Athearn engines ARE quiet!

[pkeppers]

Thanks for the tip on the motors. I have quite a few of these and was pretty disappointed. I'll give this a try and see how it works.

[Anonymous]

Thank you sir.

[mtrails]

Well, it's been 30 days....

As promised, I would report my findings, regarding the result of using 2-26 on the comm of athearn motors.

Though I had hammered the product performance, running my locos 1hour per day, in the past month, I have dwindled it down to about 15 minutes per day, and I figure I have up to 20 hours on the two locos that recieved the 2-26 treatment.

First. I'd like to say, that I have heard of Conducta-lube, though I have not used it, nor have had the opportunity to purchase it (obviously not on the shelf at the LHS).

BUT.... I will report, that the two locos I treated with 2-26, are more quiet today, than before, and the ONE loco with the annoying "chirp" that wouldn't go away no matter how much comm cleaning I did, hasn't chirped yet, and the other, well, it's just quiet.

Here is a pic of the comm of the Athearn BB GP40 that chirped. No sense enclosing a pic of the other locos' comm, since it looks identical. Though it looks dirty, the motor responds more sensitively to the throttle than it would otherwise.

I would say at this point, this product is worth keeping around.



Jeremy

[Anonymous]

Thats good to hear... I may try it on my two Athearn (one RTR and the other BB).

Oh and btw, how do I take the motor apart? communicator and such...

[mtrails]

Why do you want to take the motor apart? Unless debris or something is lodged inside the armature, you should never have to take an Athearn motor apart.

[HOScaleModelRailroader]

That was a good tip - didn't help much in my case - but a good find indeed.

Coffee Grinder noise, loud electrical hummmm when at slow speed ... all this sounds like my Walther Trainline FA-1 issue that a new motor chassis from Walthers didn't fix. A shame because the FA-1 shell looks great, but the overall motor quality is very poor.

[icmr]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Don Gibson

LET'S SEE:

You found a magical elixer that takes the noise out of Athearns. It's a Petroleum Distillate (read thin) Oil Lubricant.

As a Lubricant, it will reduce friction - where ever that is - for a while - and attract dirt. Without finding the source of the noise, I predict it will return. Some find vibration in the gears, Brakie finds it in the shell. Others have found it in the motor or flywheels.

I think it's really poor Quality Control, no matter where it is.

BB?Joe D'Elia found the answers.
http://www.ppw-aline.com/custom_built_chassis.htm

I have an Athearn RTR that is begining to get noisy, but I had already planned to remotor, WIRE it, and replace anything else that needs it. Any Athearn I get will, sometime in their lives, will be remotored.



Victor

Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]

[dstarr]

   Quieting the Athearn BlueBox locomotive. 

   A lot of the noise comes from tiny invisible bits of crid and plastic flash in the gear towers.  I take  the gear trains (one on each truck) all the  way apart.  Then I wipe each tooth of each gear with a clean pipecleaner.  I always find a few tiny bits of black plastic come out on thie pipe cleaner, which means it used to be on  the gear.  Do this for all the gears, in both towers.  All of my Athearns run a lot quieter after this treatment.

   The Athearn "power wiper" that brings juice up from the trucks can become troublesome and intermittantly fail to feed the juice thru to the motor.  I hardwire my locomotives.  Buy some 1/4"  "Faston" terminal lugs at the hardware store.  They will press right onto the wiper strip attached to the trucks, and still pop off, allowing you to pull the trucks out of the chassis without desoldering anything.

   The headlamp[s] look better when only the headlamp lights up and the cab remains dark.  The stock Athearn lamp shines out the cab windows giving a toy train like appearance.  This can be improved on the F units by making a tubular light shield out of white paper and taping it to the lamp bracket to channel all the light forward to the headlamp lens.   On the GP-38 models make a ceiling for the cab and install the bulb above the ceiling.  

