I purchased this engine on ebay, thinking it was a running engine. When I received the engine, it is missing the drive shaft and the seller doesn’t have it. Any suggestions how I can buy one or make one? leecalahan@frontiernet.net
As I recall they have a hexagonal head on both ends. I would try two hex head bolts (#4 or #6) butted end-to-end. The thinner the bolt the better. The original drive shaft was only about 1/16" to 3/32" in diameter. Also as I recall they were about 1 1/2" long.
You also might contact Caboose Hobbies (or other similar large MR train store) repair department. In the old days they had tons of AHM/Rivarossi/Pocher parts.
The basic dimensions of the original part are 2.4 mm diameter drive shaft, 4.85 to 4.9 mm across the hex ends and an overall length of 31.25 mm. The ends of the drive shaft are hemispherical with the hex portion set back about 2 mm.
One solution would be to pull the two sockets and build a new drive shaft with matching sockets from NorthWest Short Line parts.
Replacing the original drive shaft with a metal part may, or may not, result in excessive wear on the original plastic sockets.
I got a response via email of an ebay source, who found a drive shaft this time. Your information will come in handy if I need to make my own shafts. Thanks for your response.
Easy fix … I have done this on my Pocher 4-4-0 and it works fine.
Take a long, brass 2-56 screw and cut of the head leaving an all thread shaft 1 1/4" long. Screw a brass nut onto each end. Solder in place, and you now have a working drive shaft.