Athearn GP-9 Not Running Help!

[Anonymous]

I recently purchased a second hand athearn GP-9 off ebay in the hopes of repainting it to match the custom New Haven GP-9 my father had put together some 15 years ago. So I receive the item which was pretty much new in the box but had undoubtedly sat somewhere for a while so i put it on the track hit the gas and nothing happens. No movement whatsoever, but the cab light does shine incredibly well so the unit must be getting some juice. So I pull the cover off to inspect the insides and with my limited knowledge of the inner workings of the engine I'm not quite sure what the problem is. it appears the strip of metal is making contact with boths of the metals leads on the trucks. It is a brass flywheel engine but when I hit the gas nothing on the motor spins, no noise no nothing. could it be a dead motor or maybe a bad connection? is it possible to ground out the motor? if so how do i fix that or should I just save myself some trouble and by a replacement motor. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks.

[dehusman]

1. Turn the brass flywheels by hand. Do they turn? is there a severe bind in the drive train?
2. Look at the motor. At one end is the commutator, if is a small round metal thing with some slots down the length of it, inside the motor frame. There should be black "brushes" (actually carbon rods) above and below the commutator. If not, that's your problem.
3. There should be a siver metal bus bar that hits both risers on the trucks and clips onto the top of the motor. Its that there?
4. On the top and the bottom of the motor should be copper color clips. They hold the motor together and hold the brushes in their position. Are they there? (if you remove those clips the brushes have a spring on top of them so removes the clips slowly to avoid launching the springs into the carpet.
5. Remove the silver bus bar. Remove the trucks and drive train (there is a plastic clip on top of the truck ver the worm, remove the clip and the trucks will drop out easily.) Touch wires leading from the power pack to the two copper clips. If the motor still doesn't turn then there is something wrong in the motor (broken wire).

There are several remotoring kits from different manufacturers if the motor is truly bad.

Good Luck.

Dave H.

[Don Gibson]

Athearn Blue Box engine's (GP-9) had notoriously bad electrical contact's. The A-Line #12041 Electrical Hook up kit will solve your problem - Guaranteed.

Make sure you install the grounding lug.

http://www.ppw-aline.com/re-power.htm

[ac4400fan]

ive had that happen ,what i did was bang it on the track a few times while under the gas ,you might notice it start bumpping to go ,and go if it starts going let it roll for about 1/2 hr ,to clean the brushes and contacts ,the id oil it, some of the engines ,ive gotten required, a few light slams

[Anonymous]

What was the catch fraise the democratic party was throwing around? Oh yea, "Help is on the way" Click HERE for tune up info for Athearn diesel locomotives.

[cwclark]

first, see if the flywheels spin freely and nothing is binding..if it does, dissasemble the trucks (remove the upper and lower clips with a small screwdriver being careful not to crack them) and see what's locking up the gears..(I found a carbon rod in the gears of an F-7 B unit once that was locking up the gears that came straight from the factory) ....it's more than likely the carbon rods on the commutator...try to pull them out and inspect them..you can do this by taking out the engine, remove the copper clips, (don't loose the springs) and shoving a small wire into the holes until they come out ....inspect them to see if they move freely in the hole and there is a slight arch in the tips...if there isn't one, take a dremel tool and hog them out a bit until an arch is formed ...now put them back in with the arch fitting flush against the commutator....put the engine back in (don't connect the drive shafts just yet) ..now connect and run the motor and with a fine grit piece of emory cloth, hold it against the motor commutator as it runs...now take a pencil eraser and hold it against the commutator to polish it...another thing you want to check is the two plastic ends that hold the armature in place..sometimes they'll separate and the motor won't run..press them back together and apply a very small amount of CA glue to the ends between the plastic and the metal housing so that they won't separate anymore....one more thing...I like to solder a wire to the bottom clip, drill a hole in the frame, put a screw in the hole and solder the other end of the wire to the screw...that way you'll never loose electrical contact to the bottom copper clip....if all this doesn't work, then you have a broken wire in the armature and you might as well get in touch with athearn and have them send you a new motor...Chuck

[Virginian]

Slam it!? Well, there's a new fix for sure.

[Anonymous]

If all else fails,,,,get a bigger hammer!

[Anonymous]

... or a P2K !!!

[Anonymous]

Another trick I've found that works on some Athearn BBs - add a dab of conductive grease to the truck pivots, as these take power from one set of pickups to the motor. It's also worth replacing the sprung metal strip on the top of the motor with a flexible wire - this will prevent your loco from stalling on uneven track. Apart from that, a drop of oil on each motor bearing and a dab of plastic-safe grease in each truck should keep it healthy. Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the help guys I actually looked over the engine and noticed that the motor had become unseated probably during shipping so that the bottom copper strip wasn't making any contact with the frame. so i pushed that back in and lined up all the contact strips and the thing runs like a dream. thanks once again. now i'll i've got to do is strip the paint, airbrush it, decal it, and I'm done but i've never done any of those so that should be a fun little adventure. i think i'll practice on some scrap pieces first. Thanks again.