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Athearn SDP40 Blue Box total rebuild and derailment proofing
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- Опубліковано 15 січ 2018
- total rebuild of an old school Athearn SDP40 with metal sideframes and the large gray motor that is screw mounted. This rebuild applies to any Athearn blue box, especially the oldest models. This is the technique used to make the floating axle that prevents derailing on uneven track.
Good information. I have a few of these old Athearn locomotives that can benefit from this. Thanks!
I've developed even better techniques since this old video, particularly how to ream the truck bearings using a smaller drill bit - look to my series from last month about the SW1500, that shows even better stuff!
@@elite194 I watched the SW1500 series over the weekend. Lots of good stuff there. The particular thing I took away from this video was the mod to the bushings of the center axle on 6-wheel trucks. That was not covered in your SW1500 series because they were 4-wheel trucks. I applied this mod to one of my locomotives over the weekend along with some things I learned from your SW1500 series. Massively improved! Thanks again.
@@tzurachienu the new bushing mod is better than the old one with less chance of breaking them loose!
@@elite194 Got a link to a video where I can learn about that? Thanks!
@@tzurachienu that was the first video I did using a drill index, but there will be more to come!
They make nylon screws that you could use to reattach the motor with. That way you don't have to use glue and the DCC ready would be completed right from the start. It was a very nice video and I enjoyed watching it.
one reason I always install motors with Amazing GOOP is to eliminate vibration. Plus the GOOP dampens sound also. I designed and produced a new motor called REVOLUTION 1 that is used in most of my recent videos and GOOP is just the right stuff to make a very quick installation. Also, it's non-destructive and I can change my mind and undo the install with no problems!
Very interesting video ! Camera work was a bit blurry at times but the info was great...
that's old one, but still pretty good. I'll be doing it again on another SDP40 and SD45 pretty soon
Excellent instructional video. I re-wired my SDP40 similar to you. The issue with mine is the sintered wheels.
I polish the old wheels and then coat them with Oxgard and never have trouble again. I also use a bit of white glue when setting the correct gauge and that generally lasts several years.
Who makes locomotives (hobby trains) that is with sintered Wheels? Just curious. LjN
I just took the center axle bushings completely out and let the axle run in the bushing hole in the frame. Works just fine for me. On one of my trucks the axle frame on one side was out of alignment with the other side- when you placed the truck on a flat surface the truck would teeter and you could see the misalignment by light showing under the flanges. I drilled out the sideframe rivet that didn't have the conducting L shaped piece of metal and aligned the sideframe so that all wheels were aligned then epoxied the sideframe where the rivet was to hold it securely to the plastic gear housing. I've heard this is not an uncommon problem on the old BB 6 axle Athearns.
I've done exactly the same thing and in fact I did it later to this SDP40. You are correct that this is a known problem and back in the 80s many articles were published about this technique. I have 2 more on the bench that I want to find a better solution altogether without replacing the trucks, but I still haven't found a better way. I've also tried removing the bushing on the front axle and tried the back axle, but neither was better than doing the middle axle. I also think I should create a very rough piece of trackwork to act as an obstacle course and proving ground. The many solutions over the years are not as good as doing the center axle. There will be more to come addressing this problem...
@@elite194 Yep- the alignment on my rear truck was perfect but the alignment on the front truck was off. Seems like random sloppy machining on Athearn's part. I hope the newer locos are better. I don't have any yet. All mine are vintage 1970s. With the center axle floating I'll slowly push the truck over the frog of a switch and watch for any lifting of the front or back wheels. I will still see a very tiny lifting at one point while going over the frog but absolutely nothing that could cause a derailment. It's a good fix. I guess real 6 axle locos don't have the problem because of the separate suspension on each axle.
@@fiddlyphuk6414 in the 80s when they switched to plastic sideframes and steel gearboxes with a bushing on the axle it became very easy to fix the middle axle. I still want to try to find some method of really improving the old truck performance.
I don’t know if I’d characterize Athearn engines as “notoriously unreliable.” In my experience they are rugged as hell, but they DO require some modifications to get them up to their very best abilities that most new users aren’t likely to accomplish. It will take an experienced operator to disassemble and modify the wheels, power train and motor electrical connections. Once done an Athearn engine is nearly as good a runner as a hand-made brass engine. The major difference of course is the price. The Athearn engine is a very affordable model while a brass model is quite pricey easily by a factor of around 10 if not more!
that is true for pretty much all of them except the SDP40 - it has the identical mechanism found in the SD45 and F45, but has a serious 3 point contact problem that the others don't usually have. it's fortunate that blue boxes can take lots of modifications and come out in excellent working condition
Thanks for the video. I learned a lot after I took some anti-nausea medicine to stave off motion sickness.
yes...no more handholding the camera, tripod has to be the rule
Wonderful how you were able to solve that problem! What is the minimum radius track curve recommended for the Athearn SDP40? I was wondering if anyone makes blind wheelsets for use on the center axle of a six wheel truck?
this one will negotiate 15" radius, I have a section of #4 turnouts with 15'" raidus spurs that this locomotive can handle. You wouldn't want to make this into A1A configuration because there would be exactly twice as much wear on the idler gear. If you did want to do that, just take a dummy truck and pull the plastic wheels off the axle and put your metal wheels on the axle with no gear and drop in place.