 

David Starr

 

  

[BRAKIE]

Jeremy

A 'hobby' involves learning.

"Without finding the source of the noise, I predict it will return".

D.G.

 

Don,I think I will stick with my method..Its free even tho' it requires a small drop of oil here and there.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I have an Athearn F7 that was very noisy, I mean get on your nerves in a hurry noisy. I used Brakie's little tricks on it and that took some of the noise away. It still had a lot of motor noise, even after the motor was thoroughly cleaned. I got some 2-26 and applied just a drop as recommended. The difference was night and day. One of my friends came over and saw it running and thought it was a different locomotive and then argued that it was the old shell on a P2K chassis. Only when I took the shell off and let him see that it was indeed an Athearn chassis did he relent. Since then I've used the stuff on several other locos that were making more than their fair share of noise. If you don't believe it, I have the loco running on my layout now. If you're ever in my area come by and take a look. It runs just as quiet as an Atlas.

[GGOOLER]

Guys

Thanks you for this post i recently bought a athearn loco a dash 9-44cw, and was pretty disappointed with the noise it made and jerky performance even after putting a lok sound decoder in it. (it didn't hide the clicks and noise). so i kinda parked it for awhile just to have on the layout for looks. so yesterday i bought some of this 2-26 and applied it to the motor and wow what a difference i let it dry overnight and this morning i put it on the track and it runs very nice now, used to take to 25 to get it to start to move and now on 1 it starts. so we will see how long this lasts.( btw when i raced elec rc cars in the 90's there was a product that we used to put on the comm. called"comm drops" i think that was the name. did kinda the same thing but didn't have to let dry.

thanks again

glenn

[loathar]

Hmmm... I'll have to try that. Just curius though, The spec sheet says film type-NON drying, so why would you have to let it dry if it doesn't? And it says it's flamible so wouldn't the sparks from the brushes make it burn off pretty quick? How often do you have to re apply it?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Hmmm... I'll have to try that. Just curius though, The spec sheet says film type-NON drying, so why would you have to let it dry if it doesn't? And it says it's flamible so wouldn't the sparks from the brushes make it burn off pretty quick? How often do you have to re apply it?

Loathar: I put the 2-26 on my Athearn F7 last June and haven't reapplied it since. It still runs quiet. I also have a SD9 and SD40-2, both Athearn, that I used it on and they both run quiet. The stuff works. Your loco(s) will smell a little funny for a couple hours but that goes away. BTW, the non-drying doesn't mean that the product stays drippy liquid. It means that it doesn't evaporate away like so many so-called teflon super-lubricantsts do, you know, the ones you have to use again and again and again ...  With this stuff, I've only had to use it once.

[bogp40]

I learned the noise was coming from the brushes against the commutator?

Following along with Don, this may only be a temparary solution to the problem. The 2-56 coating may increase electrical contact and reduce friction, but as it wears off the origional conditions may return.

Let us know the results after some use. Could last weeks or months.

[BRAKIE]

Well I just tried this "elixer" and by golly it does work!!!

Thanks!

[SOU Fan]

Does this work for any other engines besides Athearn BB?

-Smoke

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Does this work for any other engines besides Athearn BB?

-Smoke

Yes.

I've used it on 2 Bachmann Geeps and a Model Power Hustler. The trick on the Hustler was that the loco has a can motor and the back of the motor must be removed to get the 2-26 into it. I've used it on the axle bearings on the Athearn's and on the pickup shoes of the Bachmann's and there was a noticeable increase in their performance. I have an Athearn BB SD40-2 (we know how noisy those things are, get on your nerves quick, GRRRR!). I used the 2-26 on it and now it runs just as quiet and dependably as any of my Proto 2000's. If you don't believe that, come look me up and I'll show it to you and you'll see and hear how it runs. I live just outside Leesville, Louisiana and my street address is under my avatar.

