The wires to the journals can be removed and cut as close to the bodies as you can. They are not needed for the Aristo-Craft motor blocks. I did not remove the bushings from the journals when I did mine. But now that they have been run about 20 hours I am going back and remove the bushings. They will rub in some spots and make a brake squeal type noise.
Step 3: Now you will want to prepare the A-frame to hold the Aristo-Craft motor block. Leave the wires connected to the USA Trains motor block (just lay it back on the locomotive) .
Take a small 1/32 drill bit and a pin vice and drill a hole on each side of the A-frame about 3/16th to ¼ inch down on the 45 degree slope of the A-frame. There is a rib at this point on the A-frame that will indicate the center of the A-frame; it is almost like it was designed for this reason. I have found it very easy to drill a hole on a slope like this if you go in at a 90 degree angle to the material until you get a purchase on the material about a third to half way through. Then pull the bit back out and go in a straight down angle needed to screw the motor block to the A-frame. You will want to take one of the 6X34 Zinc Pan Head Phillips Screws you purchased to hold the motor blocks in place and run it in and out of the holes you just made to ensure the screw will go in straight when you get ready to secure the motor block.
Note 2: In the following steps I did not remove the factory ends of the USA trains connector wires. I tinned the leads from the Aristo-Craft connectors and soldered them directly onto the connectors after using them to crimp the wire in place. These look like they were made for that purpose and speed the conversion. I then covered the soldered parts with heat shrink tubing. If you have a better way feel free to deviate, it’s your locomotive.
Step 4: In this next step you will want to remove the two inside wires on the USA motor blocks by pulling straight out gently but firmly. Tape the two wires together and mark them. There are two pairs of wires that go to the USA motor blocks. The two wires on the outside go to the motors and the two on the inside are power pickups from the motor. We are removing the power pickup wire first and marking them so that they do not get confused with the two wires that go to the motors.
Step 5: In this step you will want to take one of the two wiring harness connector sets that you have striped and tined and solder them to the two wires you just removed from the USA Trains motor block. They
will go Red to Red and Black to Black. Now is a good time to plug this up to the green and blue pair of wires that come from the Aristo-Craft motor block and mark both of the mated connectors with paint or tape so they will be indexed to each other.
Step 6: In this step you will want to remove the two outside wires on the USA motor blocks using the same method as you used to remove the two inside wires. You can solder these to the Aristo-Craft harness and in this case you will want the Wires to go Red to Black and Black to Red. Again it’s a good idea to hook these up and test them. Mark them with different color paint so they are indexed. If for any reason you would have to remove the motor block this will keep the wiring straight.
Step 7: If every thing test out OK, you will now want to push as much of the wiring harness back inside the small hole provided for the wiring as you can. You can now repeat this process on the other end of the locomotive. At this point you can now take the Zinc Pan Head screws and secure the motor blocks in place. Do not draw these screws down tight; you want a little rocking motion.
Step 8: Once you have completed and tested both ends of the locomotive and are satisfied you can replace the side frames on the A-frame of the Geep. At this point I went one further step, I had over a half dozen extra weights for the SD-45s and Dash-9’s setting around the shop so I put two in each fuel tank. Remember these weights are lead and I do not recommend cutting them in a closed environment. I took mine and simply by hitting them a few times on the side with a sledgehammer I flattened them enough to fit in the fuel tank of the Geep. I then used a little bit larger screw to re-secure the fuel tank. Remember these weights are around 2 pounds each so you are increasing the weight of the locomotive by close to 4 pounds.
Post Script:
Sue and I have been very happy with the operational capabilities of these locomotives. Since the conversion they are now more robust, have a lower starting speed and twice the capability of the original locomotive. It took a little work to figure the first one out and come up with a method that I think most of you can do. After that the other two took less than 45 minutes each to do. Due to the excessive heat we are having this summer I have not had a chance to full test these but the maximum load I have run to date is 35 cars and a caboose. The Geeps now track better than ever thanks to the extra weight. If you do no have some extra weights lying around you can order these from Aristo-Craft or use old wheel weights from a tire shop. These work just as well.
Sue now likes the fact that her ACL Geep runs very well in front of or behind her ACL RS-3. I had no idea of where the extra weight would take these when I tackled this project but WOW and I happy with the results. These fine looking locomotives are now doing what they should have been doing all along.
Look for a 6 Axle conversion in an
upcoming issue of the Aristo-Craft
Insider!
You may contact Ron at wengerron@ix.netcom.com