Copied-WW Hi all, as mentioned in a previous post, I got a Athearn AC4400 (wife said my little boy picked it out cause it was BIG) Anyways, as with all Athearns, it has that distinct growl when running, not smooth and quiet like the Atlas engines. ( now if it were an Alco that would be different ) So I would like to repower it. Anyone have any suggestions on a drop-in can motor? I really don't feel like soldering. I was thinking of the locomotion can motor from Accurate Lighting. It just dawned on me that the noise probably wouldn't be from the motor, but from the gearing. Still would like to hear some suggestions. Thanks, Andy [ March 28, 2006, 12:08 PM: Message edited by: watash ]
<font color="336633">well all my Athearn locos run very well and quiet, my SD40-2 runs just as quiet and smooth as any of my atlas katos, but i spent about 6 hours work on it I took the motor apart polished the communtator with 800 grit wet and dry then used a hard rubber on it. I also took the trucks apart and cleaned all the gears then went over them with a file a x-acto knife and 800 grit wet and dry. also there could be a lot of play (end float) in the motor, this can add noise if this is the case b4 you put the motor back together add thin washers to the inside ends. i have used this technique on all my athearn locos and has worked on all but one, an SW7, but the noise is comeing from the cast aluminum flywheels, yes not brass ones, i dont know if this was just a cost cutting attempt or what but i not seen it since.. </font> ------------------ Matthew wheres all the C636's???? stickymonk.com Matts Photo gallery TrainBoard member #257
Aline motors are a vast improvement in the speed category, but the trucks do need a lot of help... My SD40-2(new version) has the loudest trucks i've ever come across! I have yet to spend some real time tinkering though...
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by StickyMonk: i have used this technique on all my athearn locos and has worked on all but one, an SW7, but the noise is comeing from the cast aluminum flywheels, yes not brass ones, i dont know if this was just a cost cutting attempt or what but i not seen it since.. [/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> The older Athearns had the cast aluminum flywheels. This was before they moved to the brass. Roger
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by tunnel88: Aline motors are a vast improvement in the speed category, but the trucks do need a lot of help... My SD40-2(new version) has the loudest trucks i've ever come across! I have yet to spend some real time tinkering though...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <font color="336633">I think it all comes down to being to much slop in the gears, if you look at an Atlas, Kato, Proto 2000 gears they are a lot tighter and closer meshed, not much you can do about it, the only replacement gears i know of are the ones from Ernst but they are even noiser as the are low geared......</font> ------------------ Matthew wheres all the C636's???? stickymonk.com Matts Photo gallery TrainBoard member #257
I really wish a company would come out with excellent replacement gears... i know i'd buy em! Other than that its tinkering...
well I had a GP40-2 (CSX 6126 that had the same problem(barly even ran right off of shelf.) I never ranit for 3 years than I realized that I could dummify it, so I took apart the gears and screwd the cases back to egter and romoved the motor, and gears in the shel , and bought a Rail Power Chassis on Ebay for a nickel an had a wonderful dummy, (and a little weathering,) ------------------ TrainBoard.com MEMBER#204 Appalachian & Atlantic Model Railroad "QUALITY at WORK with SAFTEY in MIND"
All my Athearn locos run smoothly straight from the box.It all depends on the type of controller you are using. ------------------ Paul the 2nd Paul Van Herwegen HO Rappannahock Terminal Railway G Emerald Valley RR http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=977739&a=7560092
Need not need to replace the motor. Take out the motor and run it buy itself with the brass flywheels attached. Preaty quite eh? What you may need to do. The big Problems with the AC4400CW are the flywheels scraping the shell and the truck's gearing. To fix the flywheel scraping problem you may want to sand the inside of the shell where the flywheels come into contact (be carefull because you dont want to sand though the shell.) One of the things you want to try is first Clean the gears and cut the flash (exess plastic) with a acto knife and some sand paper. (be carefull you don't overdo it because you can ruin the gears) (If you do however no big deal Athearn Parts are cheap and fairly easy to get a hold of) Then as a lubercant I would use vaseilne. YES IT WORKS. ------------------ Theres no such thing as having to many coal hoppers or GP40-2 when you model Chessie System LONG LIVE THE KITTEN!!! LONG LIVE BIG BLUE!!! I looked at DCC... and stayed DC!
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chessie_SD50_8563: I would use vaseilne. YES IT WORKS. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <font color="336633">i use nothing but vaseline</font> ------------------ Matthew wheres all the C636's???? stickymonk.com Matts Photo gallery TrainBoard member #257
I heard that you could put pearl drops tooth polish in the gears and run it for a little bit and then take the gear boxes apart clean and lube them and that would do it. I have not tried this I have taken the gears out and cleand them with sand paper after that lube them and they run great with stock motor. The biggest problem is that one idler gear meshes to deep into one of the drive gears in the ones that I have.
