Disassembly, inspection and cleaning.

The first step was to disassemble the chassis.  Washed all the parts in a household de-greaser.  Determined that the model has the dreaded cracked gears.  The wheels literally fell off the gears.  I will have to dig into the parts bin to find some replacements.

The next step was to drill and tap some holes for the couplers

My pin vise is useless when trying to tap metal.  So I used my vise grips. 

Took my time on this part.  Didn't want to break the tap.  2 turns then I removed it and cleaned the metal shavings off the tap and continued on.  

Drilled some holes in the frame for the pickup wires. 2 up front and 2 in the back.

Next step was to get the trucks DCC friendly.  Using my dremel I made cuts on the gear housing.  Hopefully I will have the trucks electrically isolated.

Re: WM 304 old Life Like Proto 2000 FA2 DCC install

This is great. When you drilled holes in the frame for pickup wires, will they pass through these holes?  Are you grounding the motor to the frame? Obviously I have never done something like this.

Holes in frame

RRDAN, yes the wires will be soldered to the trucks and then go through the holes.  I will route the wires to the rear of the locomotive.  That's where the decoder will be located.  The motor will be completely isolated from the frame.  It has to be for DCC. I'm just waiting for the decoder to get here, so I can continue with the build. Also working 3rd shift this month sucks! We went from 91 degrees a couple of days ago to snow.

Decoder platform and coupler install

This was a bracket located at the rear of the shell for a working fan.  I disassembled the fan and cut it down.  Will glue a piece of flat styrene to the top and this is where the decoder will be mounted.

Did a search of the Kadee website to see what couplers they recommend for the Proto 2000 FA2.  I was in luck and had what was needed on hand.  Installed and checked the coupler height.

Electrical pickup for the wheels

I was unable to solder the wires to the metal pieces on the trucks.  The solder would just ball up and roll off. I was able to tap the bronze connectors and insert a short shank 2-56 screw into the hole.  I then used some phosphor bronze wire to make an electrical pickup for both wheels.  lastly soldered a wire to the phosphor bronze.  I will have to do some grinding on the frame because the screw head will hit the frame causing a potential short.

Installing the decoder and finishing up

Had to grind down the frame so the screws on the gear housing wouldn't make contact and cause a potential short.  I used my dremel and a file to accomplish this.

Soldered all wires to trucks and motor.  Placed electrical tape under the motor on the frame to ensure that the motor is completely isolated from the frame.

Soldered the wires to the 8 pin female connector.

Secured the decoder and made sure all wires were clear of any moving parts.

Hooked up a LED for the headlight and number boards.

It was a PITA to put the shell back, but was successful. No shorts. Runs forward and backwards. Headlight works.  Sounds like a coffee grinder when moving, but I'm fine with that.  Thanks for watching.

Wheel Pick-up

The 2-56 screw to attach wire to each side of the truck looked like a pretty good idea, but I am curious as to the need to create wheel wipers. Was there some question to constant contact between the metal wheel / axle riding in the bearing that sits in a notch of the metal side plate?  I have a pair of these same models that will eventually be converted to DCC and have watched your posting with great interest.  M.

Wheel Pick-up

Fishnmack,  I have watched/read where others have used this technique on older "blue box" locomotives.  If you notice I had to cut the metal on one side to isolate the frame from getting current (the two on the right).  Since I wanted all four wheels to pick-up current I used the wipers to ensure this.  

Thanks for sharing your project

Do you find the wipers on the wheel tread attract gunk? I have experimented with phosphorus bronze wire wipers on the rear of the wheel thinking that might reduce wheel wear.

Wipers attracting gunk

King_coal,  I'm not sure if the wipers will attract gunk.  I would think that it may keep gunk from piling up on the wheel...at least where it makes contact.  As far as wheel wear, I think the wheels are made of a stronger material than the phosphor bronze wire.  The wire would probably wear away before the wheel has a groove cut into it.  I don't get to run my trains often. Summer garage floor, Winter living room floor.  I always clean the wheels before I play with them.  Thanks for following the blog.

How about soldering wires to the bearings

I think I've seen elsewhere people solder leads to the phosphor bronze bearings as opposed to the the pieces that hold the bearings.  My understanding is, once they bearings are cleaned, they readily accept solder and then you don't have to tap anything and go through the extra step with the frame.  And, with the wiring to the bearing, it's a more direct connection to the track.  Interesting project none the less as I have a lot of P2K awaiting work.

Didn't think of that!

Didn't even think of that!  That would have saved a lot of time.  Thanks for the hint.

Bearings

Somewhere I have read that the Proto 2000 bearings were of iron based composition. If this is true, then I am not for sure if these bearings will take to being soldered.  The suggested upgrade to these models was to substitute better quality Athearn bearings that were made of phosphor bronze. Since the Proto 2000 models are clones of the Athearn, swapping out various assemblies should pose limited challenges.  M.

Good to know.

Fishnmack,

    that's good information about the bearings.  I think I have some old blue box's sitting around somewhere.  Will have to test the theory.

Re: Bearings

The below photo from my blog shows Lifelike/early P2K bearings hanging from a magnet:

Wow on the iron

I hadn't heard of the iron bearings, but I will watch out for that when I dig into my own P2K stash.  Fortunately, the phosphor bronze replacements for Athearns are plentiful and I would swap them out on my models.  Thanks fro the heads up Don.

Question

Excuse my ignorance on the subject of DCC installation, I am only a novice. I have a question:

Why can't you use the existing factory wire pick-ups?

Thanks

Clint

I too am a newbie to DCC.  Why wouldn't it work to just isolate the motor from the frame with electrical insulation and nylon screws?  Also, buy a tap handle instead of using Visegrips.

Isolate motor only?

Hi Clint,

  What you suggest (just isolate the motor from the frame) would work - for one engine.  If you run a consist of engines, you'll need to also ensure that the frame from one engine doesn't short to the frame of the next engine through the couplers.  One could use plastic-shank couplers, but - bleah.  

  So you can either also insulate the couplers, or you can insulate the frame.  Whatever is easiest.

  By the way, someone earlier in the replies suggested soldering to the bearings.  It would be much easier to solder to the brass rivets that hold the truck contacts.  Just make sure you don't interfere with the sideframe installation.

Regards,

-Jeff

factory wire pick-ups

Craig,

   the original factory wire pick-ups were just clipped to the metal pieces on the gear tower. It was not a very strong connection.  I find it's better to solder all electrical connections.

Motor Isolation

Clint,

   The motor was completely isolated from the frame.  I also find it a good practice to make sure the frame has no current flowing through it.  I fried a $25 decoder by not insuring this on a different locomotive.

As far as isolating the frame

As far as isolating the frame from the truck, it will never be isolated from the truck. The truck pivot point on the frame is the default ground connection. You will always need a plastic shank coupler or a insulated coupler box like the one that comes with Kadee #5 couplers.

isolated the truck

etatkins,

    I cut and isolated the truck pivot point from the truck by cutting two grooves.  The frame gets no electrical current.