Will This AHM GP7 Locomotive Run Again? Let's See!
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- Опубликовано: 17 сен 2024
- This locomotive was sent in months ago from a man named Charles. I tested it and it didn't run so the goal today was to get it operational again. After a while of doing multiple tests, the motor seemed to be the main area of issue so repairing appeared to be the only option. I had bought some cheap motors online at some point so I decided to put that in it. A screw-wound 5 pole motor tends to perform better than a regular 3 pole... I would like to thank Charles for sending this loco.
I like Santa Fe. Not a fan of high noses. I’m conflicted. Another successful operation. You need a chalkboard where you can keep track. Four ticks and a strike through for five. Like the prisoners who keep track of their days in jail by scraping ticks in the cement wall. Not a great analogy. Speaking of analog, I went to the Hobby House today and saw a used loco. Tempted to leave a message. But then thought what if someone else bought it. Then I thought, I know, I’ll use a code. Then I remembered that you and I don’t have a secret code. Yet! Wait, am I still writing in the comments? Soon I’m going to run out of sp
Comment of the year award goes to:
@@SMTMainline Lol. You’re too kind.
Nobody ever likes my comments or replies ): ):
@@russellstrainzone2384 Wait until you're in your 60's...you'll REALLY find out why no one like your comments!!! :)
Harrison would need a chalk board the size of the Big Boy, Mark, to mark off all of his successes.😁 Not a fan of the high nose diesels either, Mark. Have you come around to getting more steam locos?
Looks like we got a runner here. You become quite a master fixing these things that your young age. Supposed it wouldn’t hurt to run them on the track before you put the shell back on to eliminate the need to take things apart again in case they don’t run
the way to tell the GP7 and GP9 apart is all internal, the visible difference for all GP7s and early GP9s is the 4 radiator fans, while later GP9s have only two. the AHM locomotive there is a GP18, which has the two fans spread out between the back hood and the cab, whereas a GP9 (later) has them both in the back.
I disagree, this has "chicken wire" over the air intakes, GP18 didn't. So, late model GP9
those fans are often changed/modified during rebuilding, so not a reliable spotting feature. it could be a gp9r
This locomotive is produced by Mehanotehnika (later Mehano) in the former Yugoslavia. It was marketed in the US by AHM, and in the catalog it's listed as GP-18. They are great running locos, Mehanotehnika produced for many brands: ATT, Model Power, AHM, Life Like, TYCO, IHC.. They are some of the best motors/engines compared to other makers, especially for the production period (late`60s onwards) That locomotive is at least 30 years old. Great running engines, I have many of them
Too bad, the ATSF didn't have any GP18's. The real #2654 was a GP7
I enjoy your trouble shooting approach. Checking for cold solder joints is a good start. Nice that you can save many of these engines. Enjoy your videos.
Watching this during making the next "Dinner From the Dining Car" episode...If there is ANYONE who could bring this old AHM back to life...I KNOW IT'S YOU!!! A new motor, and lo and behold...another perfect runner!!! YOU DA MAN!!!! Oh...and interesting use of a box cutter....
Excited to see what's for dinner in the dining car this week. Thanks for watching.
@@SMTMainline And thank YOU for YOUR support as well!!! You're a good man, Harrison! Oh...and episode 20 of "Dinner From the Dining Car" is up and available:
ruclips.net/video/cMer10-Tz7k/видео.html
Hope you like Swedish Meatballs....
It's a GP9 as it has one set of louvers on the battery box under the cab. GP7 had 3 sets. GP20 had single turbocharged engine stack, rather than two no-turbocharged ones. GP 9 had "chicken wire" over the air intakes at the end of the long hood (like this model), GP18 had "rails" back there.
So one set of battery box louvers, two exhaust stacks and "chicken wire" over the air intakes = GP9
Man, I gotta tell you, your channel has reignited my passion for trains. I went bananas on eBay adding new engines to my childhood collection.
I've spent a couple grand on eBay on HO & N gauge locos and rolling stock, not to mention power controllers, tracks, and misc items for cleaning. Fun hobby but expensive.
