This is the first non sound Mallet I have done.
The most difficult part of this install is getting the loco apart and putting it back together.
Here are some pics of where the relevant screws are.
Remove the medium length front screw from the top of the boiler about 2" back from the stack.
Turn the loco over and remove the following screws:
Two thin screws, one either side, hidden behind a pump on either side. About level with the second cylinders.
Two medium length screws, one either side roughly between the two rear drivers
Four thin screws, two either side under the cab
The top body part and cab will then come away from the chassis and running gear.
To make room inside the boiler shell for the batteries a plastic cross member must be removed.
This cross member is not part of the boiler and is eay to remove. I used a pair of small side cutter to cut it out.
I then removed the backhead from the chassis and removed the LGB selector switch. Then I cut away the two plastic switch mounting stanchions.
After removing the stock LGB electronics I took out the weight. As I wanted to put some weight back in I marked it where I wanted to remove lead so that I could get the new parts to fit.
A friend cut away the excess with a metal cutting bandsaw. How much to cut away was guess work. If I did it again I would have the weight completely level as the space for the ESC would be greatly improved.
Then the cut down weight was replaced in the chassis.
I fabricated a styrene platform on which I could mount the ESC components. There are two little stanchions twowards the rear on which LGB mount the electronics for their sound version. I cut these down to match the height of the lead weight. Before installing the styrene platform I mounted the Phoenix P8 cross wise just under the rearmost part of the platform. Then I screwed the styrene in place there and at the weight.
The two part RCS # PRO-3 ESC was mounted in place with non metallic silicone adhesive.
That pic is actually out of date. The black bridge rectifier shown on the nearest component stood a bit too tall to allow the body shell to close down on the chassis. I had two alternatives to solve the problem. Either lower the weight or swap the position of the two RSC parts. I moved the parts but if doing this again I would definitely make the weight thinner.
Placement of switches etc was not easy. They had to be accessible but not too obvious. I mounted the Phoenix volume control and programming jack on the backhead. Oddball angle so had to assist the mounting with silicone.
The wire poking through is part of the RX antenna wire.
The charge jack was mounted on the rear crossbeam.
The wires were fed up into the top of the chassis via a small hole I drilled in the chassis..........
............where they were connected to the main ON - OFF switch mounted under the rear most dome on the boiler.
The batteries were glued in place with non metallic silicone adhesive.
The RCS programming button is rarely used so I mounted it in the cab on the top of the boiler extension.
The button is hidden behind taps on the backhead.
Top view of the ON - OFF switch.
There is no proper chuff timer in the # 50 and fitting one would be very difficult so I used the voltage control chuff feature of the P8. First time I have eve had to do that, but it seems to work well once I figured out how to match chuffs to the voltage.
One other thing. I replaced to 5 volt bulbs with 16 volt bulbs so I could run them off traction battery voltage and not have to worry about fitting a 5 volt supply.
Now comes reassembly. Be very careful in making sure any stray wires are tucked up out of the way and don't foul the screw holes.
You will have to temporarily remove the charge jack so you can replace one of the cab screws.
You will have to remove the cab roof if you want to change the sound volume, Program the P8 or program the RCS.
As is usual with LGB locos this one runs superbly. The P8 has plenty of volume. Range is excellent. I cannot get far enough away to test how far, but at least 200'
The most difficult part of this install is getting the loco apart and putting it back together.
Here are some pics of where the relevant screws are.
Remove the medium length front screw from the top of the boiler about 2" back from the stack.
Turn the loco over and remove the following screws:
Two thin screws, one either side, hidden behind a pump on either side. About level with the second cylinders.
Two medium length screws, one either side roughly between the two rear drivers
Four thin screws, two either side under the cab
The top body part and cab will then come away from the chassis and running gear.
To make room inside the boiler shell for the batteries a plastic cross member must be removed.
This cross member is not part of the boiler and is eay to remove. I used a pair of small side cutter to cut it out.
I then removed the backhead from the chassis and removed the LGB selector switch. Then I cut away the two plastic switch mounting stanchions.
After removing the stock LGB electronics I took out the weight. As I wanted to put some weight back in I marked it where I wanted to remove lead so that I could get the new parts to fit.
A friend cut away the excess with a metal cutting bandsaw. How much to cut away was guess work. If I did it again I would have the weight completely level as the space for the ESC would be greatly improved.
Then the cut down weight was replaced in the chassis.
I fabricated a styrene platform on which I could mount the ESC components. There are two little stanchions twowards the rear on which LGB mount the electronics for their sound version. I cut these down to match the height of the lead weight. Before installing the styrene platform I mounted the Phoenix P8 cross wise just under the rearmost part of the platform. Then I screwed the styrene in place there and at the weight.
The two part RCS # PRO-3 ESC was mounted in place with non metallic silicone adhesive.
That pic is actually out of date. The black bridge rectifier shown on the nearest component stood a bit too tall to allow the body shell to close down on the chassis. I had two alternatives to solve the problem. Either lower the weight or swap the position of the two RSC parts. I moved the parts but if doing this again I would definitely make the weight thinner.
Placement of switches etc was not easy. They had to be accessible but not too obvious. I mounted the Phoenix volume control and programming jack on the backhead. Oddball angle so had to assist the mounting with silicone.
The wire poking through is part of the RX antenna wire.
The charge jack was mounted on the rear crossbeam.
The wires were fed up into the top of the chassis via a small hole I drilled in the chassis..........
............where they were connected to the main ON - OFF switch mounted under the rear most dome on the boiler.
The batteries were glued in place with non metallic silicone adhesive.
The RCS programming button is rarely used so I mounted it in the cab on the top of the boiler extension.
The button is hidden behind taps on the backhead.
Top view of the ON - OFF switch.
There is no proper chuff timer in the # 50 and fitting one would be very difficult so I used the voltage control chuff feature of the P8. First time I have eve had to do that, but it seems to work well once I figured out how to match chuffs to the voltage.
One other thing. I replaced to 5 volt bulbs with 16 volt bulbs so I could run them off traction battery voltage and not have to worry about fitting a 5 volt supply.
Now comes reassembly. Be very careful in making sure any stray wires are tucked up out of the way and don't foul the screw holes.
You will have to temporarily remove the charge jack so you can replace one of the cab screws.
You will have to remove the cab roof if you want to change the sound volume, Program the P8 or program the RCS.
As is usual with LGB locos this one runs superbly. The P8 has plenty of volume. Range is excellent. I cannot get far enough away to test how far, but at least 200'