As I’ve mentioned in the post “Athearn Blue Box SD40-2: is it Worth it?”, I am attempting the HO equivalent to a heart transplant. My ancient, tried-and-true beast, a veteran Blue Box SD40-2 for Conrail, has started to show its age. While many problems still existed, my cash-strapped road set them aside. Now the old orginal motor is finally burning out, and I don’t want to be done with it yet, since replacements will be not easy to find and hardly fill the precedent left by this poor locomotive. My question is, after searching the Athearn website, where in the world can I get a new, more efficient motor to replace the old one? Please give me a little help here. I’m kind of looking to keep this thing running freight, not collecting dust.
Hi!
I am not an expert on this, but do have some experience… Northwest sells can motors that could be used as a replacement, but I seriously doubt if there is a “drop in” replacement.
Your best bet might be picking up a used loco/motor on Ebay.
But I have to ask, what exactly is wrong with the old motor? Typically these last “forever”, with perhaps a good cleaning/oiling and brush replacement needed at some intervals.
Athearn motors were not state of the art, but they were built to last and typically outlasted the loco body and running gear. So maybe yours can be refurbished…
Have to add… if the loco is truly “done for”, perhaps your best bet is to set it on the scrap track and look for a new/used one…
You can try a repower kit from A-Line http://www.ppw-aline.com/re-power.htm . Another possibility is a remotor the model with parts from a used locomotive. Motors from Kato or Atlas diesels make good substitutes; I recently remotored an Athearn SD40-2 using the motor from a used Kato GP35, which was cheaper than purchasing one of the A-Line kits. It did require cutting away part of the Athearn frame so I could screw in the Kato motor mount, but using any of the available repowering options may necessitate modifications to the frame (I usually use a Dremel tool for this). I also had to modify the stock universals a bit to fit on the Kato flywheels. The remotored Athearn unit now runs smoother and quieter than my Kato SD40-2s.
In response to mobileman44’s comment on what was wrong with the motor, the motor has gone from half decent ancient can to belongs in a scrap heap. Its actual performance has gone below par, and it wasn’t the greatest to begin with: its 1980s, and spent a few years in a waterlogged cardboard box in a damp crawlspace. It hadn’t seen the light of day after it was stored until I got ahold of it in 2008. I got lucky it lasted this long. In response to the other post, yes, I am currently looking at an eBay piece that was pulled from a current run AC4400. It is supposed to fit in any chassis that can take a 3 inch motor.
B30, while they are not drop in, take a look at Hump Motors.
http://www.alliancelocomotiveproducts.com/
I installed one in a BB F7 A. Hard part was grinding out the frame, you may not have to on yours, but I did on the F7.
Runs well, but not real quite. I used screw in motor mounts and screws where a tad to long so the motor is not as tight as it could be. With rubber mounts, I bet it would be quieter.
Cuda Ken
Their ‘complete kit’ versions are as close to a drop-in as you’re goign to get. They have moutng pads the press into the stock Athearn holes, plus already have flywheels fitted with mating couplings to attach the Athearn drive shafts. Some grinding is necessary with a Dremel for clearance.
Many locos on the layout at the old club I used to belong to were repowered with the Helix Humper motors, as they were originally made by a local gentleman who subsequently passed on and the business was purchased by Alliance. Still the same products.
–Randy
I took the simple approach with a 70’s era Athearn SD45. I removed the old black ring magnet motor and installed a new Athearn motor in it’s place. Perfect drop in replacement. The SD45 chassis is now the chassis of my Rivarossi/Athearn U25C.
Two things. First, what is the matter with your existing motor? The only “wear” item in electric motors are the brushes. And they last a long time. I don’t remember ever having to replace them. Was it me, I’d pull the motor out of the locomotive, blow or vacuum crud out of it, inspect it for magnetic crud sticking to the magnet, give each bearing the tiniest drop of oil, and clean the commutator. Then run the motor by itself (no load) and see what we have. A good motor will spin right up, whir happily, stay nice and cool, and not shake. It should have enough torque to make it hard to stop by grabbing the drive shaft with your fingers.
Given that she runs, about the only other problem can be low torque, the motor runs smoothly, but it doesn’t have enough torque to pull the train. Low torque can come about from a weak permanent magnet. This can be fixed be replacing the magnet with a rare earth supermagnet. I recently revived an ancient PFM brass steamer just this way.
The other failure mode is shorted armature windings. The wire is just insul
Thanks to all of the suggestions. I am, in fact, going to replace the motor completely, because as I said in an earlier post, the egnine was mothballed in a damp crawlspace and the box it was in had water damage, and the motor ended up rusting. Low torque may be a problem, but the kicker on that is the 40-2 pulls the heaviest train on my layout, up a 2% grade, and does not stall. My newer Bachmann Plus SD45 from '94 has a better, higher powered motor, and even at near electrical stall speeds, doesn’t move an inch. So in the end, I’m going to take jeffery-wimberly’s advice and just yank the motor and drop in an Athearn factory unit, the one that came out of a cannibalized AC4400 from Athearn that I found on eBay, combined with the actual rubber mounts for the old motor. The newer one comes with screws, but I’m trying to keep scrapping to a minimum, so I’ll try the old rubbers first, and then use the screws. Thanks to all the other suggestions.