Love your vids
Good job Harisson! I bought myself 2 rapido Hoppers and a lot of new things for my layout this week, Can't wait to take the school break to work on it!
Another locomotive brought back from the dead! Great work as always, Harrison!
Thank you!
I had one of these engines circa 1975 (noted below as a GP-18 which is probably correct for the "tall" fans and hood louvres). Really, it was a good running engine with a decent motor, all eight wheels in the electrical circuit and powered as well. Plus they were not made of brass. Tyco/Mantua engines had the one drive truck with opposite side pick-up wheels, made of instantly oxidizing brass. Worst thing about the AHM engine was the four-inch thick handrails, but I could overlook that in those days.
DC Motor winding evaluation: Using your DVM'S resistance mode, test for continuity between opposite poles of the commutator (which are the ends of the motor windings, 3 windings equals 3 poles). Lack of continuity indicates a burned out motor winding.
Great work and a neat repair, well done!
I'm proud of you for fixing the high nose GP7 Diesel.
wow, harrison is not afraid of working on junk- he would have made a great hyundai technician
I think that it's funny that you always ask the same question: "Will this locomotive run again?" I'm thoroughly convinced, now, that the answer is always the same, too: "Yes!"
Great job! I enjoy watching you work on locos. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching.
Another great vid - keep up the good work, I keep learning every time I watch your vids!
I learn a lot from these videos keep posting the videos
Glad to hear that, thanks for watching!
@@SMTMainline np!
Great job! Enjoy your diagnostic approach and fixes. Love the end a result, a working locomotive.
Thank you for “how to fix a motor” I fixed an old HO GP7,I don’t know really,but we got it working better
I like your locomotive rehabilitation videos very much. Excellent stuff. Especially those that are vintage in nature. The combined use of X2F horn hook couplers with the Kadee style couplers on your layout is another practice I observe. One can modify X2F couplers to work with Kadee as well. Good luck and keep up the fine work.
you must have eagle eyes cuz i can only see the couplers on locomotives that are being shopped.
Your videos make my day
Nice job mate she is a beauty it looks great running with all those box cars.
Good work! A couple of suggestions; first, the fuel tank is backward, second, you could add more weights inside the shell which would make it pull more but more important improve rail contact since it only has 4 wheel pickup. Stay warm!
Thanks for the tips.
Hi Harrison,
Love your videos.
I have a Bachmann Conrail 3091 locomotive that was my Dad's and hasn't run in 30 years. I tested it on the track a
Hi it's me again do you have an email so I can send you some pics of my dead 3091 loco, and maybe give me some tips on how to make it run again?
I love your rebuilds
These old AHM beeps can become good runners if you take the time to put additional wiper on the trucks so that all the wheels pick up.
They have 5 pole motors that turn super smooth for 40 year old equipment.
Additionally, the drive in these old units could possibly accommodate a small flywheel near the motor in order to make it operate just as good as a much higher priced unit.
These locos are really good for learning how to kit bash and lend themselves nicely to super detailing as long as you take your time with research and don't over do it on the expectations.
I haven't encountered a 5 pole model, all the ones I've worked on have 3 pole can motors. They aren't the worst motors I've seen though since they have fairly strong magnets.
The earlier AHM models like the yellow and blue ATSF you revived in this video were the standard old crusty 3 pole motors for a long time in the 70's.
The later 80's Mehano or (Made in Yugoslavia) engines did come with a smaller five pole motor on occasion. They were all remarkably speedy and actually too fast to pair with any other motive power because of the gearing of course.
Used both of mine as track cleaners on a regular basis, as they would polish the rail head when placed behind any bluebox or high end loco. Those wheels would pic up anything but electricity if not cleaned after every use. LOL.
The later Yugoslavia units came with additional brass contacts on both sides of the trucks for all wheel pickup. They also came with two extra power input lines, a better light bulb and a full length clear optical plastic rod for rear lighting and number boards. (bonus)
These were usually in the red and silver ATSF bonnet with the yellow oval printed on the front high hood.
