Ernst regear or new motor?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Which would you choose, and why? I have some GP-60s to “deal with”…

2

Aren’t they RTR models, not Blue Box? There should be no reason to regear or repower them. Most issues with RTR are with the pickup/power transfer.

–Randy

3

[quote user=“rrinker”]

Aren’t they RTR models, not Blue Box? There should be no reason to regear or repower them. Most issues with RTR are with the pickup/power transfer.

–Randy

Blue Box…

4

What exactly are you trying to do? Earnst gears have a higher gear ratio, slow the locomotive down at a given motor RPM. I’ve heard they are noisy.

5

I would put a PPW motor in it. The gearing in a BB is pretty good, but I always get rid of the motor. Lower current draw, noise and starting voltage are the reasons why I replace the motor.

6

Another good option for repowering is to use a Kato motor with the newer Athearn Hex-head drive shafts. Ulrich Models has the Kato motors on sale right now, or you could buy direct from Kato (part # 956030 - although it looks like they’re out of stock until December).

If your Blue Box engine isn’t already equipped with the hex driveshafts and the female “cup” sockets for the worm gear, you can get those parts from eBay or any other hobby shop that sells Athearn parts.

7

I totally agree with this as I’ve done it several times. I buy my cups from AThearn parts department directly. I think I’ve also used the Kato cups by drilling them out first. Athearn is selling their genesis motor with hex drives now to do this update.

A key part of the install is that I used heavy duty(for brick siding) double sided tape and stacked it up to make hexes level with cups. REally helps isolate vibration. Of course the normal stuff of upgrading a BB is necessary and been documented several times, including updated/additional lights and NWSL wheels. If I do this changeover I always add Tsunami sound as well while I’ve got it all apart.

Richard

8

They are indeed noisy. I used an Ernst regear set for an Athearn SW-7 (BB) about 30 years ago (and I still run it). It is noisy, but not as much so - now certainly no noisier than a real one, proportionally… The thing is much less of a jackrabbit now, and very smooth at low speeds.