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KATO SD-40-2's Journals/Blogs
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Moderator 4,904 posts Bill Brillinger Moderator 4,904 posts
Bill Brillinger

A repost from another thread...

Original Thread: Kato SD 40-2 HELP!!!!

Bill Brillinger

Modeling the BNML in HO Scale, Admin for the RailPro User Group, and owner of Precision Design Co.
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Bill Brillinger Moderator 4,904 posts
Bill Brillinger

Important info....

Kato drive, best in the industry

Wed, 2014-04-09 11:00 — alcoted

Though I will admit the current Chinese-manufactured drives found in Atlas, Athearn-Genesis and Intermountain (also I'll even add the latest Bachmann drives, surprisingly solid looking design for a 'budget' line) are getting to be very, very close runner-ups; I'll still pick the Kato drive as being the best in the HO & N scale industry.

On our club layout, we roster a number of RS-18 kitbash units, built from 1987-era (initial release year) Atlas RS-11 units with Kato drives. These have been in regular operation over 3 different club layouts for 26 years now, with I have no idea how many 100,000's of HO-scale miles under their belts now.

People talk about Athearn 'blue box' longevity. Pffft!!! We haven't had to do a thing to this fleet aside from truck cleaning. Well, not totally true. We actually wore the nickel silver plating off the trucks (down to bare brass) and had to replace them all about 5 years ago for better electrical pickup reliability. Aside from that, we've never had one go down for any drive issue.

We also have Kato 1990-era SD40's, 1991-GP35's and the 1993-SD40-2's in regular operation, likewise with stellar records. We can't say the same for other manufacturers.

As others have mentioned, those brass contact strips in their SD40-2 units are a poor design, one of very few bad engineering ideas from Kato. Aside from electrical pickup issues, they also cause the trucks to be too rigid and can result in derailments if your track is anything other than 100% dead-flat.

If you are relying on those brass strips for decoder pickup, that's your problem. As soon as we saw these we shook our heads. Hard-wire from the truck pickups solves the problem for good, and as an added bonus your Kato SD40-2's can navigate sloppy pre-fab code-100 & 83 turnouts, super-elevated curves and elevation transitions without derailing ...what a concept!

As others have mentioned, take care in taking apart & reassembling the trucks. Aside from that, it should be a pretty straight forward process.

Bill Brillinger

Modeling the BNML in HO Scale, Admin for the RailPro User Group, and owner of Precision Design Co.
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Bill Brillinger Moderator 4,904 posts
Bill Brillinger

Article on hardwiring this beast....

From emillerz

Here's a good resource to make sure you did the wiring job correctly:

http://www.dufordmodelworks.com/katohardwire.html

And Another KATO Tune Up Resource:

Kato SD40 DCC Conversion & Tune UP

And better instructions on taking the beast apart

http://katousa.com/consumers/HO-SD40-2-Truck-removal-instructions.html

Bill Brillinger

Modeling the BNML in HO Scale, Admin for the RailPro User Group, and owner of Precision Design Co.
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Bill Brillinger Moderator 4,904 posts
Bill Brillinger

Kato SD-40's

Quote:

As others have mentioned, those brass contact strips in their SD40-2 units are a poor design, one of very few bad engineering ideas from Kato. Aside from electrical pickup issues, they also cause the trucks to be too rigid and can result in derailments if your track is anything other than 100% dead-flat.

This forum is Gold - I tell ya!!

I have a spot on my layout that randomly derails my KATO SD-40-2's and it's been driving me nuts. And of course, it's not flat. It's a curved transition into a siding. My KATO's are all stock and now that I have received my decoders for them, I'll be making sure to make the extra effort to do the hardwire.

Thanks for the insight Ted!

Bill Brillinger

Modeling the BNML in HO Scale, Admin for the RailPro User Group, and owner of Precision Design Co.
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Jurgen Kleylein Prolific poster 1,119 posts
Jurgen Kleylein

One more thing...

Refering to the link above...

When you have the bearing piece off of the truck, it's your chance to remove part (or all) of the prong which sticks up towards the frame.  This was the contact wiper which rode on the contact strip under the frame, which also causes the contact problems.  When this prong is removed, it allows the truck more lateral motion, which may be what it needs to track better on superelevation and other uneven tracks.  A pair of heavy nippers should do the job.

When you do this, you probably won't have to remove the contact strips in the frame.  They won't do any harm without a wiper on the truck poking up there anymore.

Jurgen

HO Deutsche Bundesbahn circa 1970

Visit the HO Sudbury Division at http://sudburydivision.ca/

The preceding message may not conform to NMRA recommended practices.
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wp8thsub MRH Author 3,348 posts
wp8thsub

Re: Jurgen

Quote:

When you have the bearing piece off of the truck, it's your chance to remove part (or all) of the prong which sticks up towards the frame.

Do this for sure.  There's also a plastic extension molded onto the sideframe to hide the prong which can be removed now as it will have nothing left to hide.  The plastic can also hang up against the frame and cause derailments.

Rob Spangler MRH Blog
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Jurgen Kleylein Prolific poster 1,119 posts
Jurgen Kleylein

the prong cover

Quote:

 There's also a plastic extension molded onto the sideframe to hide the prong which can be removed now as it will have nothing left to hide.

 

Right you are, Rob.  I had forgotten about the cover for the prong.  It's unsightly anyway and totally unneeded.  The same nipper will make short work of removing that as well.

Jurgen

HO Deutsche Bundesbahn circa 1970

Visit the HO Sudbury Division at http://sudburydivision.ca/

The preceding message may not conform to NMRA recommended practices.
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Bill Brillinger Moderator 4,904 posts
Bill Brillinger

I noted tonight...

...while testing new trackage in Noyes, that in fact, only my MID-Production Kato SD40-2's are having this derailing problem. The first run units are no problem at all.

Bill Brillinger

Modeling the BNML in HO Scale, Admin for the RailPro User Group, and owner of Precision Design Co.
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Jurgen Kleylein Prolific poster 1,119 posts
Jurgen Kleylein

different runs

Quote:

...only my MID-Production Kato SD40-2's are having this derailing problem.

I don't know enough about the Kato units to distinguish between production batches.  Maybe you can take one of each apart and identify any differences?

Jurgen

HO Deutsche Bundesbahn circa 1970

Visit the HO Sudbury Division at http://sudburydivision.ca/

The preceding message may not conform to NMRA recommended practices.
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