Take apart an Athearn BB engine

[f1_indy2000]

Ok the purpose for this is to show a visual aid for newer guys to the hobby that might be a little intimadated on working with troublesome engines. On another post I had an issue with a curve on my layout that was a real problem but on top of it a new problem occurred that I hadn't realised and it was a matter of taking on the new challenge and that would be our subject to this post and giving it a good ole looking over. So while I was at it I thought why not take some pix to maybe help someone out there. I have seen posts here before where someone asked how do I do this or that, so why not. Once I got it back together and added some oil it runs like a charm.
If I miss anything please let me know because I think this is good info. I actually wish one of these forums existed back in the day when I started digging into my stuff.
So here we have just a basic direct current SD40 Athearn Blue box engine. Basically all of athearns BB engines are set up like this. They work good but sometimes issues occur. So start off by taking the shell off which is pretty simple. Next decide which end you want to start with, I've always perfered to work back and go forward because in the first picture you'll see the gear cover is easer to remove than the front one only because the light fixture seems to get into the way. You'll want to turn the trucks to an angel so you can get your screwdriver under the plastic cover and in between the engine's frame and pry in a turning motion the plastic peice off and set it aside. Later when you put this back together you just slide it over the brass gear and it snaps in. This is pretty easy to do and will make sense then. Then do the exact same to the other cover and then carefully pull the brass gear up along with the plastic peice its attached to. Keep in mind that plastic peice has a notch that lines up with the bigger tube that's attached to the flywheel. Once this is removed set it aside and your trucks are free. The trucks have three connecting pieces that hold the assembly together. There are two small ones on each side(front and back) of the truck that can be removed with a small flat screwdrive. Just pry them at an angle they come right off. The third one is a longer and its on the bottom. To get the bottom one off just use your screwdriver and go straight downward in between the wheels and the assembly and you'll be able to pry out the connector. Its easier than explaining. Once that is off you can pull the wheels out. Once the wheels are out just pull the rest of the assembly apart and you have your sideframes and wheels and gears all right there in front of you. The sideframe come off also. They are attached by a pin or not sure what it would be called, however, once here its a good time to paint those wheels and weather the sideframes or if you have to replace those little gears you can do so. I will add when putting the wheels back into their place they only go one way and that's what the brass square guides are for. Also a lot of this will make sense as you tangle with it. To remove the motor is pretty simple by pulling upward from the frame, however, I'll mention the motor mounts have never been very enjoyable to remove. They can be pretty aggravating.

Ok experence guys out there how did I do and what did I miss? Also I'm getting ready (saving up) to convert to DCC. Are these easy to add decoders to?

 

[f1_indy2000]

I don't know what happened to my pix in the post above sorry

 

[UP2CSX]

Good job, F1, but breaking it down into steps instead of a long paragraph might make it easier to understand. There's a great site along the same lines at http://www.mcor-nmra.org/Publications/Articles/Athearn_TuneUp.html that tells the same steps and illustrates each step with a picture that you might want to take a look at as a template.

 

[ThoroughBreed]

As for doing the dcc conversion; when you have the motor out of the frame, cut off the little clips on the bottom copper strip on the motor, and solder the grey wire from a decoder to the copper strip, put a narrow piece of electrical tape or any type of insulating material onto the bare lead area where the 2 little clips that used to be on the bottom of the motor made contact to the frame. On top of the motor is another copper strip, this is where you'll solder the orange wire from the decoder to. As for the trucks; while you have them out of the frame and the sideframes off them, take a small screwdriver and scatch the steel plate that the square copper parts from the axles contact, up towards the top and where it will not bind or contact the frame when the truck turns. Here, on both sides of the truck, you will solder wires (your choice of colors) to, and since you are still dc at this point, after you have put the loco back together, bring the wires on the right hand side together on top of the motor at the solder point you created for the decoder. You will bring the 2 wires from the left side of the trucks together along side the motor and splice into the wire from the bottom (make sure you leave enough slack to make your connections when you install a decoder).
If you wonder which side is left and right, if you put the loco down in front of you, turn it so it faces away from you and you are looking at the rear of the loco. And for the folks that want to run long hood forwards, just turn the loco so it faces you and connect the wires up as I said above and it will run backwards with dc; but you will have to swap the orange and grey wires from the decoder for dcc (put the grey wire on top and the orange going to the bottom).