Separating the chassis from the boiler shell on the Big Haulers is not all that much of a problem, so battery packs mounted in there are still reasonably accessible. Been battery powered for a few years now without any cells failing, so at that frequency I still think the boiler shell is a good way to house the battery packs ... in the Big Haulers.
I have removed the chassis from the shell a few times over those year, just to experiment with shimming the gears to get more gear tooth mesh, as it seems Bachmann designed the gear train backwards, such that the worm is pushing the worm gear out of the way (sideways) when going forward under load making it so that the axle gear is only about 1/3rd in mesh. In reverse it pulls the gears into 100% mesh, which is nice, but should have been designed the other way around, or built with less lateral slop. Teflon split washer shims to block that lateral movement seem to help a whole lot. But I digress, and perhaps should do a separate thread covering all that.
There is a huge caveat to mounting the battery packs in the boiler shell however, and that is that several of the engines do not have boilers nearly as large as does the Big Hauler. So of necessity, the smaller boilered engines, like the 4-4-0 & 2-6-0 need to have the battery packs mounted in the tender just as Bill and other's have said. Certainly there is nothing wrong with this, even on the Big Haulers, and other larger engines as well, and just as they have said, it does make access somewhat easier!
Have yet to lift any wheels on my tender pulling uphill around corners, but then I rarely pull more than ten cars, so maybe I haven't hit that wall yet. If I ever do, I'm sure the addition of some extra weight there will make the cure, but then we're back to why not just put the batteries in there to start with ... perhaps I'll just do that next time myself!?!?
I have removed the chassis from the shell a few times over those year, just to experiment with shimming the gears to get more gear tooth mesh, as it seems Bachmann designed the gear train backwards, such that the worm is pushing the worm gear out of the way (sideways) when going forward under load making it so that the axle gear is only about 1/3rd in mesh. In reverse it pulls the gears into 100% mesh, which is nice, but should have been designed the other way around, or built with less lateral slop. Teflon split washer shims to block that lateral movement seem to help a whole lot. But I digress, and perhaps should do a separate thread covering all that.
There is a huge caveat to mounting the battery packs in the boiler shell however, and that is that several of the engines do not have boilers nearly as large as does the Big Hauler. So of necessity, the smaller boilered engines, like the 4-4-0 & 2-6-0 need to have the battery packs mounted in the tender just as Bill and other's have said. Certainly there is nothing wrong with this, even on the Big Haulers, and other larger engines as well, and just as they have said, it does make access somewhat easier!
Have yet to lift any wheels on my tender pulling uphill around corners, but then I rarely pull more than ten cars, so maybe I haven't hit that wall yet. If I ever do, I'm sure the addition of some extra weight there will make the cure, but then we're back to why not just put the batteries in there to start with ... perhaps I'll just do that next time myself!?!?