I am having some major assembly issues with a Proto 2000 gp7/gp9. To be fare, I did cut down the front nose and did some minor modification. But the back hood is unchanged, as well as the insides. As you could imagine, this engine was bought new and unlettered as well as tightly assembled, however upon re-installing the newly painted rear hood, it wouldn’t slip over the logic board. Nothing changed, however it doesn’t seem to re-assemble.
I’m wondering if there is at least any opinion on proto 2000 when it comes to assembly or disassembly.
Thanks! 
The long hood should slide on and clear the ‘light board’. Are you sure the frame is aligned correctly? I usually cut off the light board, and ‘hard wire’ DCC decoders as the diodes on the light boards seem to start leaking and the front/rear light begin to fail. I also take the opportunity to replace the lights with LED’s.
Jim
All mine have DCC decoders and LEDs in them, and any mods I made are on the outside, but if the light bulbs get poked out past the edhe fo the metal weights, they will interfere witht he plastic light pipes inside the shell. And make sure the black plastic caps that go over the bulb channel in the weights are pressed in all the way, if you removed them.
–Randy
Hi,
Most of mine after being diassembled & painted (after long periods of time), will actually & naturally bow in a little on the sides. There are also captive mechanizms molded into the cab & frame areas.
I usually attach the hoods, & cab, to the frame & make one shell unit.
Then kind of stretch all that over the weight & electronic section, & then just before trying to seat it, try gliding it fore & aft & a little up & down, to help find the ‘guides’ to pop it into the seated position.
Hope that helps.
Mine is reallly slow i dont like how it runs had problem with my shell like you but figured it out i am wondering how i can speed up this loco or just leave it as is i have to have it on like half throttle to move it it takes about 1 minute 45 seconds to go around my 6 x 10 layout on 60 speed setting
Keith,
Is it an older one with a massive Diode array & large incandescent filament bulbs?
If so that can reduce your running (motor voltage) severely.
Als, I forgot to mention, if the OP’s original unit has the High Hood Weight installed, that would need to be cut down. A test would be to snap on the new Short hood to the walkway deck & test fit it.
That will give you another indication of what many need to be done.
I have Milled down Nose Weights before & to me it is common, & I often over-look that when in conversation.
yes it is a older one i like the roadname so i want to keep it was thinking of cleaning the gears out and reoiling see if it helps
Keith,
Yes that is recommended, if I could go back to all the P2K’s I have Cleaned, & Saved what came out of them, I may have an interesting 40 foot Gondala load for everyone to see… Ha hah…
Yeah, get that dried peanut butter out of her, & check for any cracked gears; & easy to move - spinny wheels, that are out of gauge…
It may be resistant to the gear mesh if the Axle Gears are cracked, & if the Diode array is already dropping your start-up power (voltage), -the cracked or stuck gears will only retard the performance even more.
By cleaning the Drive Train, one can really improve performance, I proved this to myself, with a Proto PA2 earlier this spring. It had a lot of ‘junk in the trucks’ -so to speak…
Let us know how that goes!
To the OP, sorry to sideline your post, please let Us know how your shell on chassis, issues are going.
I was able to fit it after lots of work. It turned out that there was a good deal of plastic flashing under the shell. I filed that off and it fit like a dream. Of course, I forgot about installing the front LED into the prism, so it has to come off again!! haha!