It says it’s for Athearn 4 and 6-axle diesels. I’ve got a couple of very old Blue-Box F7’s. One is probably 15-20 years old, and the other is around 50. (Yes, fifty.) These are up and running with decoders, but they are both very noisy engines.
So, for those of you with experience in this stuff, I’ve got a couple of questions:
Will this re-motor kit work, or is it designed for newer “old” engines than the relics I’ve got.
Will motor replacement significantly quiet these engines? Or, is most of the noise from the gears anyway, so that the motor noise is only a small component?
Thanks. I was thinking of putting sound into these, or perhaps into the dummy B unit, but that’s not going to be as effective if the mechanical noise is enough to drown it out.
That type of remotor kit worked well in some old BB (post 1970) Athearn locos I rebuilt for a friend some time back. I don’t know how much different the really old BB’s like yours are though. I’ve found that on my old Athearn’s most of the noise comes from gears and the clunky drive shafts that were used. On models that I converted to the new hex drive the noise went down dramatically.
The motor is usually very quiet. The gears make the noise. On my Athearn F units I took the drive all apart, removed any flash, and wiped each tooth of each gear with a pipe cleaner. The pipe cleaner picked up tiny bits of black plastic off the gears. When reassembled the locomotives were much quieter.
Keep in mind that the motor and flywheels are 18mm wide…most Athearn hood units (save the GP9 and 45) have 18mm hoods. I would go for a smaller diameter motor/flywheel combination.
Personally, I use Kato motors with flywheels. They come cheaply and run very well.
As you know those old F7s uses the same frames as todays so here is my thoughts.
A motor that dates back to the 60s I would replace with either a newer Athearn or Genesis motor and I would upgrade to the hex drive line as well.Then in order to cut down on the shell chatter I would add stick on weights to the inside top of the shell.
Why not just replace the whole F unit mechanism? For roughly the price of that A-Line motor, which is a good motor all in itself, you can buy an Athearn Genesis F unit power mechanism.
If your GP40 looks like this, http://www.hoseeker.org/assemblyexplosionAtlas/Assembly%20Explosions%20Atlas%20EMD%20GP-38%2040%20pg1.jpg , then it is similar. I think that the difference is that the Atlas universal has a fixed length universal joint, where the Micro-Mark offering has a ball which locks into a socket on the loose end that is allowed to slide on the square shaft. I have a couple of the old Hobbytown drive shaft kits that are similar to the MicroMark item.
Whether it is an improvement over the Athearn original drive (not the new hex drive) I can’t say right now, since I haven’t installed the MM universal kits I purchased, but my initial impression is that anything that will replace all the sliding shafts and flopping universals of the older Athearn drives can’t be all bad.
I have repowered at least 20 Athearn 4 & 6 axle diesels with the A-Line kit. They definitely improve the performance of the engine and will operate together well. I also add nickel-silver wheels in place of the stock iron wheels for more reliable power pickup. The wheels also stay cleaner. Also make sure that you wire the trucks directly to the new motor,(the parts should be included in the repowering kit). A-Line has 3 different Athearn repowering kits; switchers, small or 4-axles, & large or 6-axles. I have used only the large version in all of my 4 or 6-axles without any unusual problems. I believe A-Line also makes driveshaft kits that use the Athearn sockets, you just trim the spline shaft to length. I have never found the geartrain noise to be objectionable, just make sure that the motor or flywheels aren’t touching the shell. And after running an engine for awhile, they will quiet down.Also go to A-Line’s web site for all of their repowering options. I have found even if my first,(or 2nd or 3rd),attempt isn’t successful, eventually something will work. Good luck and good modeling.
I’d look at the one for short-wheelbase locomotives instead if you’re going to drop a newer motor into those F’s without replacing the whole chassis. http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/116-90321
The one you listed will work, but there’s not much clearance past the ends of the flywheels, so it makes the universal joints a bit on the tight side…bad juju. (Personal Experience)
Personally, I wouldn’t bother with putting a Genesis mechanism under a Blue Box shell unless you REALLY want to…it’s kinda like putting a 645 diesel prime mover into a Plymouth critter. [:D]
If your going to spend $40 replacing all the guts, then you might as well get a brand new Athearn RTR F7 ? I’m slowly replacing mine with Genesis units,but I still have some and I like them.
You mean Ready To Rebuild? I have 5 of the Athearn RTR locos and I’ve had to rebuild 4 of them just to get them to run properly. 2 had truck problems, 3 had motor problems, 2 bad light boards, poor solder joints all around. Be ready to do some work on them.
just curious, what kind of loco’s where they,F7’s, Geeps,etc? I’ve had two sets of F7AB’s and they have run fine.However, I am replacing them with Genesis units for obvious reasons.
2 F7’s, 1 AC4400, 1 SD40. AC4400 and SD40 had truck problems, bad light board (AC4400) bad motors and bad soldering. On the F7’s one had a bad motor. The other had a good motor but had bad soldering and a bad light board. The only loco that didn’t have any problems was a GP35.
