# Replacing the blind driver on an "annie?"



## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I've just finished cutting a Bachman annie down into a standard guage, 1:29 model. One of the things that's always bothered me about the annie is the blind driver. I'm not eager to strip the thing down again, now that it's done. But does anyone know if ti's possible to replace the blind drivers with flanged drivers? I actually have an unused Annie which I could cannibalize. I can't really take it apart, though, because we still have no power in our house, which means no good light to work by, and it's 100 degrees outside

Can you take the drivers off the axles? Can you swap in a flanged axle? Has anyone done this?


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

That should be able to be done relatively easily. The wheels are held on the axles by a Phillips head screws under the plastic hubs.... To remove the plastic hubs, tale a small bladed screwdriver and gently pry the hub away from the wheel itself. You'll see the screw, remove it and you should be able to get the shell off the center hub...

It may be easier to remove the whole axle assembly from the chassis to make the job easier... 

If Barry is crusing the site, he can add a lot more.....


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike:

Is the removal cosmetic, or for another reason? I don't know your minimum radius, but the blind driver is put there for a purpose. 

The original LGB mogul didn't have enough movement in the center driver axle and they had to replace all the motor blocks. I had my center driver flanges ground down, but the motor block gave out any way and I sent it out to San Diego for a new block. I had kit bashed the engine, but when I got it back from LGB many of my modifications were in the box and the repaired engine looked more original than bashed.

Chuck


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

I did it..I dont recall how exactly (it was 9 years ago)
(actually..I do remember..see post below) 
(this post edited, and some incorrect info removed..)












Scot


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Ok, it is NOT quite that simple..
there is the issue of the crankpin..

On the Annie, the center (unflanged) driver has an extended length crankpin, for the main rod to attach to..
the flanged drivers have shorter pins..
to put a flanged driver in the center, you will have to make a longer crankpin..
I did it like this:

Internet archive of Scot's Annie Mallet project, page 5 

(I was also moving the location of the "main driver"..which you dont have to do if you keeping the main rod on the center driver)

Also, the middle axle is narrower than the outer axles..from my page:



5. Flanged center driver! the original annie center driver is blind, and does not touch the rail. I really wanted a flanged center driver! So I took the front driver from the other annie block and installed it. 
This involved a fair bit of tricky work..the stock center driver has a thinner axel than the outer drivers, so it was necessary to cut away at the center axle supports in the frame to widen them. 
I also made the notches taller, so that the center driver has a bit of vertical play. 
The block modified in this way will _just_ squeeze around a 8' diameter curve, its tight though, and wider would be better..10 or 12' diameter would be no problem, and anything smaller than 8' is right out.

9. The rear crankpin. The stock annie has an extended crankpin on the middle driver, I needed to move this long crankpin to the rear driver. I cut the metal pin off of the middle driver and simply placed it on top of the stock rear driver crankpin..I got metric M3 bolts (12mm long) from micro-fasteners..the new bolt extends all the way through the cut crankpin, and screws into the original rear driver crankpin..there is no other connection, no glue or soldering or anything. I did have to drill out the _bottom_ of the cut pin because the threads do not extend all the way through, I kept the threads on this crankpin though, this is necessary to allow the pin to turn with the wheel..(if the pin was drilled all the way through, removing the threads, the cut pin would free-rotate on the bolt..that would be bad..) 
this system works great! the new bolt tightens just like the original bolts, tight against the end of the pin. 


So..its not as simple as just swapping drivers..
you have to modify the groove the middle axle rides in, and modify the crankpin..I actually swapped the whole driver set, axle and all..So ignore that bit I said above..
(actually, I will go and delete it to avoid confusion..I think I was thinking of the Indy)

Scot


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Of course--I'd forgotten about the crank pin. looks like a fairly complicated job--I'll try running it for awhile first


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

When I said above "Ok, it is NOT quite that simple.." I was referring to my first post..not what Stan said!  
I then went back and edited my first post.. 
(I actually didnt even see Stan's post when I made my two replies above..for some reason I only saw the original post) 

I also thought, like Stan, that you could just remove the driver from the axle..but then..why did I carve out the axle supports if I could have kept kept 
the center axle? I dont recall...I think the Annie drivers might not have the screw that attached driver to axle..they might be just one solid piece.. 
I think I have some Annie drivers floating around in a box..I will take a look.. 

Sco


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## harvey (Dec 30, 2008)

Hi Scot,
I installed flanges on a centre axle last year. The tires were a push fit with locktight and seemed to work out alright.
The tires were made from 2" dia. steel pipe.



















Cheers.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

No fair using a lathe!


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## BarrysBigTrains (Sep 4, 2008)

The best solution to your problem is to use a drive axle from Gen 4 drive. The reason is simple, the blind driver on your Annie is the same as the Gen 4 axle design. The blind driver has a plastic spacer and the axle halves are square plugs into that spacer. The Gen 4 front axle plugs into the sound drum (throw that out) use the spacer from the blind driver. And to make it easier the wheels are self-quartering. 

The big problem is the radius curve you will need for these six flanged drivers to go smoothly through the curves. 

Barry


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Based on testing with my 6-wheel flanged Annie block, I would consider 12-foot diameter (6-foot radius) to be the practical minimum with all wheels flanged. 
Scot


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