Quote from: Loco Bill Canelos on July 31, 2026, 08:09:40 AMWhen Bachmann manufacturers a locomotive any parts for it are made at the same time, when they run out they run out.

Which all means that folks like Al P. may well have a busy future keeping out little detailed Bachmann treasures alive on into the future!

Quote from: Loco Bill Canelos on July 30, 2026, 08:26:23 AMExcellent, Glad Al was able to help out.  3D printing is definitely mainstream as the way to go for unavailable parts for our older 1:20.3 equipment. 

I can certainly recommend Al P. at the highest level of helpfulness, while his ability to make seemingly any part we may need is unquestionable!!!

Don't like to think of this Climax as being "OLDER" equipment as it is really only six or seven years old. But certainly, as far as the Bachmann parts and service departments are concerned, it is now very obsolete .... sad to say!?!?

Thank YOU, Bill, for recommending Al, and getting me the contact info I needed to proceed down this path. I do believe this will become a very valuable resource for many of us!!!

Ran it 'til the stars came out.

PERFECT!!!

New update, I just received, trimmed out and assembled the 3D printed universal parts that I was needing from Al P. and they seem to be just what the Doctor ordered, or rather, just what my Climax needed! The material these parts were 3D printed from seems quite tough and resilient, maybe even just slightly flexible but not actually rubbery. They took the self-tapping screws well and seem to be visually quite detailed and look very good indeed!!!

As soon as the sun gets lower in the West, I'll get the Climax out on the test oval and get to finally see all the pistons and valves moving along with the engine ...... or so I hope anyway!?!?

Quote from: Greg Elmassian on July 19, 2026, 12:46:33 PMno delrin... never stock on any bachmann.

Where would you find a tidbit like that, I wonder? Good sleuthing in any case!!!

However, even if correct, several formulations of Nylon offer decent lubricity, though few are anywhere near as good as the best Delrin formulas.

There is yet another problem should either of these two materials actually be what those hidden gears are made from. They are both very process sensitive and almost always seriously compromised by the use of regrind, which is quite common in the injection molding world, though always frowned on by the material engineers who specify what things are to get made from! I do believe we have seen these sorts of problems surface rather regularly with Bachmann gears before .... 4-4-0, 2-6-0 & Connie anyone?!?!

Yep, think I'll let it ride for now with the hope that Delrin or similar was used for those gears. If during future lube jobs I find any added resistance to the mechanism there, I'll drill that hole and see about adding a bit of lube. Must be careful though as there are a pair of circuit boards in that transmission housing as well as some paddle like pieces on the crankshaft, all for making the chuff circuit work. Of course, care must also be taken to be sure not to introduce any drill chips, and the hole will have to be big enough to actually provide adequate access yet still be "plugable" with something convenient.

Currently, there is no real concern as those shafts are not turning while I'm running, as I await the replacement driveline universals from Al P. which seem to be coming along rather rapidly, I'm very happy to report!

Yeah Greg .... Lube everything, I agree ..... but how do you get at the specific gears that I'm asking about!?!?

Bachmann is silent about them in their owner's manual and video on the Climax!

..... or anyone else who may have the information I seek?!?!

I have just pulled a large scale NOS Climax out of storage and have given it an effective Battery R/C conversion based on information found on the "mylargescale" forum. It most certainly works great and has already racked up about three actual miles of travel on my little oval test track running light as well as now pulling significant loads. The thing that had always stymied me in getting it going was that the radio and battery systems that I'd been using in the 4-6-0 and Shay was clearly way too big to fit the Climax's limited space, most especially in the later models that were fully packed with factory electronics. I took a chance on the system described as being used for a different brand and model of engine, and made it work for the Bachmann Climax, and work well indeed!

