# Royal blue tender



## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

Here's the crusty Royal Blue tender.. Repairs needed obviously. Wiring needed, and a truck to tender rivet kit. Older style coupler still intact and working. Tear it down.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

Torn down,






ready to fix..


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

I luckily had the truck to tender kit on hand, my last one, and a draw-bar to truck repair kit. HOWEVER, when I received the tender, it had a large screw connecting the draw-bar to the truck, which isn't right..Come to find out, it APPEARS someone drilled out the hole for that screw, and now my draw-bar to tender kit won't work!! Or does it take a special, larger rivet. The hole is so large that after I would peen over the rivet, it would never hold. Anyone have any ideas?? I'm I wrong??? Does anyone have a bare-steel draw-bar??? According to all my manuals, the rivet is the same for just about all the smaller steamers.....HELP!!!


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

Tender shell clean-up. Please keep in mind this is NOT a restoration; just a repair, clean-up, and git er runnin.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

Front truck cleaned up, and ready to install in tender chassis, but I'm going to wait on this until I get some feedback on the draw-bar.


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## Nuttin But Flyer (Dec 19, 2011)

Do I understand that both the tender hole and the drawbar hole are too big for their respective rivets? Flatwashers to compensate for the hole difference? Then you would need longer rivets. Are there any rivets in the database that have larger heads to fit the enlarged holes. Go to RFGCo's website and select 'rivets' at the bottom. He lists them by Part Number and size...maybe one of the others will suffice. Then get it from Doug...or let me know the part number, I might have it.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Maybe some liquid metal and redrill?


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

I went to my local shop, and searched for rivets with no luck. I then asked my buddy to go through his parts drawers, about 100 ,lol, and try and find a used/new draw-bar with no luck.What I ended up doing, I scavenged one off of one of my running 300's, and used it. I ordered a new one from ebay and expect here in 5-7 days.. I want to get this loco running for Rusty, and can't wait, lol.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

Here's the tender, cleaned, and oiled.. New draw bar, draw bar repair kit, truck to chassis rivet kit, and new wiring. Polished pick-up wheels, cleaned copper wipers. Not a restoration, just a repair/clean-up. All original paint, lettering,etc.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

I looked at pages 120 and 121 of the Gilbert factory service manual. The way the sketch is drawn it implies the drawbar should be on top of the tongue on the truck. The way it is assembled in the photo above does look correct to me however. Unfortunately I do not have access to my factory original 350 to look at it, I will not be back home until next weekend.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

AmFlyer said:


> I looked at pages 120 and 121 of the Gilbert factory service manual. The way the sketch is drawn it implies the drawbar should be on top of the tongue on the truck. The way it is assembled in the photo above does look correct to me however. Unfortunately I do not have access to my factory original 350 to look at it, I will not be back home until next weekend.


All of my steamers have the draw-bar on the bottom, but you could be right.. I don't think it makes any difference in run-ability.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

I am sure they will run the same. I was thinking about your earlier question on the hole size in the drawbar. That caused me to look at the factory manual. From memory it sure looks correct the way you assembled it.


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## longle (Mar 7, 2015)

FWIW, the Royal Blue I restored a couple of years ago had the large hole in the front truck on the tender. The hole on the drawbar, however, was small. Can't remember what I did to put it back together and right now it's packed away.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

That is a good picture, I see what you mean about the small hole. It looks smaller than the diameter of the fiber shoulder washer that is supposed to fit in the hole.
I have the same problem as you, my 350 is part of a boxed set that is packed away plus I do not get home until next Saturday.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

If you look at those pictures, the draw bar Must be on the bottom of the truck. The large hole in the truck is where the bushing goes, and the small end of the rivet gets peened over the small hole in the draw bar. The above picture shows the draw-bar attachment kit missing, and you'll need it to operate the loco. It must be insulated from the tender truck or you'll have a short, as everyone knows.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

AmFlyer said:


> That is a good picture, I see what you mean about the small hole. It looks smaller than the diameter of the fiber shoulder washer that is supposed to fit in the hole.
> I have the same problem as you, my 350 is part of a boxed set that is packed away plus I do not get home until next Saturday.


The fiber shoulder washer goes in the tender truck. The way it goes is... rivet through the fiber shoulder bushing, that assembly through the tender truck, a small fiber washer through the rivet between the truck and draw-bar, and then peen over the rivet.


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## longle (Mar 7, 2015)

I took a look at mine and that's how I put mine together, exactly as Flyernut described it.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Thanks so much for the confirmation. It is frustrating when someone in the past has modified or drilled out something so the original parts no longer work correctly.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

AmFlyer said:


> Thanks so much for the confirmation. It is frustrating when someone in the past has modified or drilled out something so the original parts no longer work correctly.


Don't we all know it!!! And by doing so, it ruins the originality, if that's what one wants. Sometimes it's just enough to get it running, but I'm not like that. If I can restore it, at a modest cost, that's what I like to see. On this Royal Blue I'm working on for Rusty, someone has been in this loco, the wheels were junk, wiring inside was hosed, and then we have the draw-bar issue. Also the quartering was way off, I couldn't get the wheels to rotate 360 degrees without binding up.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

How did you fix the quartering? do you have the quartering tools?


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

AmFlyer said:


> How did you fix the quartering? do you have the quartering tools?


I don't have the tools. However, I have a good eye,lol, and I believe I have the quartering in tolerance. I'll make sure it runs great before sending it out... Everything seems to move smoothly without any binding, so I think I have it worried now,lol... What I usually do is to put the linkage on one side, and do a 90 degree opposite on the other, again putting the linkage on. It takes a few times but once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty smoothly. The more wheels there are, the harder it gets, and I wouldn't even think about quartering a Northern, or a switcher!! 90 degrees will work, but the correct number is 88 degrees... Awhile back, Nuttinbutflyer was asking people if they wanted to go into together a quartering tool for Atlantics, but I never did hear what happened with that idea.. It was a good one..


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