Same casting as the older unit you have of course, with that big lead weight in the fuel tank too. Note** Don't leave it out....or you won't even pull a feather down the track. LOL :)
Still have two of my original Mehano Yugoslavia speed demons from a 1990 trainset. Albeit repainted and super detailed, they still work great even after many fun hours of hard labor on the many rough layouts I've had.
Thanks for posting videos of your progress. Good to know there are still people out there who care enough to restore these model railroading relics. Keep up the good work man!
adding wipers in this case means adding moving wires- not a good thing regarding reliability
@@tommurphy4307 if you're scared to customize and make better than stock just say so.
It's really a fairly easy conversion if you know how polarity works and what side of the rail you want to draw positive power from.
The factory wiring for single side, dual truck configurations is cheap and goofy considering the benefits of an all wheel pickup configuration and besides, after 40 years, these locomotives are due for a rewiring the same way a real locomotive needs it....old crummy connections are the weak link and need replacing.
Fix it and be amazed!
Bachmann remade these in the early 90's (only offering SF warbonnet, UP, and Chessie for road names), but unlike the AHM ones they had all wheel power pickup, and they were great engines. I have a couple plus 3 AHM ones (including an N&W one I got in 1987 and later rebuilt using a Bachmann one and parts from IHC when they were still around).
glad to hear that. it kind of makes up for the N scale junk they tried to sell hobbyists in the 80's and 90's.
Had the AHM Rock Island BL2. Made in Yugoslavia. Noisiest running engine I ever had. Had no idea back then that the BL2 was basically just an F unit with a different body or that it was EMD's Edsel.
That’s such a cool locomotive.
Sometimes they just need some new parts. Nice easy repower. I've got some of those old AHM rigs somewhere.
"Welllll folks, In todayyyyyyyyyyyyys video" XD!! ;)
Very good video. Success ! Well done
Isn't that a gp18 or is that the same as a gp9 im not sure
Looks like a GP18 to me
great video 🚄👍
Very nice fix!
I have the same engine only in Soo Line. Fairly weak motors and very light weight so more weight is needed if you are going to pull a good amount of cars. Just an FYI that’s a GP18. As always.....excellent job on the workbench 👍
There was another weight in the shell over the motor. I could probably add more if needed although I likely won't be pulling anything too long.
Nice job , You are the train surgeon !
Hello, I enjoy you channel. How do you find your replacement electric motors? I would like to repair a few engines, or at least make them run better. Thanks
Well done!!
this is so cool!! Whenever I'm having a bad day these videos make my day better!
Hey smt I like the loco and I love your channel I really do love it
Good work !
Also I don't think these should be called " will it run?" Videos but rather " have my efforts paid off?" Videos.
I think it’s good I just only think that the title should always be “can we make (what ever item) work?”
I like it but if I did fail, I might have some explaining to do. Haha
I think that "Can we fix it? Yes we can!!!" would do nicely. Or is that too "Bob the Builder"??
those trucks are pretty easy to convert to all wheel pick up. and the motor is only a 3 pole even though its a can also a pretty easy swap
So cool Yesterday I got a CSX GP40
Sorry if this has been asked, but what replacement "ebay" motor did you use. I have a few model power loco's I'd like to revive? Thanks, love your content.
So cool
Really great job. Like to watch you work on Locomotives and getting them running again. About how many Locomotives do you have besides a lot.
I needed a new smt upload
Hey! Harrison!.. What is that certain type of pencil brush you use to clean the motors?
Those were sold as a GP18, by AHM but I recall seeing them in Kay Bee Toys in Bachmann boxes in the mid-late 1990s. I don't remember if IHC also sold these, but that drive would get adapted to all other Mehano engines eventually, it's not a bad design, particularly when they upgraded it with wipers on all the wheels.
AHM sold these in all kinds of paint schemes regardless if it was correct or not, so it probably doesn't matter a whole lot what actual engine model you call it.
I have these down to a science where I can take a beat up powered engine and transfer the entire drive to a dummy in about 10 minutes with no soldering. To do it that way you have to take the motor brush covers off and feed a bare truck shell through the engine frame, but it's not difficult. It's not hard to find the dummy in nice shape because they did not track well, not much weight to them.
