I have not seen one of the “newer” engines at all but I gave the old Gimbal power truck and the B end truck to a club member who had been given a Durango GP20 and it went straight in.
I don’t think there would have been much reason for Mantua to have changed the tooling for their latest offerings and a cursory check of images on the net seems to show the same mounting holes… so check it out!
Cheers from Australia
Trevor
I don’t know anything about the “newer” Tyco GP20s, but they might have the “pancake” style motor, you’ll have to check it out. My experience is that the motor you have in it now is better than any of the pancake style motors.
I’ll toss this out there, I have the same Tyco/Mantua as you, as I mentioned in a previous post, and I left it out so when you chimed back in again, it would be an easy reach to help you along. So I have been looking around.
I found if you do a Google search for your model, among the many things that will come up, is links to a Tyco user forum, and in those threads, some interesting reading about the GP20.
Everything, and I do mean everything, is riveted together, as you have found out. Many have cut or ground off the rivets in order to get access to the many parts, and replaced them with small machine bolts, when reassembling, as I mentioned with your question on changing the couplers.
There is another thing I discovered, the chassie of an Athearn GP35 will practically drop in your shell. The only thing stopping it is the two screw lugs, one on each side of the body shell, where the weight screws on. They would have to be completely removed, including the area up inside the shell, so the inside of the shell is smooth.
Of course if you did this, you would then be commited to using the Athearn chassie and drive parts. That would be your call, as you would have to buy the chassie, along with the motor and such, and wouldn’t be able to use your original truck, and motor again. You’ll have to check the auction/sale sights and see whats out there. Typically on Ebay, you can find an Athearn GP35 for $40 or less.
Mike.
Ah, you must mean this type of motor then.
I made two repowered versions of this one. Version 1
And version 2. Much more complicated conversion.
Probably more than what the OP would want to do. The first version fits in the shell except the truck dosen’t swivel far enough for tight curves. The second version wouldn’t fit at all. The first version does fit this little guy.
Bernd
Yep, that’s the motor, and as far as I’m concerned, this motor runs better, with more control, than the pancake motor you replaced.
I guess it’s up to how far the OP wants to go.
Nice work Bernd!
Mike.
Thanks for the kind words Mike.
Actually I screwed up. It’s the second version that fits the shell. That’s why there is a second version. The first didn’t fit. Going to use the first version to build a boxcab engine. The second version gear reduction was so slow I actually had to use a bigger pully on the motor. This engine creeps along pretty slow.
Bernd
My F units had that sort of motor. Didn’t need a sound system, it had an interesting growl to it right out of the box.
–Randy
Found this on Ebay. Purchased a set myself for the work I am doing on my PT motors.