Remotoring some old Atlas/Roco FA-1s ??? Help....

[LV LOU]

Here's my $.02 on this, with the caveat that I don't actually own one of these.
First, be sure that the issue with them not starting up is really the motor and not electrical pickup.
If you can hook clip leads to the motor directly, and it always starts up at relatively low speed, then
the problem is not the motor and you will still have that problem even if you change the motor.

It the motor has trouble starting, it may just have a commutator that's loaded up with carbon.  If you
are game enough to disassemble that can motor, you can clean out the comm slots and it might
run a whole lot better.

Second, as plenty of others have already pointed out, remotoring these makes no economic sense
unless you can get some sort of super deal on motors.   Some Bachmann replacement motors are $12,
but all the Atlas and Kato motors go for over $20, and Mashimas are more.   I used to be
able to get Kato GM5 motors for 10 or 12 bucks, but now that's only if I get lucky at a train show.

There are cheap good motors out there.  One of my favorites is the old Life-Like motor from their
1990s era F units.  You can buy those engines on eBay for 10 bucks and grab the motor.

But really make sure it's the motor before you bother. That would be my advice

Max,pretty much all the Life Like plastic frame locos,the E7,E8,Fa2,F7,GP38-2,and GP18 all use the same motor.The E's have flywheels.

[LIRR]

Agree.mthe LL FAs are Greta for the price. I have 2 ABA sets originally lettered for the L&NE that I reprinted for the L&N. The run very well...good slow speed operation. Only complaint is they are noisy.

[mmagliaro]

Max,pretty much all the Life Like plastic frame locos,the E7,E8,Fa2,F7,GP38-2,and GP18 all use the same motor.The E's have flywheels.

Thanks for the tip, Lou.  I think I knew that the GP38 and 18 used the same motor.  I didn't know about the others.
I can remember friends of mine snapping up those geeps in the mid 90s because they only cost about $18 and  they ran and pulled great.  Cosmetically, they weren't in the same league as, say, a Kato, but they sure could start smooth and pull fantastic.  They were a great value.  And that simple, humble motor ... beats me why it's so good.  It's a 5-pole skew-wound, and there's nothing really earth-shattering about its construction.  But it delivers the goods.

[LV LOU]

Agree.mthe LL FAs are Greta for the price. I have 2 ABA sets originally lettered for the L&NE that I reprinted for the L&N. The run very well...good slow speed operation. Only complaint is they are noisy.

Most of the time,they're noisy because the worm gear bushings aren't seated correctly.Carefully remove the top cover,and push down on the brass bushings till they seat,usually really helps in the noise department..

[Lemosteam]

Thanks for the tip, Lou.  I think I knew that the GP38 and 18 used the same motor.  I didn't know about the others...
  But it delivers the goods.

Max, Now you KNOW I know that!  My motor of choice mainly because I can't afford the exotics.  I buy all of the models Lou listed just for the motor!  The SD7 plastic frame is the one with the long dual shafts...

[LV LOU]

Max, Now you KNOW I know that!  My motor of choice mainly because I can't afford the exotics.  I buy all of the models Lou listed just for the motor!  The SD7 plastic frame is the one with the long dual shafts...

OOh..Forgot about the SD7..John,I think the E's also have longer shafts.

[Lemosteam]

Lou, All of the plastic frame LL engines have that motor.  The SD7 is the longest shaft. E8's not quite as long.

[LV LOU]

 So,what do you guys do with the rest of the loco after you rip their poor little hearts out? 

[pnolan48]

If we are still discussing the Atlas/Rocco FA-1s, the original motors are worth saving if they run. The mechanisms were noisy, but they were one of the first locos geared for slow speeds. The motor is huge for N scale--isn't the shell slightly wider than scale? The engine as produced, even with add-in weights, wouldn't pull much, but I remember that it had decent electrical contact. In the pre-DCC era, t ran at almost the exact same speed at the Atlas Light Pacific (I know, a disaster), so I had a blast running them together, with the steam rescuing the diesel. I think I would not DCC them today, for all the reasons discussed above.

For the split frames, a 115 barrel cutter in a Dremel does real quick work of cutting a recess in soft metal. I didn't know how long one would last, so I bought three. I'm still on the first one after perhaps 25 frame modifications, and that first cutter still makes quick work--and a horrendous mess of chips! Let's see:

Eight LL FA-1s
Six LL FA-2s
Six LL Erie-Builts
Four LL FM C-Liners
Eight LL GP-20s . . .

And the price for most of them was dirt cheap.

[mmagliaro]

Lou, All of the plastic frame LL engines have that motor.  The SD7 is the longest shaft. E8's not quite as long.

Hey there... just how long is that SD7 shaft???
I don't have any... but a project lended on my desk that might need one of these.

[Lemosteam]

Max, I don't know the dimension but as you can see, the shaft of the SD7 protrudes from the flywheels quite a bit.  I think the E8 shaft stops at the bottom of the flywheel pocket.  BTW I used the motor in the pic for my B6 conversion to my B8 tank engine-  this is the one where I wanted to extend the standard shaft with a tube (Atlas Forum discussion).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lemosteam/5020153856/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Lou, I keep the chassis for parts and I have given some shells away.  Most of the shells were pretty ratty, broken stirrups, etc.  I save the bulb and the lead for re-use.

pnolan48, the subject line refers to remotoring, hence the discussion regarding the LL motors and where to find them in case the OP wanted to use one (or anyone else reading thisfor that matter).  So while we are a bit off-topic I don' think we've strayed too far, no?

[pnolan48]

pnolan48, the subject line refers to remotoring, hence the discussion regarding the LL motors and where to find them in case the OP wanted to use one (or anyone else reading thisfor that matter).  So while we are a bit off-topic I don' think we've strayed too far, no?

Not at all! No, no, no! I just had a mental disconnect between the huge motors in that old Rocco FA-1 and how they were mounted in a plastic frame, and the smaller motors in the whole line of LL split frame engines, and how they are mounted. As my layout is mostly in storage, I had this vision of trying to fit a small motor in the place of the large motor. I think, if you could do it, you'd have room not only for a decoder, but a sound system, and probably radars for front and back protection, as well as a video camera.

I was also trying to point out that grinding out a recess in the soft metal frame is really easy, though messy.

[VonRyan]

Hmm, i return from my exile in the wilderness to realize that from your combined comments that basically all i have are some very lightweight boat anchors...

I would have thought that remotoring these locos would have been a relativley easy task and fairly cheap at that. I might adapt a couple lifelike shells onto the two better running units and perhaps give them new worm-gears, but if DCC is not something they are good for, i might just releate them to the black-hole that is my shelf of everything and put the quid towards a Dapol 45xx.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that modeling 1950s Pennsy is not in the cards for me seeing as how there is no logical and economical way to acquire motive power.

-Cody F.