Yep, the Pearl Drops-in-the-gearbox technique works pretty well. I did something like that on my SD45T-2, and the results were impressive; it ran much quieter than the other units in my fleet, so much so, that I did it to all the others! Like the others have pointed out, Athearn's noise doesn't really come from the motor, but from the gearboxes and driveline. About the only advantages to replacing the motor is lower current draw, and slightly better performance. Taking the gearbox apart and cleaning any burrs or other imperfections off the gears helps a lot to quiet them down. I then follow up with the Pearl Drops technique, filling the gearboxes with the polish (I've found that Soft Scrub household cleaner works well too). Install the trucks on a frame, attach leads, then let the whole thing run at full power on your worktable for about 30-45 mins in each direction. Take the gearboxes apart, clean out the polish and bits of plastic with warm soapy water, then dry, reassemble, and lube the whole thing. I know all this sounds medieval, but the gears should be broken-in and running much smoother and quieter. Also, make sure the motor and driveline are sitting straight and level in the frame, since sometimes the motor or flywheels can make contact with the indside of the shell, making even more noise. Also, the driveshafts on most Athearns have a lot of slop and "rattle" to them, which is another source of noise. I get rid of this by gluing the splines into the couplings with silicone adhesive, which "cushions" them and eliminates any rattle, but still allows the shafts to flex and be removed for maintenance. You could also just replace the splines/couplings with straight single driveshafts, like the ones made by A-Line. Athearn has taken this approach with their Genesis SD70M's and revised SD40-2's, and the results speak for themselves. Athearn plans to use the single shafts on future upgrades, and they've released a run of C44-9W's with the new driveshafts. Hope all this helps! Paul #3 ------------------ Have A Nice Day!
I have a friend here in town that takes the Athearn motor & flywheel assembly and trues the flywheels on the lathe (apparently the factory flywheels are slightly out of round). This seems to quiet them down a bit...... it's also cheaper than buying aftermarket flywheels. ------------------ Southeast....Southwest.. Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T. Member # 362 http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html
I can't wait till i can pick up a couple of those Atlas GP38s... Sure they cost more, but the tradeoff is there's no tinkering needed... to bad they all can't be like that. Oh well...
Some of us actually enjoy all that tinkering. I'm not sure why. I prefer kits to Ready-To-Run. Half the fun is building them for me. And I certainly don't mind taking apart a perfectly good engine, cleaning it, lubing it and putting it back together. Not discrediting those who like RTR, just pointing out that some like it the other way. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by tunnel88: I can't wait till i can pick up a couple of those Atlas GP38s... Sure they cost more, but the tradeoff is there's no tinkering needed... to bad they all can't be like that. Oh well...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Don't get me wrong of course, those units probably have the wrong plow, horn, etc... so they won't just go from the box to the track! well not for long anyway But i'm just saying it's nice to have a dependable and quality drive to start with...
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by tunnel88: I can't wait till i can pick up a couple of those Atlas GP38s<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <font color="336633">My Atlas GP38 is the best running loco i have, it is very quiet and smooth.... and whats more its DCC ready!! </font> ------------------ Matthew wheres all the C636's???? stickymonk.com Matts Photo gallery TrainBoard member #257
I'm seriously considering picking up some of them Dual Mode decoders for Athearn units... They would be excellent for running under normal DC until i go full DCC...
I too just got an Athearn AC4400-9W. It was really noisey right out of the box, and I was very tempted to take it back. The $29.95 I paid plus the reputation on Athearn being a good runner for the money made me keep it. I then heard the "fixes" you can do on them, so this is what I did. Give it a try and let me know how it turned out, O.K.? First I ran it with softscrub in the trucks. It really bogged it down, and it didn't like it at all. Second I took it all apart and cleaned the trucks COMPLETELY. Running gears and axles with an abrasive in them is not good. Third, I greased the gears well. Fourth, I added a shim on the end of the worm gear. AS a lot of people have stated there's some slop in there. This helped a LOT with the noise, and just running it after putting the "fixes" in has helped to quiet it down some more. Since then I've added 9 ounces of lead to it to improve the tractive effort available. Now it runs like a champ. Mark
Hi I'm new to this group, but i live in little ol New Zealand and have been buyin locos etc from the States for a couple of year now, {untill our exchange rate tumbled}, but i have recently bought a Athearn SD45T-2, witch the gears to the trucks have churned themselves out, it went ok for a while then started making horriable noises, plenty of lub, but the lube was a terriable colour, teeth on the gears are stuffed, got to replace them, also bought a SD40, opened the pack to run the loco and the leading bogie fell off,wasn't impressed, where is a bit of quality control.
