I have a Kato NW2 that needs the front truck replaced. One side of the truck has melted - no idea how it happened but my guess would a short. I have ordered a new truck from Kato. I've never had to replace a truck on the NW2 - does it just come off if you gently wiggle it, or do you have to dismantle the frame. Any help will be most appreciated. John
IIRC, those will be a bit trickier, since the truck is driven by a "drive shaft" instead of a conventional gear train. I would remove the shell and be very careful. I disassembled one of those years ago. I don't remember it being particularly difficult, but it's never "easy."
The frame will have to at least be spread just a bit to get the truck out. Kato is good about using worm shafts to run the trucks rather than the Bachmann style with the drive shaft. I have taken the screws loose and gently spread the sides and been able to get the trucks out of most of my Kato locos. Need to check my NW2 to be sure.
Kato's NW2 design is totally different than most/all of their other locos. Also, you seem to be describing the older split frame designs, which Kato hasn't used on anything for years.
Yeah I looked at mine. It is not like the old split frame. Does have 2 small drive shafts running the trucks. Sorry for the mixup.
As long as you are aware that the drive shaft wants to come out when you remove the trucks, it's no big deal. I tore a lot of these down, modified the cast frames to work with a resin SW1 shell I made, and reassembled them. Never had issues with reassembly mucking something up. There's not much there that can get out of alignment in this process to cause problems. The 'weakest link' in a Kato NW2 is the tiny brass contacts on the electrical board that contact the board and the motor contacts. If those get loose, the entire motor dies inexplicably. Literally the lights come on and nothing moves. There have been reports that the white nylon gear off the motor may split (similar to Bachmann white gear issues) but of the 20+ I've worked with, never seen it. This is a modified split frame design: http://www.spookshow.net/loco/katonw2.html but it is heavily dependent on the motor cradle to keep everything together.
Thanks for all your advice. The truck arrived yesterday and I installed it last night. The hardest part for me was replacing the metal pick up strips. I tested it this morning and all is fine.
