Thanks to the folks that helped with my Jeremy Project I happen to have a old Athearn rubber band drive. I did some buying and trading (he got my MRC 2500) for some of the items.
One of the items I got was a Athearn Rubber Band Dud car. I have test ran it using 00 address and it run's fine. Has a newer Athearn motor.
I have a NCE D13SR decoder I have been thinking about installing. With limiting the speed controls CV's, do you think I might be able to keep it down to around 40 sMPH? It sure can haul butt now!
Just seems a shame to let stay sitting in the box.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
Ernst makes a gear drive conversion for the Athearn RDC - I have six of them converted, they run great.
If you really want to go top shelf while doing it, NWSL has replacement wheel sets as well.
I put can motors in mine also, but the newer Athearn motor will work well. A little extra weight also helps with electrical pickup and smoothness.
Sheldon
Sheldon, is there more to the name than Ernst? I just did a goggle search using Ernst and found nothing train related.
Ken
Ernst does not seem to have an internet presence but they show up in the online Walthers catalog
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=&scale=&manu=ernst&item=&keywords=&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=30&Submit=Search
Dave Nelson
Here you go.
http://www.blueridgehobbies.com/Domestic/ErnstManufacturingInc/ErnstManufacturingInc-Main-2-159.htm
Wadda ya mean I'm old ? Just because I remember gasoline at 9 cents a gallon and those big coal burning steamers.
Ken, the only thing you need to be careful about is the usual thing with isolating the Athearn motor from the frame and the decoder from the frame, otherwise you fry the decoder
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
G Plain, thanks for the waring, but this is not my first Redo.
Sheldon Or Dave, is this kit just for the gears in the truck, or does it replaces the runner band's? Was it the gearing that made them so fast, or the rubber band drive it self?
I picked up a "pair" of brand new Proto RDC's for $20 a piece and they can be found very easily for $25-35 a piece, are scale length, have much better detail and running qualities and are probably a lot easier to convert to DCC.
I mention this as you might want to consider this before investing much money in something using 1950's technology and detailing and it's still way to short for scale.
Mark
Forty Niner I mention this as you might want to consider this before investing much money in something using 1950's technology and detailing and it's still way to short for scale.
Mark, that is one of the attractions to me, running something that old. I know that Proto 1000's can be had for $20.00.
I did reread about the kit, I see it is the gearing only.
Ken, the rubber band drive is so fast because of the total gear ratio created by the rubber band drive. They had no way to get any more reduction.
The Ernst kit is a much better gear ratio and gives good slow speed performance - with a can motor upgrade, slow speed gets really good.
The Ernst kit is a set of plastic gears and a gear tower that replaces the rubber bands. It uses the Athearn wheels and sideframes but has new axles. It only powers one truck, but that is all you need. It has instructions for using the existing drive shaft or you can use parts like those offered by A-Line to make a better drive shaft.
I don't have much time tonight, but tomorrow I may be able to take a photo and post it showing you a completed install.
I do have a lot of money and time in my six, but I started them before the Proto units cam out, and, I actually prefer the shorter "selectively compressed" length of the Athearn model.
The Walthers listing says it "includes a gearbox, geared axle pieces, worm gears, 1" flywheel and added components", so I'm guessing it's a full repower kit (minus a new motor, of course).
The thing that makes the RDC so fast is the rubber band drive. It has a reduction ratio of around 3:1, so the wheels are spinning at 3 or 4 thousand RPM with the motor at full speed. The Ernst kit reduces it to the 12:1 ratio found in all Athearn Blue Box diesels.
Or if you have a lot of extra money to burn (say, $85), you can use NWSL's new Stanton drive. I've never tried one myself, but reviews have been very positive so far.
_________________________________________________________________
Forty Niner I picked up a "pair" of brand new Proto RDC's for $20 a piece and they can be found very easily for $25-35 a piece, are scale length, have much better detail and running qualities and are probably a lot easier to convert to DCC. I mention this as you might want to consider this before investing much money in something using 1950's technology and detailing and it's still way to short for scale. Mark
Mark, In many ways I agree or understand where you are coming from, and yes if you shop around the Proto units can be had cheap.
But I will challenge two of your comments - "way too short for scale"? True they are not scale length, but I'm not sure the "way too short" discriptor is fair - the Athearn version is 72', the prototype was 80', that's 10%, and actually only one less window section on the RDC1.
Second - Detail? Fact is an RDC is a pretty plain thing on the outside in real life and the Proto model is not notability better detailed than the Athearn model.
The Athearn model is actually a different version of the RDC than the Proto version. The Proto represents the earliest production runs, the Athearn model has the features of the very last few runs made. The big difference being the headlights.
Again I will agree one might well consider the Proto model before investing time and money into the Athearn, but if you have a reason to, they can be made to run very nice.
One more note, the Proto model suffers from various shell colors/finishes as well as several different window "tinting" colors from run to run, so getting a set that matches can be a challenge if you want more than one.
Hey folks, thank you for your time and effort on posting the reply's and links. It will be fun to have this RDC back on the rails. By the way, what does RDC stand for, I have all so seen units that look something like this one called BUD cars, are they the same?
What I think I will do first is go a head and hard wire in the NCE D15SR decoder and LED's. Give it a try with changing CV's to see how slow I can get it. If it is still to fast, then I will go for the gears.
Here are a few pictures of the car.
Have two bags of none opened parts and the instructions.
After looking at the trucks again, I would love to see what the converted drive looks like.
Athearn part number is 2170, next it says RDC-1 HIF powered and was $20.00. Anyone have a idea how old it is?
Thanks again for all the great answers and time spent.
