A few years back NWSL 20X32 became unavailable and my supply was running low so I started looking around to see what I could use to replace them if needed mostly as replacements for old “open frame” motors. Well, after checking several brands including OMI motors I stumbled on Kato motors. Their torque and RPM ratings were almost identical but the big difference was they were “available” and they were fairly inexpensive, both major factors considering I had quite a lot of them to do. I have now used them in just about everything including older Tenshodo and Gem Big Boys with no loss of power and a marked improvement in performance.
This brings me to something I just ran across in the Kato website as I was going to order some more of them.
If you go to their website, WWW.KATOUSA.COM , click on HO and then accessories you will find their HM-5 motor listed for $19.95 “retail”, your dealer can order these so it is possible to get them even cheaper if he’ll cut you a discount on them.
They also have listed right below the motors their ASF and Barber S-2 freight car trucks for $4.98 and $5.98 respectively, again your dealer can order these for you from Kato. These are probably some of the best trucks available in HO and are far superior to most others.
I also looked for some items under parts and found “axle gears”, can be used to replace the bad Proto gears and well as complete axle sets, again very reasonably priced.
I just bought a set of the Kato ASF trucks. I agree they are nice. By the way NWSL is slowly re-doing their motors. I bought the new 20x32 motor for my Intermountain AC12 and it is rated at 3.54 oz/1n of torque. That is about 3 times more powerful than a comparable motor. The Kato motor is about $10 cheaper.
A few years back NWSL 20X32 became unavailable and my supply was running low so I started looking around to see what I could use to replace them if needed mostly as replacements for old “open frame” motors. Well, after checking several brands including OMI motors I stumbled on Kato motors. Their torque and RPM ratings were almost identical but the big difference was they were “available” and they were fairly inexpensive, both major factors considering I had quite a lot of them to do. I have now used them in just about everything including older Tenshodo and Gem Big Boys with no loss of power and a marked improvement in performance.
This brings me to something I just ran across in the Kato website as I was going to order some more of them.
If you go to their website, WWW.KATOUSA.COM , click on HO and then accessories you will find their HM-5 motor listed for $19.95 “retail”, your dealer can order these so it is possible to get them even cheaper if he’ll cut you a discount on them.
They also have listed right below the motors their ASF and Barber S-2 freight car trucks for $4.98 and $5.98 respectively, again your dealer can order these for you from Kato. These are probably some of the best trucks available in HO and are far superior to most others.
I also looked for some items under parts and found “axle gears”, can be used to replace the bad Proto gears and well as complete axle sets, again very reasonably priced.
I don’t believe the Kato axle gears are compatable with old P2K gears. Kato has a smaller axle diameter and you can’t drop Kato’s wheels/gear set into the old P2K as the P2K has internal bearings and the Katos are outside bearings. One still has the Athearn axle gear option which are compatable with the old P2K.
Intermountain works as well as they are just another “clone” of the same drive but without the cracked gear issues. Parts are readily available from them as well if you can’t get Athearn’s gears for any reason.