Athern Conrail Sd40-2 Dummy

[nsdtk]

I have an Athern Conrail Sd40-2 dummy that will not stay on the track. Does any one else have this problem
and how have you corected it. Thank You

[scooter3798]

Check the gauge of the wheels. The best thing to do would be to replace the plastic ones with metal replacements. I have used Northwest Short Line wheels on a couple of dummies and they work great. Just make sure you get the right size wheels.

Scooter

[nsdtk]

Thanks for the info Scooter

[ThoroughBreed]

You might also try adding 1~2 oz of weight above each truck to help it track better.

[Justin Stephenson]

Well depends how old the sd40-2 is... if its an older atherns they have this truck problems that  there not properly gauged as said earlyer and dont like switches.... just recently we dummyed some old kato units that the pick ups were screwed so well left everytghing , i mean everything in it except for the drive shaft , now the loco are just like a box car   just rolls and makes a  great consist mixer so try that next time

[nsdtk]

Its an older sd40-2 with metal handrails the wheels are in gauge. Any body know how hard it is to put kato trucks on an athern ? Thanks for all the replys David

[scooter3798]

Any body know how hard it is to put kato trucks on an athern ?

Don't waste your time! Esspecially since it is a dummy. About the best thing that I can offer is to just tear it apart and just take a good look at it and make sure that nothing is hanging up on it. Check the bolster and kingpin to make sure there isn't any flash or junk stuck in there that could bind the truck. Then cut off the top of the metal clip that comes up out of the truck which would hold the motor clip on the powered units. This is useless on a dummy and for that matter the powered units, and it is possible that it could be hitting something inside the shell.

Even if the wheels are in guage, toss them. The Athearn dummy wheels are pretty much junk anyway. If you can't get the Northwest Shortline wheels for it, at least go with a set from Jay-Bee.

Finally as mentioned earlier, add some wieght to it. There is plenty of room inside a dummy, so I would add a couple of ounces of wieght to it.

If that doesn't fix the problem, scrap it!

To answer the original question though there really is no easy way to put Kato trucks on an Athearn frame, plus for the cost of the Kato trucks you could just buy another one of the older Athearn units. The only other option would be to mount the Athearn shell on a Kato frame, but that would really be a HUGE step backwards.

Finally if you are willing to go through the trouble of messing with the trucks on it you may want to consider converting the sideframes to the Flexicoils instead of the HTC design, as all of the Conrail SD40-2's had Flexicoil trucks, not the then standard HTC truck.

Scooter

[nsdtk]

Thanks Scooter