Okay, call me a skinflint but I still like to run Athearn engines. They can be purchased cheap, made to run on DCC BUT:
Does anyone have an easy way to get rid of the Athearn growl?
Thanks.
I was reading that if you put “Pearl Drops” toothpaste on the gears and run the engine for an hour it will burni***he gears to take a lot of the noise away…I run nothing but Athearn locomotives also but the growl doesn’t bother me…I just turn up the volume on the sound system it it gets too me too badly…also since i run nothing but athearn locomotives, i really don’t notice the noise anyway…chuck
YES. REPLACE the motor.
I always beleived that the growl was the trucks- used to do the pearl drops, wheelsets,etc., but the majority of the noise is from the cheap motor. Repowering w/ a Mashima, Sugami etc. is the best way. I was able to get Athearns to run almost like a Kato but the expense comes close to buying the better loco in the first place.
Bob K.
toothpaste on the gears? I think the Athearn motors are great. My only objection is if you start a heavy load it takes a lot of throttle to get it started and then it takes offf a little fast. But if I ever need a new motor I will certainly use something like a Mashima repowering kit. I like the sound of a well-worn B-B, but it would be nice if they were quiter but it doesn’t bother me at all[;)]
Maybe because I’m getting old and value teen memories. I’ve always had a soft spot for older blue box engines and enjoyed the Athearn growl. Or maybe because they have a hint of clapped out EMD prime movers and I think of it as a sound system for free.
I look at it this way. A $30 engine runs like a $30 engine. Beyond lapping the gears with paste, I would hesitate to upgrade the motor and gear box. By the time I’m done, I’ve spent in time an money what could of financed a smooth running Genesis or Kato. You also spoil the blue box tradition. Simplicity and proven design.
They growl? I love my Athearn engines and have never noticed a growl.
I repowered my GP-35 with the PPW / A-Line kit. http://www.ppw-aline.com/re-power.htm The Mashima kit works much better in this application. Prior to the upgrade I could not stand running it. I use the Sagami round can motors in steam engines but I use PPW for the diesels. This kit comes with a lead engine cradle to replace the plastic mounts. The flywheels are balanced more precisely. Another thing to check is your endplay in your worm shaft. You may need a extra washer. Make sure the worm shaft bearings are tight in the trucks, a drop of solder filed down works well. I use Labelle grease in the trucks, as this seems to help dampen noise also. Finish it up with some 40” nickel-silver replacement wheels from NWSL.
Jim
John Munson developed the first geared drive for the Athearn diesels. When the first SD9 came out, he built up a number of them for his friends to test. I was delighted to get one of these engines. One of the things he did back in those days was to install ball bearings on the motor shaft and use thin shim stock on the inside of the gear. I still have my SD9 and run it. The engine its very quiet even today.
Oh come on now, thats is what an Athearn engine is suppose to sound like. If ya want a different sound get a sound system!!! Kevin
I never notice a growl from my Athearns loco’s But my sound system may be covering it up
I JUST TURN MY STEREO UP SO LOUD I CAN’T HEAR THE GROWL!!![;)]
Sure do. Some aren’t too bad but they all growl. It’s a combination of the gears and the U-joints on the driveshafts. The new Athearn RTRs use different shafts so the growl is almost gone.
My Athearn locos growl just like REAL diesels[:D][8D]! I don’t need to pay big $$$ for a sound system.
I always considered the Athearn growl to be a poor man’s sound system.
Those Athearns may growl, but I am confident they will still be running in 20 years when my son builds a layout for my grandson.
The growl can be gotten rid of in different ways. In the DASH 9 and other diesels with SD40-2 trucks, all you have to do is make the 3-piece shafts not vibrate. I stuffed 1/2 inch squares of Kleenex in mine and it worked perfectly.
If it’s the gears growling, you can do the Pearl Drops toothpaste method, which I’ve never tried. On 4 axle diesels you can give them P2K trucks because the P2K trucks are copies of Athearns.[:D]
OLDER ATHEARN BB engine’s chief source of vibration is the armature. One can mount the armature on 2 razor blades to re-balance it; or One can change the resonance by adding weight to the shell, stuffing kleenex in the cavity - or in your ears for that matter - but PPW’s motors (with shafts and flywheels) get rid of most of the problem.
You also get diesels that no longer ‘jack rabbit’ start and stop, and now will operate at like real RR engine’s are supposed to.
To clarify, Pearl Drops is a tooth POLISH. It has a very fine abrasive added to the regular tooth paste, supposedly to help remove stains better than regular tooth paste.
It’s this abrasive that helps take the “edge” off the gears, which has been blamed for the growl you’re talking about.
VERY IMPORTANT!!
To complete the instructions: only leave the polish in for a short time, then clean it out completely and lubricate with grease and oil, as usual.
This Growl that everyone is talking about is new one on me. I have used the old blue box athearn engines for years before upgrading to the more expeniseve engines for their DCC purposes. I still have about a dozen that I plan to keep in tip top shape. In fact the only problems I have ever had with an athearn engines was the more costly SD75 ATSF Genises units I bought. They did not growl but they would find every imperfection in the track and derail at every inch they traveled. Every other engine I had would run just fine on the same track! After truck swaps and replacements I tore the units apart and used them for spare parts on other projects.
Replace the wheels with the NWSL kits and add some weight, this will quiet them down allot. Check for dry bearings to on the motor, and do check the end play on the shafts.
I have 4 older BB GP35’s that I did all the above to and they run almost as quiet as my P2K’s.