[NeO6874]

Hmmm... I'll have to try that. Just curius though, The spec sheet says film type-NON drying, so why would you have to let it dry if it doesn't? And it says it's flamible so wouldn't the sparks from the brushes make it burn off pretty quick? How often do you have to re apply it?

 

the film is non drying, although you have to let the carrier/propellant (which, IF I'm understanding the MSDS sheet right is propane or butane or something along those lines) evaporate so that you don't short anything out.  I think it's kind of like (solvent-based) paint in that respect, where it's (REALLY) flammable when it's still wet, but as soon as the solvent evaporates it's no more flammable than the wood/styrene beneath it...

[SteamFreak]

Does anyone know where 2-26 is still available? I've been hunting high and low, but can't find it anywhere. Auto parts places, electronics parts stores, and nada. I found a post in a tech forum where a guy said he bought some a while ago at Home Depot, and it scanned at $.01 per can, because they were discontinuing it. He bought out their entire stock. Home Depot definitely doesn't have it anymore.

The only place I know it's available is from an American Flyer parts dealer, but I'm not going to pay $15 a can.

[Train Master]

try lowes, thats where jeff gets his. its in th electrical section. blue can with 2-26 in big white letters

[SteamFreak]

try lowes, thats where jeff gets his. its in th electrical section. blue can with 2-26 in big white letters

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll have to get over there asap. 

[mtrails]

Since February of last year when I first applied the product, I have had to re-apply it just one time, and that was about 2 months ago. I run on a large club layout, so the locos get plenty of run time.

Having turned this tip to other's, who did not give it time to dry, it has resulted in premature brush wear, and comm clogging. DO NOT RUN WHEN FRESHLY APPLIED. Remove excess liquid, then let dry overnite for better results.

As far as I know, the product can still be found at Lowe's.

 Jeremy

[modelmaker51]

BTW, the stuff works great as a track cleaner as well! Just spray some on a lint-free rag and wipe, lasts for months.

[Railfan Alex]

Has anyone tried WD-40?

Does it have the same results?

[SteamFreak]

Has anyone tried WD-40?

Does it have the same results?

Yikes! Don't use WD40 (or any oil for that matter) on the brushes. It heats up and turns to tar on the commutator. This CRC product is a very thin lubricant, so it leaves little-to-no residue.

A watchmaker I worked with said it was common for jewelers to spray WD40 inside mechanical watches as a "tuneup," where it eventually turns to varnish and stops it dead.

[Railfan Alex]

Good thing I asked this question before I tried!

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know where 2-26 is still available? I've been hunting high and low, but can't find it anywhere. Auto parts places, electronics parts stores, and nada. I found a post in a tech forum where a guy said he bought some a while ago at Home Depot, and it scanned at $.01 per can, because they were discontinuing it. He bought out their entire stock. Home Depot definitely doesn't have it anymore.

The only place I know it's available is from an American Flyer parts dealer, but I'm not going to pay $15 a can.

I found it at the local Home Depot today, $1.98 for a 5 oz. spray can.   

[WCfan]

I'm going to have to try that with my SW1500. Thanks. I was just about to remotor that thing. You saved me alot of time. Thanks again.

[SteamFreak]

Does anyone know where 2-26 is still available? I've been hunting high and low, but can't find it anywhere. Auto parts places, electronics parts stores, and nada. I found a post in a tech forum where a guy said he bought some a while ago at Home Depot, and it scanned at $.01 per can, because they were discontinuing it. He bought out their entire stock. Home Depot definitely doesn't have it anymore.

The only place I know it's available is from an American Flyer parts dealer, but I'm not going to pay $15 a can.

I found it at the local Home Depot today, $1.98 for a 5 oz. spray can.   

I give up. I've been to 4 Home Depots, a Lowes, and some electronics stores. It's not available in this area. One guy recommended Grainger, but I think I'll have to set up an account with them. Sheesh!

[Don Gibson]

Others have founf it comes from poorly balanced commutators and flywheels.