I am building Grants Hon3 boxcabs. I have a powered unit and a dummy unit. I just started it. The motor that came with it is a small thin box with the armature showing. Do these motors work Ok? I will be setting this up for dcc. The decoder will go in the dummy unit and am going to make them permantley attached with a draw bar or something. Has anybody done this. Malcolm Furlow did this setup for his San Juan Central project railroad. He said it work well even with power pickup from only the power unit.
I would not use this motor. I’ve built the 25-ton.
Wolfgang
I’ve built 2 using this motor and was pretty happy with the performance. The main thing I didn’t like was that each had a bit of a wobble due to the wheelsets not being right. I have since sold them as HOn3 is a bit too small for me!
They are fun kits to build. Good luck!
I have one of the boxcabs and it runs OK on DC. The motor is powerful enough with the gearing to pull a load of 1 to 3 cars on a level track. There is a lot of gear noise with this loco. The loco is very light and I had to stuff it with weight to get it to pull a load and to improve electrical pickup. It is very finicky about clean wheels and track. Since you are going to be coupling it together with a dummy unit I would wire it for pickup also. This should improve your running characteristics. I think that I would also add some weight to the dummy along with the decoder. All in all I think it’s a fun little loco.
Joe
I have one of the 25-Tons, which uses the same motor and gearing as the boxcab. It screams at full speed, but it’s a good runner. The motor has enough torque and runs smoothly, but it’s not like a top-quality can motor. It’s fine for DCC.
The Grandt Line kits don’t include weights, so you’ll have to come up with your own. This will fortunately be easier with the boxcab.
If any of the wheels are out of round (one was on mine), Intermountain 33" freight car wheels (insulated side) can be pulled off their axles and used on the Grandt Line axles very easily. Mine had a bad wobble with that one wheel, but after taking a couple minutes to switch it out and get it in gauge, that little 25-Ton is a very smooth runner.[:D]
Hi Jack
The noise from the Grandt drive system is quite noticeable. I have only run mine on a test track and it seems to run OK but the noise factor has made me put off further work until I can afford a quieter drive.
Hollywood Foundry is one possible source for a new drive system. I believe this is what Wolfgang used in his Grandt Line 25 ton shown in his post above:
http://www.hollywoodfoundry.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=10&cat=BullAnt+Drive+Mechanisms
You could also use the drive system from an older Bacmann Spectrum 44 ton switcher. The older model has a motor mounted into each truck so the trucks will run by themselves. There is a small problem with fit in that the Bachmann truck wheelbase is slightly longer then the Grandt wheelbase but that could be dealt with by modifying the Grandt sideframes. If you are buying off eBay etc. make sure you are getting the older model switcher with two motors. Some sellers may not know the difference.
EDIT: Sorry, after posting my comment I realized that you were working in HOn3. Obviously the Bachmann truck won’t suit your needs.
Have fun with your project.
Dave