Whatever they did to the headlight is not correct, it should have the same plastic clip on the top of both trucks. Luckily they use those on both powered and unpowered, so if you decide to straighten it out parts aren't hard to come by. The plastic fuel tank is on backwards, the two round circles go towards the long hood end of the engine.
Very unusual to find one that won't run at all.
I wouldn't be surprised if they were sold under IHC for a bit. The two were closely connected.
@@SMTMainline IHC was run by the same man who ran AHM and he picked up the rights to a lot of things along the way, former Pemco, former Tyco and other things all got folded under that company. I don't recall his name, but when he died a lot of leftover IHC items turned up in Ollies Outlet discount stores.
Awesome video, May I ask what type of aftermarket motor did you use, and besides it working on a AHM loco, what other loco’s will these motors fit and work on . TYIA
They were unbranded motors from eBay. They don't seem to make them anymore but you can still find other two shaft 12volt can motors which will work just as well.
@@SMTMainline TY Harrison, besides AHM, what other HO diesel loco will these aftermarket motors fit into, thanks
I have a Question for you, Where do you purchase those can motors from and what is the type of can motor is it? Please help me with this because I have plans to rework some AHM locomotives, What other brands of locomotives will these can motors work with? Please help!
Great job
I seen a chassis looked exactly like this and it was going for $1 in a parts bin all marked $1 at flea market I go to. Also there is a shell to fit it . I may see if there still there plus I want to get something there. Now i know what it is I want to get it especially its unique and I may just get it to save it. Just needs weight and it be a fun project.
$1 doesn't seem like too bad a deal if it has all the parts needed for it to run.
@@SMTMainline unfortunately it was gone. Its alright
@@mercuryoak2 "He who hesitates is lost" - Joseph Addison
@@antonbruce1241 yeah its alright though. I was getting freight cars that day lol
then you make an offer for the whole box
For the big 3 in RTR budget from the 70s I'd say Tyco Mantua did the best with diesels, especially GPs. AHM next, Life Like last.
AHM had variety of shells with good casting but the drives and trucks were clunky. Deep flanges too.
Life Like was the least like real equipment but the drives and trucks were better.
Linda locomotiva 😃👍
Well, it's a GP-something. The overall configuration matches a late GP9 or a GP18, but the louver configuration doesn't match a GP-anything. Those radiator grilles strike me as a little more GP18ish than GP9ish, but they're kind of lacking in things that ought to be there either way, so it's hard to tell. For what it's worth, when I was looking for GP18 photos to compare to, photos of this model in several different liveries kept cropping up, so I'm going to say it's probably supposed to be a GP18.
Yes, it was called a GP18 by both AHM and Bachmanns, both of whom offered this model. Being AHM/Bachmann, "detail accuracy may vary".
Both AHM and Bachmann liked to offer a lot of shells, but reuse the same drive chassis. 1970sRTR were $15 models and reflected that.
The Mantua Pacifics and Mikados that he rebuilds often are not true visual models either. They are OK boiler castings, but the plastic parts (cab and tenders) are shared between many different models.
It is the nature of the pool. He likes to rebuild the 70s train set equipment. He as much a locomotive collector as the brass superdetailed modeler. He just isn't driven by model visual perfection.
Even now, Bachmann's locomotive line is often multiple similarly-dimensioned models running on common chassis! E.g. GP40-GP50-GP38-2, GP7-GP9. It's actually a very good way to economically build a product lineup! OTOH, ScaleTrains just announced its second Kit Classics car, which is the same length as its first; while I assumed they would use the same underframe, I was told that it's all new tooling...
Harrison, Why not leave the shell off when you give it the after repair trial run? That way, you don't have to remove it if there is a problem
She just minty now. I'd be proud to run that. Another page in the Harrison shop manual.🚂🚃🚃🚃🇨🇦
Thanks
Probably the easiest way to shorten motor shafts would be with a Dremel cutoff wheel.
Great video. I will send you a pencil soldering iron for your birthday so you can sideline the solder gun for larger items !!
I've got two areas on my layout where I run N gauge trains, one is on a mountain, and another is in an old west theme heritage park, being an miniature train
That's a creative idea. I thought about doing that on my layout a couple times but I don't have the space.
