Hello gang, I have a very simple question, one that you can all be as harsh on me as you like.....BUT the other day I purchased two Intermountain Tunnel motors. One is a SD40t-2 the other a SD45t-2. Well right out of the box the SD45t-2 ran half as slow as the SD40t-2...I took the unit apart and "adjusted" wheelsets, looked for bad gears etc......Still the SD45 runs slow.... So I bought two more, got them today 11/29/13.....SAME THING.....the SD45t-2 is half as fast as the SD40t-2. Now I know I'm not running a race track but I would like to run them together....ANY IDEAS!!!!!! If I'm being a dumbass fine.....But I'm right now running the units and they will not run well together.....:question:
You need to run them a while and break them in. The performance may change as they are run. Also, not all motors are the same, and this includes Kato and Atlas locomotives. Some will run faster than others.
IIRC, excess lubrication was a problem with some of those (and which will now have stiffened up a bit). You might want to clean all the gears and start over. Cheers, -Mark
In addition to what the other guys said... I am slowly but surely changing all my Intermountain tunnel motors over to Kato wheelsets (and my Atlas SD50/60/60Ms, which use the same parts). They run smoother and more reliably that way.
I have 3 SD45-2s I bought from Intermountain and they run at 3 different speeds......I've had really good luck with their F units (F7a and b, FTa and b) all running together, but the SD's seem hit or miss. They all run smooth and quiet so I can't complain (or blame it on poor running), but they don't speed match
I'll let them run a while, check for old hard grease AND get me some Kato wheelsets....Are you using 923120???? They look to be the most universal....
I have an SD40T-2 (installed a Digitrax DN163I0). Did a couple of overhauls after the original overhaul when I installed the decoder. I encountered the excessive grease described by others. It ran OK when I used one of my Utility throttles (UT-1 or UT-2). If I used my DT400 it ran a lot slower. Got tired of trying to solve the (lack of) speed problem, swapped the motor for an older Atlas (might have been a spare Kato) motor in my parts box. I can program around the excessive speed if I want to, so I am now satisfied. For all the aggravation, this is one of my favorite locomotives and would not mind another few on the roster.
Ok, So this IS the first time I'm dealing with IM SD's....LOVE the F7's.....Anyway did everyone else have to double face tape the fuel tanks??? AND for God's sake DON'T try to pick the loco up by the shell......
I've only one IM loco, an SD45-2, and I've no complaints. It runs well with my Atlas loco's with the slow speed motor. I am a little curious as the need to replace the wheel sets as mentioned above on IM and Atlas locos? I've a fleet of Atlas SD50,60, and 60M's and I've no problems with them what so ever. Not saying others don't, maybe I missed something somewhere or got lucky. What I need to do is find another CR SD45-2 to run them in pairs as pushers someday.
Well the fuel tanks WILL not stay on the loco without tape, and the shells come off WAY too easy. BUT it looks great and will run with my other locos once I get the whole speed thing figured out.
I own 4 SD45-2 and run them together usually in 2 or 3 unit lashups. I also own 2 SD45T-2 and they run together just fine. I also have no problems with Atlas/IM wheelsets? Check out the motors between the fast and slow locos, do they look the same?
I've been following along with this thread and it occurred to me that I have a few of these locos which I have never gotten a chance to run. I've heard pros and cons about these locos so last night while I was finishing up some projects on the workbench, I decided to get them out and let them run to see if mine exhibited any of these problems and to let them break in. The first one ran fine about halfway around the layout, then it stopped and start tripping my PM42. I should mention that I'm running Digitrax Super Chief and for now these units are running with stock DC boards [I have DCC chips for three of them]. I pushed the loco forward a bit thinking it had shorted on a turnout but no luck, it just kept tripping the breaker. I brought it back to where I started and it ran fine until it reached the same spot......strange? Couldn't find anything on the tracks so I grabbed another unit, did pretty much the same thing but it ran farther before it started tripping the breaker. Of the 5 units I have, three ran for a short stretch then shorted, one did not run at all and the last ran without any problems. My first thought were they're shorting on turnouts [which was not the case], my second thought was what happened right after I switched over to DCC back in '97. I had several older Atlas analog units that would short out as soon as they were placed on the tracks. A friend resolved this by removing the two light boards. This weekend I plan to install a chip in one that was shorting to see if the DC board was the culprit. Has anyone else had this happen with theirs?
Try lubing the locos and running them for a couple hours, I have installed some Atlas motors that would hardly run when new, a little lube and some breakin time is all that was needed.
Thanks, I'm certainly going to give that a try...If not I'll try replacing the motors next, I'm not real pleased with the "scale speed" version.
I had the same thing happen to me. I had two CSX SD45-2 locos and one ran faster then the other. I tried everything nothing worked I'm also very crazy about having the same speed on two locos, anyway I contacted Intermountain and the locos where under warranty and they told me to send them in so I sent them in and now they are running fine they have great customer service. Try contacting them see what they say.
Yes IM is really good about backing up the product...I believe I can solve my speed issues by swapping motors.
One thing you may consider. This fit issue may be related to the speed issue. The screws holding the frame together may be too tight. I have made that mistake before when working on some of my locos (namely my ER Sharks). The frame clamps down on plastic parts, squeezing them against the motor. That increases the friction, and could affect the motor speed. It's worth a check.