If you however ad fly Wheels to that motor or find a motor with fly wheels that will fit that engine and it will stop overheating and run the way it should but be careful the wrong fly wheels and it won't fit....
I've designed and produced a brand new motor that is lightyears ahead of anything currently out there. If you see any of my REV1 videos, you can see it in action - the most recent is the Atlas U36C from the last couple weeks. My motors don't use flywheels at all because they are so accurate that digital momentum works better than flywheels for operation. I also recently did a DC only SD40-2 with the new motor and it runs like a dream - that was about a month ago with a complete video series.
Rule of thumb. Right rail positive Forward
yes - red is always right!
@@elite194 that way everything runs together unless you're mr. Adams and you're crashing trains
@@elite194 unless you're Navy, then port is red and starboard is green. Kind of screws with you a little bit. Lot of people think right should always be red. Look at the police cars Right is blue
Gomez Adams was a visionary
What road name did you paint the engine for? You have a great test bench set-up! I am assuming those nuts lined up at the back of your bench are for weighting cars.
I haven't figured out what road name yet since I have some details to choose plus I want to use a new machine on the trucks in an upcoming video. The nuts are mainly for gluing and soldering.
It's now one of the orange ATLAS locos - turned out extra cool
Either Add flywheels to the motor or replace the motor with one with flywheels already installed..... Hearing that motor it's obvious it needs a little oil.....
this one is before we made the REVOLUTION 1 motor which does not use flywheels, rather digital momentum only - and this locomotive is coming back for DCC!!
I wondered why a radiator fan was mounted over the boiler compartment. I quit watching with the application of automotive grease to the gears.
The red lithium is the most advanced formula of lubrication out there. It doesn't spread and never hardens. It also does not attack plastics and hold up to extreme temps, like cold storage or extreme heat. Nothing beats the MAG-1 grease and 1 can lasts a lifetime.
Love to see early pre power strap model done? Geared not Hi-F, plastic gearboxes….
I have many and you are looking at techniques developed a couple years ago and since then we've advanced to better methods, but all of these things still hold true
@@elite194 not surprised you have some of the kind I speak of, just no videos of work on them that I have been able to find…. I understand the gear boxes of the kind I have are prone to binding, is that your experience? Do you think properly fettled they can be made to run well? Thanks.
yes, I have more videos on this very thing... check the athearn playlist that I have on my channel, but I don't have all of them in there yet because we are pushing about 500 videos right now. Make a special request right here and I should be able to carry it out right now since I just completed the 4 blue box special
@@elite194 how does one make a "special request" and is there a way to send you a picture so we're certain were talking about the same drive train version? Thanks.
@@1romcat goto my about page and you can send me an email with a picture of the particular type of truck and I'll drag one out of the boneyard and tune it up.
The Jet 400 motor **LOL**
these can be made compatible with DCC as long as you set the decoder to limit the max speed and you'll be just fine
Very good video but toss that drill vise setup. The runoutout is like .03" way too much!
I've got a 2 flute end mill to do this in the future
be nice if you showed how to remove the truck without breaking it...." like I did"
There are a couple of videos showing how to remove the various Athearn trucks and totally tear them down - SD45 Part 2 shows several secrets: ua-cam.com/video/-xsq8JBupWQ/v-deo.html that one shows a slightly newer version, the DD40 series and SD40T-2 also show the truck disassembly.
My guess is you had trouble with the part where you have to take a flat head screw driver and remove the worm coupling before taking it out of the frame - I know I have a video showing it, but I should make a special video showing just that so it's easy to find. Once those little arms are broken off, you can to get really creative in fabricating a replacement that is strong enough to work.
That is not an athearn. It doesn't have flywheels and it should have 4 motor mounts on bottom.
This is a 1960s early model before they started putting on flywheels and I think this was the one that had the screw in mount. It is possibly from the very first run of the SDP40s.
That is very much an OLD Athearn. I've got a couple without the flywheels.
shoe goo? nylon screws better
Amazing Goop or Shoe Goo is my goto for these situations because it absorbs vibration - but that motor in the video has the very old type brass mount which was not sound mechanically to begin with because the motor shakes it self loose. This is the same locomotive that later gets the 24v motor. Also, I don't any more screws in to the frame - I run all wires to a small PC board directly from the trucks.
The real ones derailed. Lead to a ban on there use on BN.
that's funny because the model is good reproduction of a locomotive that derails frequently!
I would trash the whole thing and buy one in brass!!!!!
a brass SDP40? not in my budget - but I have more of these and newer more advanced tools and methods that I'll be doing soon. the SDP40 is the most difficult locomotive to tame of all time, so I'll be using my whip and cattle prod to force it into compliance