Athearn engines ARE quiet!

[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.

[SOU Fan]

Does this work for any other engines besides Athearn BB?

-Smoke

[BRAKIE]

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

Thanks!

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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

[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.

[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.

[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

 

  

[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]

[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.

[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.

[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]

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]

Thank you sir.

[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.

[Darth Santa Fe]

QUOTE: Originally posted by pkeppers

I have several Athearn Genesis F units. A couple of them are real squealers, usually in one direction. I was surprised when taking them apart to find they didn’t have can type motors, they are open on the side. I've tried several clean/lube combinations and none works very long. They chirp like a little bird to the point where they are not fun to run. Overall I'm very disappointed with the Genesis mechanically (they look great).

The motor is actually a can motor, but the sides have square holes for better cooling. The motor was made by Roco.

The chirping is coming from the motor's commutator. You could probably try taking the front flywheel off, taking the brushes out and polishing the commutator with a lubricant, or if you're like me, a Kleenex. Those Kleenex tissues work pretty well for cleaning, I've found. I stopped some chirping in a P1K motor by cleaning the commutator with a Kleenex.[:D]

If that works, your engines should run silent.[:D]

[pkeppers]

I have several Athearn Genesis F units. A couple of them are real squealers, usually in one direction. I was surprised when taking them apart to find they didn’t have can type motors, they are open on the side. I've tried several clean/lube combinations and none works very long. They chirp like a little bird to the point where they are not fun to run. Overall I'm very disappointed with the Genesis mechanically (they look great). The BB had a growl to them but I didn’t mind that, almost liked it. I've also had problems with the outside current pickup in the truck where I never had a problem with the BB square inside bushing. Overall the best combination, in my opinion is a BB mechanism and a Genesis shell.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I have an Athearn SD40-2 that is quiet going forwards but very noisy going backwards. I tracked the problem to the gear boxes. The problem is that the gears are mounted too loose and therefore allow the gears to move around more than they need to. This creates vibration, thus creating the sounds I hear. A whine and sometimes a shreik. My other SD40-2 run very well with little noise. It's also Athearn BB.

[breezer]

I bought a can of 2-26 today and decided to give it a try on one of my BB engines. I cleaned the commutator and applied a drop on it, turned the motor and then let it dry awhile. Put loco on track and ran it, and it was a little quieter but not what I expected. Maybe I need to let it dry the 4-6 hours called out in the directions. The best thing I was referred to but a gentleman at Caboose Hobbies in Denver is a product called Conducta Lube-cleaner made by Atlas. A small drop on the commutator and a world of difference for performance and quietness of motor. I would recommend it to everyone. It is a very good conductor and lube in one. The BB loco's still require cleaning and reapplication every few weeks of running but is well worth it. Some of my BB loco's are as quiet as my PK'S and Atlas locos. I think a lot of athearns noisy motors are from the course commutator grooves and the type of brushes they use. Just my 2-cents. This is a great forum!! Breezer

[Anonymous]

I tried it on one engine so far. Seems a little better, but I really would like to hold off judgement until I have had a chance to get some mileage on it.
Its hard to tell, as ALL my Athearns have had thier commutators polished and springs cut back , universals relaxed and phased, before they ever see the rails.

[Don Gibson]

TRY using a pencil eraser against the running commutator to clean it

[mtrails]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Don Gibson

Slight disagreement.

Athearn BB engines were known for years for poorly balanced commutators. .MR even had articles on 'How to Balance them by using two leveled razor blades and drilling slight indents. Later versions even had off-center flywheels.

True. I have two locos, each with one of those problems. However, neither of them were noisy. Well the one with the bad comm ticks a little bit.

QUOTE: [i]Originally posted by mtrails[i]
Since I started this quick-fix tip topic, I will offer to regularly report my findings after having used the product, and at which point the product is re-applied, or com cleaning is evident.

Well, it's only been 10 days, but here are my findings:

I have been running the two most noisy locos for the past 10 days, one with a squeaky brush/comm, and one that was just noisy. Both locos are BB and only several months old. (funny the newest locos were the noisiest) I have been running the two in consist, 1 hour per day, and alternating order, and direction every other day. The comm on the units look tarnished, more than usual, I expect because of the lubricant storing brush carbon. At any rate they are just as quiet as the day I treated them. They start moving at a lower throttle setting, and can maintain a slow speed of about 1/4" per two seconds. without completely stalling, or noticable pulsing. (?word?)

I will continue running the locos without cleaning the comm until my next update. Hopefully 30 days from now.

Has anyone else used the product?

Regards,
Jeremy

[Anonymous]

Tried the Pearl Drops and it seemed to lessen the coffee grinder noise,so Im going to give the 2-26 a shot . Cant hurt and I can use it for other things around the house. Thanks for the info.

[Anonymous]

For Canadians;
(Correction. I think the following information from CRC is wrong. CRC 3-36 does not appear to be intended for electrical use. Some salesman does not know his products.)
CRC 2-26 is the US part number. In Canada please reference CRC 3-36, part number 73005.

The following are CRC Industrial distributors in Edmonton: Maybe a clue for other centers.

Certified Tool; Acklands-Grainger; Gregg Distributors; Century Vallen; Commercial Solutions;
Edmonton Nut & Bolt; Amre Supply; Fastenal.

I am going to get some and try it. Let you know the results.

[waltersrails]

thanks all try it myself

[Don Gibson]

Slight disagreement.

Athearn BB engines were known for years for poorly balanced commutators. .MR even had articles on 'How to Balance them by using two leveled razor blades and drilling slight indents. Later versions even had off-center flywheels.

[mtrails]

I learned the noise was coming from the brushes against the commutator?[%-)]

[Don Gibson]

Jeremy

A 'hobby' involves learning.

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

D.G.