List anything that can be used to upgrade Athearn RTR locomotives. Motors, gears, shafts, worm gears, axles, wheels, and anything that makes the locomotive smoother and quieter. Be sure to include manufacturer and part number. The specific locomotives i’m using are NS SD40-2’s, SD45’s, and SD60’s. Thanks[C):-)] -Outlaw
This may be of some help for one or two of those loco’s, new products from Athearn:
http://www.athearn.com/Search/Default.aspx?SearchTerm=athg63839
From what understand, the running characteristics are mainly due to the motors from what I understand. Gears sometimes need a bit “run in” but are usually ok.
I have found most of the SD45’s I gotten so far run very well, a couple of them literally remind me of KATO’s - a couple of Athearn RTR D&RGW SD45’s. Most of my tunnel motors run very well too so far. I haven’t run all of those I have bought yet, which is quite a few.
I assume you are talking about Blue Box Athearn, or their modern RTR form, not the high end Genesis. On the blue box locomotives most of the noise comes from the drive train, U-joints, gear towers, flywheels. Make sure nothing (flywheels especially) is rubbing on the shell. Remove any flash from the U-joints. Make sure the motor is mounted level with the chassis. Sometimes the motor isn’t mounted right and is cocked up at an angle, which makes the U-joints run noisy. Take the gear towers apart and clean them carefully. Often tiny bits of flash are left inside the gear towers and run thru the gear teeth which makes noise. Wipe each tooth of each gear with a pipecleaner. When you are done you will find some flecks of black plastic flash on the pipecleaner. On reassembly, the plastic gears are so slippery that they don’t really need lube, so go easy on the grease. As a final step you can hard wire the electrical pickup. Hardwares stores carry “1/4 inch Faston” terminal lugs which slip neatly over the electrical strip coming up from the trucks and allow a future disassembly without using a soldering iron. You can solder to the top strip, but it takes determination, clean exremely well, use rosin flux, use a lot of heat, remove strip from motor to avoid melting plastic things.
Easy … Put Kato chassis under them !
Mark.
Athearns can be loud because your roadbed and/or subroad bed may intensify the noise. You might need something to absorb thevibrations and cut down on the noise transmitted through your roadbed and/or subroadbed. The plastic road bed on EZ tracks or similar products causes a lot if noise.
So what do you do with the KATO shell? Put it on the blue box drive? [:D]
You can get the nickel silver wheel sets complate with new truck gears from Athearn.On the 6 axle units I usy=ually leave the sintered wheels in the center location to help with traction as the NS wheels are a bit slippery.
Another thing to check, especially if the BB unit in question is an older one: The condition of the motor mounts. I have purchased older BB units for use in bashing projects and at times have found that the mounts have gotten so brittle from age or otherwise need to be replaced. (84020 are the white ones and 84026 & 84027 are the new black [screw-mount] motor mounts and screws. These are the ones for the road engines like you are describing. I haven’t tried the new black ones yet as the white ones are OEM for the units I work with.) These mounts also cushion the motor somewhat to reduce some of the noise from the drive.
TrAckr76,
[#welcome] To The Forums.
Here’s a 24 minute You Tube Video to watch about tuning up Athearns and more reliable pick-up. You will find more to view on the right side of video. I had wanted to give You the NMRA pub. for Athearn tune up, but for some reason, it won’t come up from their site:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFxTNI-HILc
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
It appears from the original post, Outlaw needs help with RTR Athearn engines - by what he says. It seems most of the replys are chiming in with examples on how to quiet Athearn blue box loco’s - but that may not help the OP if you get my drift. The examples given at the end of his post re-inforce the notion - the OP needs help with RTR Athearn loco’s, some of which have been reported to be noisy. Yes, the RTR line may be based on the blue box chassis, but significantly upgraded so take that into account - they are not stock blue box kit diesels apparently.
The link I gave is for RTR, along with the other Video’s in the link. Also BB’s. A lot of times…in this case more is better.
Take Care!
Frank