I have this Kato HO-scale SD40-2 that I purchased off eBay a few years ago, NIB - never even tried to operate it. [I just verified that all the handrails and other detail pieces were there.] And I’m not currently in a position to test it on my layout.
I’ve heard alot of bad press about this particular Kato model, that it’s like the “black sheep of the Kato family” and that massive retooling of the chassis is required to fix it. What I want to know is:
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What exactly are the problems with it, and
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Would I be able to cannibalize a chassis from one of my surplus SD38-2’s to put under the SD40-2 if necessary?
Thanx in advance…
Um, well, it’s one of the best operating locomotives I have on my layout, I’d think a change would be for the worse and not the better, personally. It is out-pulled by my Atlas Dash-8, and an older Atlas/Kato RS2, but it’s also the most quiet and by far the smoothest locomotive I run.
Greg
Well, I haven’t heard that much bad press, but the CP model had a major font issue…there is a more general problem on at least some of the models, can’t quite recall exactly what it was, but it was something to do with the electrical connections from truck to motor that could be fixed by putting in a couple wires.
As Matthew alludes to above, the issue is one of electrical conduction. If it runs well, leave it alone. If it does not, solder very fine wires between each side of each truck and the circuit board. If you open up one of your SD38-2 units, you will see where the wires need to go, as Kato put them in after the SD40-2 fiasco.
There were only 2 issues concerning the running ability of the SD40-2 that I know of and both are pretty easy fixes.
The first already mentioned is the electrical connection from the trucks. Kato tried a friction connection presumably to save assembly costs by eliminating the soldered wire connections to circuit board from the truck. If you have a intermitent loss of power or are going to add a DCC decoder I recommend adding the 4 wires from the trucks to the circuit board.
The 2nd is not as common and usually shows up only if you have rough track. The truck clips are a bit tight and this can constrict the up-down movement of the trucks causing which ever truck is leading to jump the track. To fix this just pop off the truck clip and file or sand down the little ears that contact the bolster a bit.
During the productions runs the loco has had both yellow and blue-white LEDs. You might want to change them if you have the earlier yellow ones. The later ones can be tinted using a little bit of yellow food coloring added to a few drops of Microscale’s Kristal Kleer. you’ll have to experiment a little to find the right amount to paint on the LED. This also works good for making red marker lenses (red food color).
I had three of them before I switched to N scale and not one of them gave me a single issue. I didn’t even realize there were issues with them.
Thanx everyone! [:)] So there’s hope after all; I just remembered somebody posting a while back that he ‘deeply regretted’ getting Kato units and wished he had gone with Athearn.
So it appears that what I need to do is (1) pop the shell off the SD40-2, (2) open up the spare SD38-2 as a “reference” to see where the wires need to go, and (3) do the work.
Muchos gracias again!
I have 4 of the SD40-2s and really like them. They are among the best looking and running engines I own. I know of 3 potential problems and all are easy to fix.
When I first got mine, occasionally the lead truck would derail entering a curve. What I found out was on the truck side frames a tiny bit of detail that represents a link or lever sticks straight up. This catches on the frame when the truck turns. Once I trimmed it I never had another derailment.
At one time Kato issued a bulletin concerning a loss of power. Oddly the bulletin has been removed from their website. It was to correct a loss of electrical contact between the circuit board and the motor. The fix was to bend the motor lead down around the circuit board. While I was not having any electrical trouble, I went ahead and did this anyway.
I have not yet had to run any jumper wires down to the trucks, but it is a simple procedure to do if necessary.
Hope this helps,
Jim