RDC stands for "rail diesel car". I see yours has the gold motor in it, which appears to have the current style commutator, but it also has a nylon bushing on the other end. So my guess would be about 25 years old?
RDC = Rail Diesel Car
If you really want a unique Athearn try one of the old cast metal versions with the geared Globe drive in it, they don't run 200 smph and are very smooth, also pretty tough to find anymore.
Just as an FYI, Pittman made a motor conversion for rubber band drives back in the 60's had the shafts and all wheels were powered. I had some and used them in some old Hi-F Geeps and they made a world of difference.
If you go to the McBoeing Boeing show saturday you might check to see if there are any there, they are easy to spot as they have a rather large shaft coming out of each side of the motor. These were also gear reduced to slow them down and had much thicker shafts.
mark
Mark I do plan on going to Boeing this coming weekend.
Brandon, darn you are good! So is that good or bad having the nylon bushing? I was thinking it had a newer motor in it, I thought the original would have been a rocket motor. So this would have been made around 1985? I had Athearn's with the old rocket motors that where gear driven, I would think the rubber band engines would have been older.
Ken, they made them for the early 60's to the late 80's without many changes. Motors progressed with other Athearn locos but drive was always rubber band.
I will dry to post a photo of my Ernst conversion tomorrow.
Got to run, tonight is our local Round Robin night!
The RDC was one they never upgrades, even with the newer motor it still had rubber bands. Back in the day, they offered some of their locos with either rubber band or gear drives. The gear drives ran slower sna smoother, but only picked up power from one side of each truck - 4 wheel pickup. The rubber band drives didn;t run as slow and have the crazy whiplash effect if you cut the power (not to mention often roll over on curves at full throttle, just like old die-cast Lionels) but they had 8 wheel pickup so they ran better of less than clean track.
I had an S-12 switcher I put the Ernst hears on - well worth it. I haven't done an RDC - I don;t have passenger trains plus the Athearn ones are 'shorties' to work on 18" radius curves - the Proto 1000 RDCs are proper length. On the switcher, the Ernst gears made it crawl, no more than 30mph at full throttle. I doubt the RDC ones are geared quite that low, the switcher ones actually use half-width gears to add another 2 stages of reduction inside the trucks, since there already was a worm and worm gear off the motor. An RDC should be able to hit 60-70 - the rubber band ones do north of 200, and if you kill the power while running full throttle, they will snap back about 5 feet.
Somethign that helped with my switcher and the Ernst gears, I initially loaded the gearboxes with Pearl Drops tooth polish and ran it in for a while in both directions, the took it all apart (keep each gear set together! now that they are run in you don;t want to swap which gear meshes with which other gear) and thoroughly cleaned everything (also don't drop a gear down the sink!), then put it all back together with proper Labelle grease. With the works removed, I could tilt the loco and the wheel would turn rather than slide, that's how smooth the gears were. And that's with NWSL nickle-silver wheels, not the original sintered irons ones. Might do that while you're at it as well, Less traction but far better electrical pickup, plus they don;t get dirty as fast.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Ken, they made them for the early 60's to the late 80's without many changes. Motors progressed with other Athearn locos but drive was always rubber band.
I bought my RDC when they were "re-issued" in the 90s. It had a new style Athearn motor, but still has the rubber band drive. I found this disappointing, and it just sits in the box. The Ernst gear set is on my shopping list.
Boy talk about time marching on, Not. Little disappointed now thinking it was from the 60's.
G Plain, what did you pay for yours? This one is marked $20.00.
The motor is the giveaway, unless it was replaced at some point. The gold-colored motors would NEVER be fromt he 60's. The 60's AThearn motors were much bigger than the 'modern' ones. Prior to the gold one there was a black one that is about the same size, then there was the old 'giant' one - the reason the GP7 was wider than scale - the old motor wouldn;t fit under a scale Geep hood.
Here are some photos of one of my Athearn RDC's with the Ernst gear conversion.
One other tip - if you have reasonably broad curves, over 26" radius, you can use short shank Kadee couplers and get nearly scale car spacing when coupled.
My units have Helix Humper can motors, NWSL wheels, Ernst gears and A-line drive shafts.
cudakenwhat did you pay for yours?
Oh man, that was almost 20 years ago. I don't remember (not a seinior moment either)
Sure G Plain, you are not having a senior moment
Sheldon, thank you for the pictures. So the tower mount to the rubber band trucks. Where does the headlight go anyway?
Randy, when I saw the Gold Motor I thought it had been up graded.
Getting ready to run it now and see what happens.
Yes the tower uses the existing trucks, and actually floats on the axles.
The head light is that little hood on the ends of the roof, they are not working lights.
It could be done, I just have not bothered.
I bought all six I have for less than $15 each, but then spent about $50 converting each one.
ATLANTIC CENTRALthey are not working lights. It could be done, I just have not bothered.
I was thinking it would take 6 LEDs. 2 yeloglos for the headlights and 4 small red ones for the taillights - directional lighting, of course.
How is the lighting set up on the Proto 1000 RDCs??
Ken, you could put a big 24 volt motor like this in it, which drops it to scale speeds. It's very DCC friendly now, even if I'm not.
Nelson
Ex-Southern 385 Being Hoisted
Ran my last night, tracked well and slow speed was fine. Reason slow speed was fine is because the rubber bands are slipping. I was surprised at first when it would move at around 20 sMPH, then I hit a turnout and got stuck.
Tips on drive bands?
Forget the rubber bands Athearn used. Go to Wal-Mart and look for the clear hair bands I've used on the unit above, or even the colored ones in assorted sizes if you can't find the clear. They don't rot out.
Hum lets see, I now own nail polish remover, hair spray, clear nail polish and now I am going shopping for clear hair bands? Makes you stop and think doesn't?