Boiler fitment

Hi I took a concious decision early in the foden build not to fit the boiler till it was fully assembled as I had no crane to lift it in and I would slide it in throught the front. With the last kit ariving and containing many parts needed to get the boiler nearly together I pressed on fitted the gears and decicded that the time had come to fit the assembly. The brake pipes and all other bit which were in the way were removed along with the flywheel and the boiler slid in. I found that the steering box was in the way made it a bit tight so this was also removed. Looking at the tight squeese I also removed the large 3 gear cluster as Steve said that they could be fitted with the boiler in the chassis. Great the boiler is in and the mounting brackets all fitted, time to reassemble the grears ( drop them in slide them up and put the shaft onto the hornplates Steves words not mine). Sorry but the gears wont go in as the crank is in the way. Remove the engine mounting bracket in the middle slide in from the side and couple the gear cluster up , refit the mounting bracket. Job done. Refit the steering box not as easy as it sounds after removing the middle bolier support bracket. Ok so at last all is well. Not so the flywheel will not go on as the steering column is in the way only thing to do take out the steering box (again). Well this time it will stay out till I get the water pump gear and get all the water pump eccentrics connected up as its impossible to get the eccentric onto the shaft with the steering box. The moral wait untill someone else has had a go and found the problems and just hope some one will put it on the forum. By the way Steve has been informed for future referance. Mike

My boiler is already fitted to the chassis but even though I haven't fitted the grears or pump yet I have realised that there would be a problem, particularly with the water pump as the steering box is in the way of the eccentric shaft. I plan to remove the brakes pipes and re-route around the back of the steering box to get them away from the pump. I also plan to remove the steering box before fitting the pump and probably not fit it back into position to after I am sure the water pump is working okay. I have already removed the steering rod from the box which only took about 10 minutes. If you disconnect the steering mechanism and remove the steering wheel you can drop the rod through the bottom of the box while the chassis is on its wheels and on the ground, there is just enough room.

As I haven't got a cylinder block yet it may be a while before I can get around to fitting gears etc but at least I can follow you lead which should save a lot time trying to work out how to fit it all. Steve did originally say that the boiler would have to out of the chassis to fit the gears and water water pump but then he thought it could be done with the boiler mounted so he is nearly right but least it doesn't mean having to take the boiler out of the chassis. Also for future maintenance these parts can be removed without having to take the boiler out.