Loosing a flywheel?


jbaakko

Diesel Detail Freak
So, I'm looking at my recent acquisition, the Bachmann Spectrum DD40AX, though I'm wondering, the center slot should be see-through, the rear motor's fly wheel blocks it. Do you think it'll effect the performance much to remove the flywheel and trim back the shaft? Also, how should I got about DCC'ing a split frame?
 
oh ya disconnect the shaft and see how it preforms not good i bet can you live with the shaft only maybe take the fly-wheel only off and build a longer drive shaft?split frame should'nt bee much different each half of frame acts as a wire?
 
So, I'm looking at my recent acquisition, the Bachmann Spectrum DD40AX, though I'm wondering, the center slot should be see-through, the rear motor's fly wheel blocks it. Do you think it'll effect the performance much to remove the flywheel and trim back the shaft? Also, how should I got about DCC'ing a split frame?

Didn't know Spectrum made a DD-40AX...thought it was one of the newer standards, I could be wrong. FWIW if it was a true spectrum it should have a DCC plug.

But to DCC a spilt frame, remove the motor, place a piece of electrical tape into each side of the frame where the enlongated brush contacts touch that frame. Using a pair of dykes, remove the contact strips, leaving their attachment to the brushes. Solder the Orange and Grey leads to each brush holder, and reinsert motor. Reassemble frame.

Wire now as you would any other conventional loco, with Red and Black each coming from one side of the frame. If the flywheel bothers you, remove it, replace with a short piece of clear fuel tubing made for model airplanes and cut the end off of the shaft the flywheel connected to. The tubing SHOULD be strong enough to resist whipping if kept short.

If for some reason you ever do have to replace a bachmann motor in any of the spectrums, 2-8-0 or larger, the standard Kato motor is a drop in replacement, after making the motor bearing slot on one end of the frame large enough to clear the larger bearing of the Kato, on one end. I hope this is clear. Takes less than five minutes with a dermel and a steel cutter head.

At our club 2 years ago, we had wore out two spectrums running them on public display for several months. Both had sound systems and DCC installed. In trying to find a replacement motor from the club stock, the only one that was even close was the Kato. After removing the Spectrum motors from the wore out J and 4-8-2, we found the Spectrums, except for the bearing size on one end, were a copy of the Kato design. height, lenght, and width. identical. The only difference, even in the appearence, was a larger bearing on the Kato!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I had an Athearn DD40 it had an oddball motor in it and no drive to the rear truck, i did like Carey said and used a piece of nylon pipe to span the gap. It worked OK but on full tilt it vibrated.
 
Steve, thats the whipping I was talking about. If it whips, use short pieces to connect a long shaft made from any "hard" material on hand. I even used pieces of rail! Cut to lenght where there is just enough room for the truck to swivel, and the whipping is gone!
 
The Spectrum DD40AX is an earlier offering, all that varies between it & the el-cheepo model is that it has a much heavy frame. It's still "too early" of an offering to have DCC plugs. It should be about 6 years old now. It has two nice can motors in it, both with two fly wheels. My thought was one good DCC decoder, then isolate the motors from the chassis. DCC them both through the same decoder (if I can find one strong enough) and remove the forward most fly wheel from the rear motor, so that the gap remains see through. Hummm, I'll have to play around with this one on some test track first.
 
did you just score this on ebay in the last few days? there was one on there I was contemplating bidding on... but i didnt.
 
Josh, with DCC and all the "bells and whistles" the decoders have, you DON'T need a flywheel. This has been the banter on other sites about removing flywheels. There basic functions were balance and to carry momentum. Since DCC came, you can program momentum, and the newer motors are finely balanced and no need to do so.

So, you don't need the flywheels at all.

Also, you could make a cradle and put a motor in for the second truck.
I heard a fellow that put two new cans in a Athearn and put on in each side, using a single decoder he pulled it off. He just isolated the frame and went from there. I would be leary of putting 2 motors on a single decoder though.
If the amps draw low enough it wouldn't be an issue.
 
did you just score this on ebay in the last few days? there was one on there I was contemplating bidding on... but i didnt.
No, I picked it up almost 2 months ago from a guy on another forum.

Josh, with DCC and all the "bells and whistles" the decoders have, you DON'T need a flywheel. This has been the banter on other sites about removing flywheels. There basic functions were balance and to carry momentum. Since DCC came, you can program momentum, and the newer motors are finely balanced and no need to do so.

So, you don't need the flywheels at all.

Also, you could make a cradle and put a motor in for the second truck.
I heard a fellow that put two new cans in a Athearn and put on in each side, using a single decoder he pulled it off. He just isolated the frame and went from there. I would be leary of putting 2 motors on a single decoder though.
If the amps draw low enough it wouldn't be an issue.
I could use two, and program them at the same time, right, yeah... The two decoders would become one unit...

I still have yet to take it out, but I need a large enough section of track to test the baby out, before & after.

Here's a photos essay I used for decoder installation in a Bachmann split-frame.

http://members.shaw.ca/sask.rail/dcc/tmaster/tmaster.html

I'll remember that about the Kato engine. Does it get rid of the Bachman growl?
Thanks for that Chip!
 



Back
Top