Discussion related to everything about model railroading, from layout design and planning, to reviews of related model tools and equipment. Discussion includes O, S, HO, N and Z, as well as narrow gauge topics. Also includes discussion of traditional "toy train" and "collector" topics such as Lionel, American Flyer, Marx, and others. Also includes discussion of outdoor garden railways and live steamers.
Discussion related to everything about model railroading, from layout design and planning, to reviews of related model tools and equipment. Discussion includes O, S, HO, N and Z, as well as narrow gauge topics. Also includes discussion of traditional "toy train" and "collector" topics such as Lionel, American Flyer, Marx, and others. Also includes discussion of outdoor garden railways and live steamers.
Has anyone replaced their brass locomotive drive with an atlas or athearn? I recently got the holy grail of NJT brass locos in HO, a GP40P made by Ajin. The drive in it is absolute crap. Within the first few hours of running with the cars it spun both ball joints off the axles, the rear truck cant keep the axle points in its bearings for more than a few train lengths when its under load and overall the whole thing is slow as sin. These locos can move up to 80 and 100mph at one point in real operation and I would really like to see the thing at least look like its doing 50! Right now my switchers are blowing it away, and they are set to not go over 40 SMPH!
My main concern here is replacing the drive shafts and trucks with something off the shelf, such as Altas. I like the quality and appearance of the Atlas trucks and would like to see something of their running abilities used in the loco, but I am open to any ideas!
Just disassembled the problem truck and found the bearing plate had fallen off of the back of the journal box, which is why the wheelset wouldnt stay in there. Its almost impossible to repair since the parts are so tiny!
The bearing plate was the issue. I cannot solider it in place because this truck is a POS. I am going to just replace the trucks with P2K trucks. Direct replacement with minimal modification, looks better and will probably give me more realistic operating speeds.
Ajin models have some serious quality issues. I have a P30CH with both drive shafts that spin out, and a P32ACDM that I ended up rewiring and had to replace the electrical pickups because of shorting issues.
Funny, when I was at Springfield back in January and I spoke with the rep for Overland, I explained the problem and they had no clue of what I was talking about or any recommendations.
I'll be interested in how you make out or any fixes other members might have.
My driveshalfs spun out but I was able to glue the ball joints back onto the shaft with ACC. I am looking into replacing the trucks with P2K GP38 trucks and so far so good. I am just so hesitant to cut this underframe...
ApproachMedium wrote:My driveshalfs spun out but I was able to glue the ball joints back onto the shaft with ACC. I am looking into replacing the trucks with P2K GP38 trucks and so far so good. I am just so hesitant to cut this underframe...
I have a particular type of loctite (gotta check the bottle, but it comes out green) that is meant to handle the torque of a drive shaft like on a model locomotive. This holds a lot better than ACC. post some pictures, i might be able to come up with a better way to re-work this frame.
I think you need to come down and check it out sometime soon Chris, I cant get what happend here in detail of photos as the parts are very small. What I really need right now is a glue that will hold brass pieces together. If I can do that im golden and I can forget about the P2K trucks.
ApproachMedium wrote:I think you need to come down and check it out sometime soon Chris, I cant get what happend here in detail of photos as the parts are very small. What I really need right now is a glue that will hold brass pieces together. If I can do that im golden and I can forget about the P2K trucks.
why glue?
if you use the right solder and flux, you should be able to put it together. I know it can be done, you've seen that pantograph i made and my catenary. I know i need to drop by one of these days anyway to return your model.
on the other hand, if the ajin drive is really that bad, maybe it is better to replace it with a new one.