On the bottom says it's made in yugoslavia for AHM., that means that this locomotive is made in yugoslavia by Mehanotehnika in 70s and 80s for european and american market, and those locomotives are better and more durable than a standard ones which are made for yugoslavian market.
Those AHM motors are notorious for shorting out and burning up, also for the love of god go buy some alligator clips.
Subscribed
Only when harrison said its busted completely, we alrady know that the engine has seen its better days. One of the only videos ive seen where harrison cant fix the original motor.
The springs were melted pretty bad to the plastic so I figured it would be trouble to work on.
Man, that thing looked like it was bathed in oil, I’ve seen less oil on a salad.
Yeah, I don't know why someone put so much but who knows. Maybe it started running poorly and they did that to try and fix it?
All it needs now is a horn - available from various HO parts dealers. I'll let the ATSF fans tell us what would be appropriate - what ATSF's GP9's and GP20's have?
You should have a working model of the Locomotives from the movie, runaway train. It’s a GP38, E unit and two GP7. I made a model of it by buying the Locomotives, painting them all black then spraying white on them to create a snow scene, one guy even put matted down cotton on his train to create snow on the decks of his locomotives. I kept mine simple, and on my consist I think I have one working engine but on youtube one kid has a working consist at a train show. Pretty neat.
Another one saved from oblivion
nice!
Oh wow that body looks a lot like mine
I have the same exact engine but in the Chessie System paint scheme
Interesting videos. BUT that's a terrible looking "workbench"! How about some particle board for a nice surface? :)
It doesn't look pretty but I still like it.
WOW! You got it?
Wow
Hello Haul, is this your name? I took a look at your repair it was all pretty good in the grease and oli, But you just fix it,, Such a solution from the magic box hahahaha, Haul I want to ask you something else that you want to answer this question, I have already watched a lot of films, I notice that the drivers blow a lot on the horn and call when driving is this mandatory? Your reaction We in belgium also blow the horns but that is less visibility than 50 meters i foggy weather,Henk Machinist from belgium Greetings from belgium border
Can we fix it yes we can
The motor is ok, the problem is they didnt put flywheels in them so they ran shitty..
7:21 The armature looks pretty dirty
Have several of these
Do you have part/model number of the motor you used?
GP7 locomotive.
Santa Fe.
HO scale.
I gonna buy GP7 and GP9 undecorated in N scale for paint Grand Continental how in the movie Under Siege 2 Dark Territory with Steven Seagal, Casey Ryback.
And the motor looks just like it
Do you have a link to those little 5 pole motors? I have multiples of this model and I'd like to covert them all thanks
I wish I could but they don't seem to sell them anymore.
Is there any thing I can do to make the Bachmann ez track ballast look more realistic than plasticity
GP9 do not have the 3 cent louvers below the cab window.
I have an AHM rs 11 and it is an absolute TURD!!!!! LOL
Link to the motors?
Well fockes in today’s video we’re going to try and fix this old Santa Fe engine
The model is a GP18, not a GP7/9. Since replaced the motor, it becomes a GP18M.
On the Santa Fe, wouldn't that be coded an a GP18R? Or is that just a SP thing??
@@antonbruce1241 Well to answer your concerns, let's call it the GP18SMT.
@@crsrdash-840b5 Works for me!!!!
@@antonbruce1241 love that answer!!!!
Do you have a link to the ebay motor by chance?I have one of these not working.
They don't seem to sell them anymore but you can find similar motors by searching 12volt "dual shaft" dc motor.
Link for Ebay motors? Nice job!
I think they've been discontinued. There are other 12 volt duel shaft five pole motors that might work however.
Hey smt If I lose the springs from a tyco power torque motor How do I fix that
pray you can find them, or look on ebay for junked models or motors. Luckily I had a spare motor when I lost a spring 😳
@@jensenleblanc Pretty much. I've successfully used Bachmann and Life-Like springs from the same era too.
And I subbed too
I wanted to see a new video
What year is this engine from?
I want to restore ho scale engines from life like tyco bachmann ahm ihc Cox and athearn blue box but the hard part is finding the problem and soldering the wires