So now my question is, how does one go about lubricating the gears in the housing where the driveshaft power is transferred to the crankshaft? The Bachmann video only shows oiling the bearings just where they go into the transmission housing but remains silent on what must be a pair of 45-degree spiral helictical gears within, as does the owners-manual. I assume the mating gears are identical (part #G118X-0ZL05) of the same small diameter, as the two shafts enter the transmission housing at only about twice the shaft diameter distance apart in elevation, but with seemingly no access to the gears, or whatever it is that meshes in there to transfer the motion from the driveline to the crankshaft. If those gears are of Delrin or some special Nylon, then perhaps they can live long without any lubrication? But, even so, some lubrication would still be desirable, and if otherwise made of less forgiving material, then lube will certainly be required!!! I've thought about perhaps drilling a hole in the bottom of the transmission housing, which should provide lubing access, or at least a view to see what is actually in there, but to get in there otherwise seems to require a level of disassembly that seems way excessive and even daunting!?!?

Any thoughts or ideas will be well appreciated!!!

Thanks for that clarification, Greg ... you have sooooooo much knowledge recorded and share soooooo much info. Glad to get the chance to bask in your shade!!!

Don't know if this is the earliest version, but it is not the latest version as near as I can tell?!?!

It is the whole Operator's Manual with exploded views and a rather small wiring diagram near the end, so scroll all the way down to find it!

https://shop.bachmanntrains.com/documents/1-20.3%20Two-Truck%20Climax%20Operators%20Manual.pdf

I think large scale parts from Bachmann are going to become scarcer and scarcer as time goes on. New large scale engines seem rather unlikely as well due to never making price point on all the ones they made in the past. What is truly surprising is that Lee Riley managed to get them to produce so many different engines, and continually upgrade the ones being produced, back in the 1990s, on into the early 20-teens, such that we are soooooooo very lucky any of that happened at all!!!

I've been thinking about writing up a sort of retrospective of all that, along with some of the problems encountered along the way, most of which were likely not Bachmann's fault, but rather that of their supply chain members. However, every time I do really think about it, I find the prospect to be rather daunting, and of limited interest in any case!?!?

Further update, I had the Climax out on the test track this morning and it ran great! Pulling a light load for break-in purposes, it ran almost continuously for a bit over three hours with perhaps just a dozen or so stops and starts from different speeds, to see how the "coast" settings work, along with a couple of laps around the oval in reverse, and it didn't show any signs of being out of "gas" yet.

All Good!

Took a bit less than an hour and a half to recharge the robot vacuum battery pack at a fairly low amp setting, so that was good too!!

Only issue was that darn front truck universal sleeve flopping around as it ran ..... can't wait to get that fixed!!!

Did squish a whole bunch of ants that seem to really like my rails to travel on. There was fluffy piles of ant bodies packed around the brake shoes on the lead truck, and it didn't smell very good either ... YUCK

Been there done that within the last few days!

Unfortunately, much of what I was needing and wanting is not available, but I've been getting Bachmann LS parts for many years now, so I'm pretty well used to that being the case!!!

Quote from: Loco Bill Canelos on July 06, 2026, 08:18:46 AMHope things work out.  Keep the forum up to date as to how things go.  Bill

Have had several emails with Al and he is very communicative and seems interested in my needs. Finally got my parts in the mail to him a couple of days ago so he should be receiving them soon. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the LS Climax uses two different driveline universal clamping rings, so Al will need to be reverse engineering two different assemblies! He seems fully confident that this will pose no problem, which gives me great confidence as well!

Meanwhile, I have my Climax up and running now with the Amazon control unit tied directly to the electronics package that the last version came with.

Decided to see if I could make it run with the inexpensive Amazon unit without striping out all the original electronics built into the engine, and it seems to be working. Only issues I have had is that I cannot seem to get the cab off, nor the firebox/backhead open to see about installing the battery pack in the boiler, but it actually seems to be working okay just standing on the cab floor behind the backhead and is hardly visible from most any angle. Very handy having it there as well!

Only electrical work I did on the original Bachmann electronics was remove the track pickup wheel contacts from the trucks and remove the smoke unit, which actually wasn't specifically necessary, but thought I might be able to use that space and switch, though it turns out that I have not done so.

Now I just need a drive shaft system upgrade to make it all come together!?!?

Thanks Bill, you are always on top of things here and we are soooooooo lucky to have you!

I'm in touch with Al and we are double checking to see if the Shay universal clamp rings are the same, or at least functionally and dimensionally the same, as those on the Climax, as he has already made those universal parts for the LS Shay!