Hi All, I have a question about Kato's Metra MP36PH, hopefully someone can help me out. What is the purpose of the rear red strobe light? I noticed with the TCS decoder their a an add on light module for the strobe and light. I plan on using the engine in both push and pull operation. Thanks......
That light would be used for light engine moves when the engine is on the main track. In that case, the engine would be a train, and that's the marker lamp, which the rules require on the end of a train. I don't imagine it's used much. There should also be red lights on the front which would be used as marker lights when the engine is in "push" mode.
That kato MP36ph commuter engine seems to be poorly engineered. It can run sometimes, then The worm gear slips and it just sits there. I call it the sit and spin. Gears are all in line and nothing is stripped. Just something not meshing. Disassembled, cleaned and reassembled. No joy. All my other kato run perfectly. Disappointed seeing this happen on this small engine and even their glacier engines are perfect. The gearboxes on these seem flawed.
He was probably not being very serious. But he may nonetheless be onto something. If it's sitting and spinning with all gears meshed, one of the gears may be spinning on its shaft. That's worth investigating. If so, replacement, or finding some way to bind the gear to the shaft, is indicated.
Remove the shell, and inspect what’s spinning and what isn’t when it’s powered up. It could be many things, and my NMRR versions of these run just as perfectly as any Kato I have ever owned. Suspect parts would be Flywheel not stuck to the motor (replace motor) Driveshaft stripped in flywheel (replace driveshaft) Driveshaft coupler not attached to worm shaft (replace worm shaft) Worm shaft spins, worm gear doesn’t (replace worm shaft) Worm shaft doesn’t engage the truck drive gear when torque is applied (check worm gear hold down mech) Everything turns as it should up to the truck, but not the wheels (rebuild the trucks, make sure all gears have their axle pins, replace any broken gears) hope this helps.
Check Spookshows review at the bottom of the page, your solution is there if they have the parts. http://www.spookshow.net/loco/katomp36.html
FIXED! Kato in Schaumburg, I’ll. was very nice and sold me a couple of new truck gearboxes. They are universal so they work on both front and back. Part number kato. 929245 mp36ph power truck black. 1 ea
I happened to get one of the very first production release sets 2011. The early gear boxes were crap and the new sets are much better designed. Never buy any prototypes until full reviews come out by others. Mine was a gift so I can’t complain. All worked out.
