:hammer:Hello all. Just looking for comments, information, and possibly fixes for Proto 2000 SD-60 & SD-60M locomotives. All I can say is WOW, what a noise! I have more than twenty of these...and some of them are like coffey grinders, while others seem to be "normal". Will they all end up noisy? Will the noisy ones quiet down? Last night, I removed all of the gearing in the rear truck of one SD-60M just to shut it up! This is after I did a complete tune up of the noisy truck!! I am seriously considering "gutting" all of the noisy ones and turning them into dummy units. A lot of them cannot be paired with other P2K SD-60s due to speed variations. Surprisingly...they are have no run time on them. I sure could use some suggestions on this one.
Just run them a while and let them break in. I have several locomotives from various makers than have quieted down after getting a few hours of run time on them.
I second that. There's another thread here about noisy Athearns and the same general advice applies - run them forward for an hour, and in reverse for an hour. Any roughness in the gears will smooth out after a break-in period.
HMMM, this seems very unusual for P2K locos. I would try the advice already given and also look carefully at the gears and running mechinism to make sure that nothing is binding and that everything is free of excess flash from the modling procedure.
Thanks guys. I gues that's what is so hard to understand...the difference from one model to another in the SD60 line. The regular SD60 runs a lot slower than either of the two SD60M models. The only way to mu them would be through DCC. I assumed the drives would be all the same. Oh well.
The sd60m versions have a different gearing ratio than the sd60. Therefore, you have to adjust the sd60m down to match the sd60 speed via dcc.
I currently have an HO P2K SD-60 (Oakway) and a P2K SD-60M (BNSF) running together on my DC layout with no problems and no unusual noise, both running together in either direction light and pulling a train in either direction. The only caveat is that the SD-60 is a 2nd release version. They are great pullers and I hear more noise from the metal freightcar wheels than from the locomotives. I have not taken the models apart since I first assembled the bodies to the power mechanism when I bought them some years ago and I did no special pre-run work on them. I often run the engines with an Athearn Genesis SD-75M and they play well together. I still have the operating instructions for both P2Ks and all the items that have to do with power (motor, gears, etc.) have the same part numbers for both models. Here are the part numbers and nomenclature for the relevant parts for reference: 584371 Motor with flywheels and mounting pads 584373 Brush and spring and contact 584374 Universal joint and worm gear 584375 Spur gears 584376 Geared drivers As other posters above have indicated, the locomotives should be properly run-in and a check on proper gear lubrication wouldn't be out of order either. Hope some of this helps.
I have had similar issues with the two SD60M's i have, aswell as GP30's. Apparently from what people tell me, the wear expand in heat and then snap, which leads to the grinding sound perhaps? Otherwise, they've worked fantastically! Goodluck
If they don't quiet down after you break them in then I suggest you do this I had issues with N scale Protos. What I did I took the split frame apart and I removed the bushing closest to the motor on the drive worm this quieted the loco and I had no noise anymore. What happens is that you get vibration form the motor that transfers to the drives worm. I read this in an article and I figured what the heck because till now I tried everything from changing the trucks, motor, drive worm, bushings even the split frame when I did removed the bushing I could not believe such a simple thing can quiet down a loco so much. Anyway I hope this helps.
