athearn sd40-2 loco’s origional motor. is it a good idea to replace the athearn motor with the proto power west motor? i find the proto power motor more smooth running. i will also need digitrax chip installed. will that cause a problem? all comments will b welcome and encouraged.
The PPW repower kit give a BIG improvent - as does their completed chassis.
The power consumption is half that of most Athearn’s and runs at a more realistic speed. PPW’s rewiring also makes DCC simpler.
The Helix Humper looks similar but takes more surrent to run, since it’s higher RPM, and has less torque for smooth start’s and stops.
Dean,
Don gave you great info. Go for it!
The only additional info I can provide is that the motor on the Proto Power West kit is made by Mashima. Excellent for quiet running and pulling power.
You won’t be able to use the motor mounts that come on the Athearn. A trick I learned from a friend is to use double-sided tape. (Carpet Tape works well). It’s a good mount and it insulates the new motor from the chassis.
10-4!
PPW also offers a double sided mounting tape that works very good.
It is much stronger than carpet tape.
If I’m not mistaken I think they also offer a cradle that will fit right in the fuel tank and wrap around the motor which will provide twice as much surface for the tape to stick to giving you a more secure mount.
PPW motors and mounting kits are very high quality and offer much improvement to an already great product.
Good luck,
gtirr
GTIRR,
Thanks for the heads up on that tape. A friend of mine also suggested that instead of just repowering my units that I use the cradles as well as this helps with increased momentum and pulling power.
10-4!
Be sure to check ebay. Last I looked, there were some for auction.
These are excellent kits! I’ve used them in an Athearn SD-7, SW-7 and GP-50. What difference in noise, smoothness, and control. [^][^][^]
The cradles are a nice touch, make the install much easier. If you are doing an SW-7, I HIGHLY recommend getting the pre-prepped frame from PPW. PPW does all of the grinding and whatnot that needs to be done to the SW frame so the motor and flywheel fits. Well worth the expense.[tup]
I’ve never been able to find the complete chassis (can be ordered) to see how they are, but, knowing how PPW’s other “stuff” is, I’m sure it’s A-1.
Complete Chassis:RTR
I’ve repowered all my blue box Athearns this way and am generally happy with the results. I like the cradle weights because they make a nice level mount for the motor and add some weight. Double-sided tape works great. I also use double sided tape to mount my decoders right on top of the motor. I usually use a Digitrax DH-163AO and hard wire the connections.
The RTR chassis are good, too. I used one to power an Athearn SD40-2 shell I had and it runs as good as my Katos.