Lima DMU lowering

[cheesysmith]

I have some lima DMU 117 chassis that need lowering to fit my cut and shuts I am building. How much do they need lowering by and how have different people done them?

[John Tomlinson]

If the bogies are the same as the  101, you might start by looking at fitting brass cup bearings, to get the axles in line with the axle boxes, otherwise the bogie frames sit too low relative to the axles. That will at least show you how much you need to drop the body by to get the buffers at around 14mm above rail level.

 

On my 101's I cut the circular mounting tower on the bogie and glued it back together again after removing a section. This isn't a good method, as the plastic is very tough and doesn't glue well. I have seen on here a method (Brian Kirby) that involves cutting and raising the part of the floorpan in which the bogie clips, which seems to me a better idea, although I haven't done it myself.

 

John.

[ISW]

7 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

I have seen on here a method (Brian Kirby) that involves cutting and raising the part of the floorpan in which the bogie clips, which seems to me a better idea, although I haven't done it myself.

That's the method I used to retrofit some Commonwealth bogies to my Lima Mk1 buffet cars. I've done 5 carriages to date and it works quite well.

 

I also own a Lima Class 117 and so would also be interested to hear about the required modification. I'm not sure if the 'raised floor' modification fouls on the interior moulding. It didn't on the Lima Buffet, so I'd expect it to work on the Class 117 as well.

 

The only modifications I've made to my Class 117 have been to fit Kadee couplers, repaint the interior, re-motor with a CD-ROM motor, convert to DCC, and install flush glazing throughout (from SE Finecast).

 

Ian

[Il Grifone]

Mine is still to be done....

The motor bogie has two lateral lugs which support the body and rotates in a cut out in the floor, which also transmits the motion to the car. As it hides in the guard's compartment raising the floor should not be a problem. The other bogies pivot on flat topped columns. These need to be modified as above or a hole cut in the floor to lower the body.

The wheels are Lima's usual H0 metre diameter - conveniently this resolves to 11.5mm. These can be replaced or the wheels can be assumed to have worn slightly and left alone. The axles are 2mm diameter so can be fitted with 00 wheels, if it is desired to replace them. The non-insulated wheel is however rather reluctant to shift on the axle.

The buffers require replacement and close coupling would be advisable. I'd use a wire link as a semi permanent coupling.

The sets usually ran as Bk/2nd and full 2nd, with or without a 1st/3rd centre car. Modification of the dummy to produce the 2nd is possible, but I'm not sure whether its worthwhile.

I did find this (sorry it's another forum  ).

 

https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/forum/lima-dmu-refurbishment/?p=1

Edited October 2, 2020 by Il Grifone