Model Railroading > Re-powering HO diesels, no more Kato motors, what to us

...noticed that you can no longer get Kato motors to use in re-powering projects, these are what I've used exclusively for years, particularly for older Athearn RTR and all Blue Box stuff, so now I'm wondering what to go with. Athearn's newer motors are fine, it's just the older coffee grinders that I've never liked. Are any of you stuck in the same boat?

cheers,

Lorne Miller

Proto Power West has Mashima motors for Athearn repowering.

http://www.ppw-aline.com/re-power.htm

Peter Arnold

until A-line or somebody else comes out with flywheeels that accept a hex ended universal
with the correct shaft diameter of the Mashima motor, it will very difficult to re-power any
Athearn rtr with A-Line. When I contacted A-line on the issue they told me they couldn`t find anyone to do it cheap enough.
The athearn hex ended universal fit perfect into KATO flywheels. KATO`s website says the 956030 is temporarily out of stock, not sold out

twl



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/10 12:36 by keysubdiv.

Lorne;

If you are trying to repower your Athearn, why not use there Genesis motor. It is only a few dollars more than a replacement open frame unit. It comes with the hex keyed fly wheel. I have used this approach on a couple of older blue box engines. You can use A-Line motor weights / saddles as well.

Jere Ingram

I was wondering if it would be possible to take the A-line flywheels, and using a drill press, enlarge the area where the old coupling would fit, and put in a hex drive setscrew, with the hex the same size as the end of the Athearn hex. You could use epoxy or maybe AC glue to hold the setscrew in the brass flywheel. Has anybody tried this.

Ron Evans
Golden Valley, AZ

I made my own hex drives with hexagonal tubing from K&S. I used a lathe to drill the flywheel ends with a #4 bit and hex tubing was a press fit into the hole. The drivelines were 1-72 screws soldered to 1/16 rod on one end and a regular old style Athearn coupling on the other.