Some good discussion going on here. I just picked up a couple of the MT 1500's from Kleins when they ran a sale recently specifically for the mechanisms. Probably been discussed earlier but I noted three differences between the drive on the 1500's and the older Lifelikes. The biggest in my book was the MT's have much nicer wheelsets, unlike those manhole covers that originally came on the Lifelikes. A little finer than the current Atlas ones, but not quite as nice as Katos. And just an FYI, I did try swapping out both Atlas and Kato wheelsets into the old Lifelike axles, but since the original Lifelike wheelsets were knurled on the ends, the replacements just weren't snug enough and would slip. And the axle gears are more centered on the Lifelikes so you can't just swap out the whole assembly.
Second was brass worms on the motor, but these are easily changed out on the Lifelike motors for Katos so not a big deal.
And third is the motor pickups, which MT actually soldered wire leads to which then plug into the light board. The Lifelikes were just brass contacts that pressed against the chassis. MT used tape to insulate them from the chassis, but one of mine had poorly soldered wires which bulged the motor cradle way out, making it almost impossible to get the shell on, plus the wire they used was too large a guage in my opinion.
Other than that the diecast chassis and truck drives are identical. And as someone mentioned you really have to watch the frame halves for possible contact points, a bit of flash or a tweaked frame could allow a short.
I'm formulating my plan for wiring these up and will update as needed. I just wish ESU would hurry up and release their Nano decoder.
Bob
