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Hello trying to take apart a lifelike p2k gp18 to fix gears. Got the gears from the bottom of the trucks out,but would like to take the trucks out and clean them. Problem, how does the weight come out. Is it pressed fit in or something. I can't get it out to remove the trucks. Anyone ever done this before and could pass along how you did it. Thanks in advance. CF. Had to make this quick edit. replaced the axles back onto the trucks, now I get a shutdown of my digitrax system. I figure it's in the trucks. Are the wheel sets interchangeable, buy that I mean can the wheel with gears go from front truck to back truck and is there a positive and negitive wheel that goes in a certain order. Gee I hope that made sense. Cf.
Ok, Let's try this. got the weight out. In so doing the wiring fell apart. So now the engine is disassembled, the trucks are out, the gears are getting cleaned. Will the motor fit into an athearn, are the parts interchangeable. Just wondering. Again, thanks in advance. CF.
Actually, I don't think the wheels are insulated at all. The 2 half axes should be held together with the worm gear and if you push the axles too far in so that they're both touching each other, they would create a short. Make sure your wheels are in gauge. If they are, then that shouldn't be causing the short.
The pickups are the same as Athearn ones. A brass block on the back of the wheels attached to the axles that are held in place by pickup strips.
Thank you sir. That does make sense. I should have done that from the beginning. Now in getting the weight off, all the wiring came apart. So it's going to need rewiring anyway. I was wondering if the motor would fit in an athearn bb loco. Am I correct that the tooling looks the same. This is a older lifelike p2k that came in the gold box with the lift top. CF.
If you have nothing better, then you can most likely remotor the Athearn BB with the old P2K motor, but if I had any other choices, I would not use it since the old P2K motors are almost as bad as the Athearns.
Fair enough. This was stuff I've had on the shelf for awhile. Thought I might see what makes it tick. It's time to unload alot of it anyway, Been buying new dcc ready loco's, time to sell off the older loco's. CF.
There are very few locos that can't have a decoder placed in them. If there are some older locos that you'd want to keep, hardwiring a decoder in place in a non DCC ready loco isn't very hard at all.
Also, most locos that cannot be converted to DCC cannot be converted due to the motor. If you replace the motors in those locos (just as you were about to do here) then the problems go away.
True, I did one atlas with a kato motor just to do it. I have some Stewart Hobbies with kato motors and some atlas's . Their pennsy and NKP, But I think I'm going to go more modern so I think I'm going to let them go. I was just wondering if the p2k motor was any smoother than a bb athern, thought I might try a swap.CF.
Easiest is to replace an older Athearn motor with a newer Athearn motor, but you'd need to replace the flywheels. The older Athearn motors were 3-pole motors, but the RTR motors are 5-pole although none of these motors are skew-wound.
Actually, I don't think the wheels are insulated at all. The 2 half axes should be held together with the worm gear and if you push the axles too far in so that they're both touching each other, they would create a short. Make sure your wheels are in gauge. If they are, then that shouldn't be causing the short.
The pickups are the same as Athearn ones. A brass block on the back of the wheels attached to the axles that are held in place by pickup strips.
trying to take apart a lifelike p2k gp18 to fix gears. Got the gears from the bottom of the trucks out,but would like to take the trucks out and clean them. Problem, how does the weight come out. Is it pressed fit in or something. I can't get it out to remove the trucks. Anyone ever done this before and could pass along how you did it. Thanks in advance. CF. Had to make this quick edit. replaced the axles back onto the trucks, now I get a shutdown of my digitrax system. I figure it's in the trucks. Are the wheel sets interchangeable, buy that I mean can the wheel with gears go from front truck to back truck and is there a positive and negitive wheel that goes in a certain order. Gee I hope that made sense. Cf.
