Got the shell off, but needlessly took out the motor mount screws, so that the motor fell out. It is one of the models with the contacts touching a long power strip along each side of the frame.
Ques. I seem to have everthing back in easily and ready for decoder install, but the motor seems to be at a bit of an angle after reinstall. The screws are back in and everything connected, and I cannot seem to wiggle the motor assembly to sit completely level.
Since I never did see it when I took the shell out, is this the proper attitude for the motor in this model? That is, up a little at the rear end? I haven’t tried fitting the shell back on yet.
Thanks. That was a quick post on my way out. More details in edited title and here. It is HO SD40-2.
And I can’t see why there would be an angle to the original mounting. Perhaps I have a bit of flash or something under one motor mount post. But I thought I would ask as I have been fiddling with it for some minutes.
I have 4 of those and that is not correct. The motor is sitting high at the front of the frame. Check the front driveshaft to see if it is installed correctly. Also, remove both screws and get the motor to sit level then install and alternately tighten each one to draw the motor evenly down on the frame.
Got it in now. You know how it is, perhaps. I didn’t want to force it, but because of my silliness/carelessness I wasn’t able to see how it was orginally. And a quick ans. from someone like you with experience is the fastest solution.
No problem. That design has some minor concerns. The bar which brings power up to the light board needs to securely contact the long strips which run down the frame. Bending the foot of the bar slightly will help make a better contact. The thin bar which runs from the board down to the motor may need to be soldered to the board.
That will take care of most concerns but some times you need to run a wire from the board down to each truck. Here is a link http://www.dufordmodelworks.com/katohardwire.html to the hard wire procedure. Of the four I own, only one needed this done.
These Kato SD40-2s and my SD45s are probably the best running units I have.
Just use care when reassembling. It is quite easy to distort those bronze PU strips. They will easily fall out of the locating pins of the walkway on disassembly, but can get bent, jammed or distorted when dropping on the walk/ shell. Damaged one once and had a tough time reshaping to gain the solid pickup. Some will solder PU wires to the trucks to eliminate them all together.
Thanks, Gentlemen. Yes, photos. Absolutely. I always do this. Only this time before I could even take a photo, I lifted off the shell and the motor assembly lifted right off inside the shell too. Silly me. I would have been ok even with the screws out except for the friction that caused the motor to lift out of place.
But to my point in this post, the notion of the poor contacts with the strips mentioned above. Absolutely correct! The darn thing would not run properly on testing after the decoder install. I didn’t expect this because my other KATO SD40-2 is a newer model and all my Atlas Katos are good as is.
So yes, anyone with one of these, I would suggest immediately soldering some proper wires onto the pickups.
