First Tsunami Install


M

MGWSY

Active Member
Well I received a Athearn RTR GP38-2 Friday from one of the forum members to do a DCC sound install with front and rear Headlights. Well first thing was to take the loco apart and separate everything so I can solder wires to the Bronze Bushings on the trucks, Some would say that its overkill but it brings down the chances of losing power pickup almost to 0%. The wheel / bearing is the only contact point and from then on the wire was soldered to to the decoder so no wires would loosen up over time.

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Next thing I did was solder wires to the motor and install the decoder using double stick foam tape, then I made a baffle for the speaker out of .020" styrene sheet.

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After that I turned down some LEDs and soldered them in pairs installing them into the headlight openings. I kept the original lenses on the front and removed them from the rear letting the LEDs act as lenses. I left all the wires long enough so you can remove the shell and work on the motor and gears in the future. It was a tight fit as I don't like having wires and electronics in the cab as you can see it so it all goes under the hood.

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I ended up cleaning the motor and adding Kadee couplers and tested the unit. Now I am not a happy camper as after hearing the GP38 Tsunami I want them for all my 38's as they sound just like the units I operated on the NECR.
 
looking good. I never thought about soldering the power pick up wires to the bushings and adding a jumper from axel to axel... I think this may help with a short wheel base P2K S1 I have..
 
Mark,

Wow! The install looks AWESOME! You do very good wiring work, making it look clean. I really like the speaker baffle too.

I'm sure glad I had you do the install for me! There's no way I could have done that myself.

I appreciate the help, I'll be sending you more locos!

I can't wait to get it back and see how she runs.

Thanks,

Michael
 
I like how you replaced the headlights with turned down LEDs.

And soldering a jumper between the bearings is genius! But doesn't that complicate things if the wheels need to be removed at some point? (you'd have to take out both axles)

I am going to do that to all of my Athearns that have the block bearings.
 
Great work! I like the soldering job on the bushings, how well does soldering go on brass bushings like that?
 
1st Yes the motor is isolated from the frame. Frame still conducts power though.

2nd I take the wheels apart and have the bushing by itself put a dab of solder on the top, strip the wires the correct distance and tin them, Then solder the first bushing then the second one. Then I assemble the wheels and gauge them. As for removing the wheels I don't see any reason to do it for a long time and if you do you can just pull the wheels apart and get to everything. Either way once you pop off the bottom cover you can remove both axles and take the truck off if you really had to. One other thing......DO NOT solder to the bushings with everything assembled as you will melt the gear and your unit will not run. The bushings are also not brass but a bronze alloy, Brass would be to soft and wear real quick.
 
I thought about that since most people don't use brass track anymore. If bushings were brass, wouldn't there be contact/corrosion issues and the fact that brass isn't the best conductor of electricity?

I've never taken the wheelsets apart before. Do I pull them out or twist them?
 
Twist the wheels and pull them apart. they will come out of the plastic gear and you can remove the bushing. When you have the truck apart take a piece of paper, card stock, Etc and draw the bushing locations then you can put a bushing on each square line whatever you do and solder the wire at the correct spacing. the wire can be a little longer between bushings but not shorter. I am real busy the next 2 weeks but will do a how to thread step by step within the next couple months.
 
Ok. I think it will be easier if I just measure the wire with the truck still assembled before I take things apart. I have a few Athearns sitting in boxes that can use this upgrade.

Do you also solder a wire from the bushings to the pickup? Or do you leave it as-is with the bushings making physical contact with the metal plates for pickup?
 
Well I solder the wire to both bushings or 3 if its an SD and route it right to the decoder, Simply the main electrical connection goes Wheels,bushing,decoder. The metal plates still pick up power from the bushings but they are not hooked to anything so technically they can even be plastic as they do not need to conduct power. Like I said that the wire from the 2 bushings to the decoder is one piece of wire.
 
The bushings and metal side plates make it easy to take the axels out of the housing but with this set up the possibility of power loss seams common when a loco travels slowly over unlevel track. Would it be just as good to leave the metal side plates in stock contact to the decoder and also use your brilliant idea? Your Idea seams it would add a 2nd level of power contact to the decoder. If the bushing was to move to a point that it louses contact with the plate hopefully the wired bushing maintains contact with the axel and power is directed to the decoder.

I have alot of p2K units that could use this help!!!
 
Well, theres not much play between the axles and the plate in the truck so I think it won't make a difference. On the other hand, there's no reason why you can't combine both methods. You could have four wires going from the truck to the decoder (or you can solder the two corresponding wires together) but that would just be messy under the hood.
 
Well considering the Bushings are what transmit the power to the metal side frame plates then wiring them up is pointless as if the bushing has to have power to transmit it to the side frame plate, if you wire the bushings you are a connection point ahead of the side frame as it will not make any difference wiring the metal sides. Having a wheel lose contact with the bushing is 99.9999999999999999% impossible so why add more work for yourself by doing something completely unnecessary?
 
I just got the engine back from Mark. The install is...PERFECT. Very clean install, everything works as promised. The LED's are sweet looking.

It sounds amazing too, the speaker baffle install was well done.

Very fast turn-around time, and quick shipping.

Thanks Mark, I appreciate the awesome work you done. I will be sending you more locos for installs now.
 
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