I am having an issue in maintaining electrical contact between the contacts that slip over the six axles and the two strip contacts on either side of the engine. I know this is an issue as I have observed ( with the body removed) on some areas on my layout where the engine stalls, if I gently push down on one of the strips over the wheel contacts, power is restored. I can repeat this over and over. So, I am planning to solder jumper wires from the wheel contacts to the two strips, similar to how an Athearn engine can be modified for improved contact. Anyone ever have these issues as well with Kato and how did you solve it?
ps. No other engines in my "fleet" have the same issue in those "spots" on the layout, so it is not a track issue.
Thanks all.
IIRC this is a known issue with this particular Kato design, and I think they never(?) repeated it.
I removed these copper strips hidden in the walkway right upon receiving these Kato SD40-2 (*) and hard-wired the pickup to the main board with some (thin,flexible) wire. None of my such modified Kato SD40-2 ever had pickup problems. (Occasional cleaning of the wheels helps, too)
(*) having read posts on forums discussing this issue way back when, but also derailing was involved? I'm not sure any more. mine do not derail, either
I had the exact same problem on a Kato HO scale loco when I put a decoder into it. I wound up soldering jumper wires directly from the trucks to the decoder instead of relying on Kato's chintzy design.
From now on I won't purchase a Kato locomotive unless I can see it up close and personal and insure that it isn't made that way.
Thanks for the feedback guys. Will solder today. As for the derailing, I solved that one by snipping off some horizontal stabilizer tabs on the trucks goiving it some more freedom to move. Unless your track is ABSOLUTLY PERFECT, the trucks would not make up of for any MINOR deviations. SInce the tabs have been removed, they have yet to derail.
It is a good looking and great running engine otherwise. Thanks again.
It's a long, thin bronze strip that runs the full length of the locomotive from front to rear trucks on both sides of the frame. Small tabs stick up through slots on the sides of the trucks and make contact with this strip. The motor gets its electrical power from these strips. If the shell is not firmly seated the strips don't make good contact with the trucks and you lose power to the motor or it becomes very intermittent.
The tabs are on the truck, right near the bolster area. I think they actully would rest against the bolster. Disassemble the entire truck, gears, etc. If you manually play with the trucks and try to make any horiznotal movements, you will see where they prevent you from doing that. I just used some snips and cut them off as close to the truck wall as possible. The weight of the engine keeps it running normally, but the allaownace in the trcuk will allow for some "irregialrities". Similar to how freight car trucks should have some give by loosening one of the trucks. Problem with the Kato was there was none allowed. I was so ticked that I removed it from both trucks. Seems to be working.