Athearn RTR Installation

[drisdon]

I'm working on installing a LMS into an Athearn RTR SD50 with a replacement Kato motor and I'm not sure if using the frame pickup is ok or not. Does this work or is it best to isolate it? If isolate, how do you do it? I realized I don't do electronics installation in locomotives very frequently and I am very rusty.

Thanks for the direction and support.

Dan

[roofintrash]

Not sure about anyone else, but Ive had nothing but problems with Athearn electrical pickup causing problems. I eliminated 95% of it by soldering the pickup wires directly to the metal plates the axle bushings ride on. Seems to have done the trick.
I bought a brand new GP40 on e-bay for $40 that someone put a DCC decoder in, hooked to the 9 pin plug and couldn't get to work. I pulled the decoder and plugged in an LM-2. No joy. Wired it like I said to the sideframes and it's the best running 4 axle I own. Still using the factory light board too, but soldered the connections. Just my 2c

[Prostreetamx]

You do have to isolate the motor from the frame. You will need to pull the motor out and cut off the tabs on the bottom and insulate the bottom contact strip from the frame.

[Josephbw]

I have one on my workbench right now that I'm doing. I swapped the brass contacts and put the one with the tabs on top and used the tabs as a solder point for the motor. I put down some Capton tape on the frame to insulate any possible contact with the bottom contact.

Joe

[drisdon]

Thanks for your responses, I'll definitely connect my own wires from the trucks and not use the chassis to conduct. The motor is a kato and is isolated via epoxy resin.

Dan