In preparation for some weathering a partial tear-down of the truck assemblies on my Kato HO EMD NW2 also exposed the cause of some irregular running. The culprit was an out of gauge wheel-set. Further inspection showed a crack on the geared axle allowing a loose fit to the wheel shaft; a common issue with the early 90s Kato and Kato drive locomotives I own.
Checking Kato USA website for NW2 spare parts it was not surprising to find most sold out or discontinued. But was glad to see some truck assemblies still available with wheel-sets included (silver side-frames only) part #959033 at $9.98.
Happy to say that as of this morning ol' 2002 the workhorse of my layout was back at the harbor performing switching duties as smoothly as ever.
Regards, Peter
Peter, thanks for the tip! I'm tearing two of these down now to paint and install decoders. I'll check the axles and gears for sure.
Your little NW2 looks great!
Chuck - Modeling in HO scale and anything narrow gauge
Thanks Peter, I didn't know that Kato had axle gear problems. I have a few of the later run SD45's, 40-2's and dash 9's.
I'll have to check them out.
Mike.
My You Tube
Another cool thing about the Kato NW2 trucks is that they're easy to narrowgauge...
Nice pic, Peter!
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I checked my two NW2's. Out of the 16 wheels, 12 of them fit loose in the axle gear. I used 5 minute epoxy and my NMRA gauge to get them where they need to be.
Hopefully that will work.
I repaired some Kato axles with epoxy that has held up for about seven years so far. The gears don't seem to crack, just the hub that the axle fits into.
Mark Vinski
Mike, Thanks. Nice switcher and cool that it's versatile enough to be narrow-gaugeable.
Chuck, Thanks. With Mark reporting seven years service the epoxy fix sounds like a good option, especially considering the cost of replacement geared wheel-sets and the strong likelihood that they too will eventually crack.
Hate to admit it, but for me the entire truck assembly was a good deal as I ham-fisted a side frame and broke it (forgot the axle retainer needs to come off before the side-frames).
Without the moxie to attempt a NW2 DCC sound installation I entrusted the work to George Nefsead of TVW Miniatures who did a fantastic job. Gosh, been seven years already, still holding up just fine and a true pleasure to operate.
I run the heck out of my 2 HOn3 NW2s. Never had a cracked gear/axle problem before with them. Funny y'all are documenting this issue just as I was noticing one of mine was making funny noises I'm more familiar with from my narrow-gauged Bachmann 70-tonners. I'll check that first thing when I get around to it.
mlehmanNever had a cracked gear/axle problem before
Mike, Began noticing the cracked gear axles on my Kato and Stewart Kato drive locos a couple years or so after purchased new in the early 90s. But not the NW2, even though it's geared axles look the same other than gear diameter. I certainly can't complain about around 28 years of smooth service and commend Kato for still having some parts on hand for such an old loco.
Time for a little yard switching before blowing out the candle. Good luck and good running, regards, Peter
Can you guys help? I just picked up a NOS Kato NW2 Phase II and was hoping to take it apart and see if I can install DCC in there. I am already stymied, can't get the shell off. Got the cab off OK but the shell is being stubborn. What am I missing here? Don't want to break anything...OH, OH! I just discovered the trick! After popping off the cab, pry up on the shell at the front of the cab "floor" wall against the cast frame. Now to see where I can remove enough metal to make room for the chip...
Wow, what a beautiful model! Love the detail. My first Kato. "Dooley" impressed! This one is soon to become Pere Marquette #54 :)
I'm not savvy enough to even know which Kadees go in this thing. Life-line!
GT
GT,
Before you put the shell back on, use a flat file to flatten the four round protrusions on each side and end the chassis to make the shell easier to remove next time. I left about 20% of the nib on mine.
Also, on the TCS site there is an involved "how to" on converting the Kato NW2s to DCC using one of their M1 decoders:
https://tcsdcc.com/installation/ho-scale/1358
I'm hoping one day to do one of these myself. Yea, those Kato NW2s are terrific little switchers and run smooth.
I outfitted mine with a Kadee #58. A #5, #48, #148, or #158 should also work fine. The latter two use "whiskers" as the spring mechanism rather than the copper spring.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I posted this several months ago. I converted both of these NW2's and wired the decoders, except the orange and gray motor wires, into the front light board. The hardest part was cutting a chunk off the front of the frame half.
Way I have never seen before, another person just filed space for wires and installed deconder in fuel tank, lots of room in there.
Bruce Petrarca has a comprehensive how-to web article about installing a DCC sound decoder in a Kato HO NW2. IMO a must read for anyone considering any DCC conversion of this model.