Made significant progress on the P2K engine tune up evaluation. I identified five engines to evaluate. Two are larger DCC ready version, two are early versions and one is in the middle, not DCC ready, but uses the modified chassis where the couplers screw in place.
The initial as received test run was completed on all give. On was part of the initial group that led to this tune up activity. It is part of my collection, so it is not subject to a possible sale.
As has been indicated many tines in many locations, all five had axle gear cracking issues. These were replaced before testing began.
The initial tests went well. All of the units showed a need for tune up. The starting voltage and speeds are high and the 12 volt velocity is low. Generally the draw bar force is adequate, but not outstanding.
One of the units, a NP GP9 quit running at the end of the testing. During the 8 volt stall current test. This is not a critical item, so it was decided to fix the unit on the next test item. This is the middle production version. All of these units are used, some more used than others. This initial had a digitrak decoder in place. This was either forgotten or never known. The stall testing likely fried it. These, NP units, sre part of my collection. Fortunately, A second GP9 of similar vintage is also part of the collection. The shapely was removed to verify that this unit is stock. It is, so it will replace the original unit in the series. It will go through its initial test ASAP.
The construction of the two early units is enough different that it is difficult to get at the motor or the truck towers. On one of these a wire broke off one of the truck towers. This occurred trying to clean and lubricate the motor for the second round of tests. In addition the upper clip on the motor came loose. This will all have to be mended before this unit can be run again.
The status as of this writing is:
1- four units have completed the first tests. The fifth unit was tested, but has been replaced with a similar unit.
2- four engines have had their motors cleaned and bearings oiled.
3- three engines are ready for the second round of testing.
4- one engine needs to be repaired then run the second round of tests.
5- one engine needs to run the first round test.
A formalized post of the results will be made at some point after a number of test variations have been completed in this series.
