell (it is possible to get them jammed at an angle).

I would recommend to test run before putting the shell back on.

Be careful not to get wires squished between the shell and the chassis. Also be careful around the decoder where it attaches to the rear underside of the main circuit board as there is almost no clearance width. I would again test run before re-inserting the couplers in order to check that you have not disturbed the decoder.

Hope that this helps!

Cheers

[Teditor]

Thanks for the detailed description, sounds like major surgery, I was hoping that the truck base may remove without all that rigmarole.
Ted (Teditor) Freeman
From the Land Down Under.

[Teditor]

My apologies, someone replied to me personally from NZ and I lost the email, i am in Toowoomba, QLD. Australia.

[Teditor]

I contacted Scale Trains and was advised how to remove the base of the truck, so simple; hold the model in my left hand (I am right handed) with a good grip. Next I place the outside fat edge of my right thumb on top of the sideframe between the brake cylinders. I then gently pull out and down to release its clips. Once I have it released on one side, you can work the sideframe/bottom cover off the loco as they are one piece.

The challenge still left is sliding the pickups carefully off the mounting spigots, putting them back on was a little intimidating but in all, quite simple and no loco disassembly.

I also had a broken coupler, a Micro-Trains 1015/1016 goes in the Scale Trains coupler box nicely.

Ted (Teditor) Freeman
From the Land Down Under

[basementcalling]

Deleted

[kiwi_bnsf]

I contacted Scale Trains and was advised how to remove the base of the truck, so simple; hold the model in my left hand (I am right handed) with a good grip. Next I place the outside fat edge of my right thumb on top of the sideframe between the brake cylinders. I then gently pull out and down to release its clips. Once I have it released on one side, you can work the sideframe/bottom cover off the loco as they are one piece.

The challenge still left is sliding the pickups carefully off the mounting spigots, putting them back on was a little intimidating but in all, quite simple and no loco disassembly.

I also had a broken coupler, a Micro-Trains 1015/1016 goes in the Scale Trains coupler box nicely.

Ted (Teditor) Freeman
From the Land Down Under

Well I've learned something new today. Thanks Ted for persevering with a simpler solution!

Due to the fact that the trucks were attached to the worm assemblies and universal shafts with clips, I (wrongly) assumed that just pulling on the side frames with the trucks attached would be a bad idea.

That's really handy to know that Scale Trains designed the trucks for the side frames to be okay to levered off at an angle while attached. Looking at the trucks again, the plastic retention clips  that hook around the chassis must take most of the downward force when levering on the truck side frames.

I will keep this info in my back pocket for future Scale Trains truck servicing.
 

PS: It was me that sent the PM — it was an offer of help if you were local to NZ. Glad you resolved it all yourself 

[peteski]

While I don't own any of these models I'm curious about the wire situation.  It was mentioned that the trucks are hard-wired, but they somehow can be separated from the chassis without unsoldering?  Are the wires (on the truck side) removable, on some sort of connecting pin?

[kiwi_bnsf]

While I don't own any of these models I'm curious about the wire situation.  It was mentioned that the trucks are hard-wired, but they somehow can be separated from the chassis without unsoldering?  Are the wires (on the truck side) removable, on some sort of connecting pin?

No pin or quick disconnect I’m afraid.

The soldered copper pickup strips can be separated from the truck, but remain soldered to the main PCB at the other end of the wire.

I just de-solder them from the main board if I’m completely swapping a truck as the wiring route through the body of the truck involves a very tight clip that is tricky to de-thread/re-thread the wire through.

[peteski]

No pin or quick disconnect I’m afraid.

The soldered copper pickup strips can be separated from the truck, but remain soldered to the main PCB at the other end of the wire.

My question (and the point) was whether the truck can be completely removed from the chassis without soldering, and according to Ted, it seems possible.  I was just wondering about exactly how that is accomplished.  Without having the model in-hand, Ted's instructions are not very descriptive of that specific step of the disassembly.  I guess a photo of how the wires attach to the truck could be more informative.

[kiwi_bnsf]

My question (and the point) was whether the truck can be completely removed from the chassis without soldering, and according to Ted, it seems possible.  I was just wondering about exactly how that is accomplished.  Without having the model in-hand, Ted's instructions are not very descriptive of that specific step of the disassembly.  I guess a photo of how the wires attach to the truck could be more informative.

As per my how-to above, the entire truck can be removed without soldering - it just requires a lot of work, and care around the wire routing.

Ted has now helpfully provided the Scale Trains method to remove the one-piece truck side frames / bottom cover without needing to remove the shell. This is handy for accessing the wheel sets and copper pickups.

I don't have a Scale Trains truck apart at the moment, but here is a (poor) photo from my camera roll showing truck cores and pickups during painting after having been removed without soldering…




I'm milling the Scale Trains chassis for a larger speaker, so I have no choice but to to remove everything. De-soldering at the board was actually quicker for me when completely stripping the chassis as re-threading the wires through the clips at the base of each truck is a royal pain.

Hope this helps.

[peteski]

Yes, that helps - thank you.   So the wires are soldered on both ends. The trucks (bogies) have to be disassembled while still tethered to the chassis.  I bit awkward but workable.

But it appears if one wants to just remove the bottom cover/sideframes piece to remove and clean the wheelsets, that can be done with the truck still attached to the chassis.

Too bad they did not use the low-friction pointy-axle design Kato and Atlas use, and instead used the stubby-axle in a bearing hole design used by BLI and Athearn. As I see it, it is not as free rolling or has as reliable electrical pickup as the pointy-axles design. Parts count in either design is the same - not sure why they chose "reinvent the wheel".

[Olivani]

Uhh, I like these fuel tanks. Wondering if they are available as spare parts, would look good on the Kato GEs