# usa Enigines add weight?



## Daniel Peck (Mar 31, 2009)

What is your opion on adding weight to USA enigines? if yes about how much did you add and to what model.

Thanks
Daniel Peck


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

as much as I can, I also get rid of the rubber ties.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Many people are concerned about adding weight, since, unlike Aristo, there are no ball bearings that handle the weight. All bearings are sleeve bearings, just brass. 

One person, believe it is Bill Swindell, machines out the journals and puts in ball bearings. 

If you add weight, lube well and check often. In this area, they are definitely not as sturdy as Aristo. 

Regards, Greg


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Gotta be careful when adding weight to things,


When my 1st wife gained weight, I had to kick 


Her to the curb.............................









I know, I know BAD Nicky, back to my Cave.


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## Bill Swindell (Jan 2, 2008)

You're correct Greg. I have added ball bearings to both GP-9 & SD-40 trucks. On my GP-9, it reduced the current draw of my engine by 10%.


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## W3NZL (Jan 2, 2008)

Dan, 
*I've got about 40-50 USA motor blocks that I've replaced for folks in my *
*junkbox... They all have 2 things in common, the 1st is that the axle gears *
*R stripped, split, or both and the wheels, and sliders R totally worn out, the *
*2nd thing is **that the motors and the bushing R fine... I've got several USA GPs *
*that have been running scale weighted, (10-11) lbs for about 10 years now, *
*and their just fine... So running a little weight in isn't likely to cause U any *
*grief, put a drop of oil on the axle bushings about once a year for average*
*use, an U'll be fine... *
*Paul R...*


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

That's good info Paul, never heard from anyone with that kind of long term experience. 

It's so easy to counter the "split axles" and to replace the sliders, can you share what percentage (roughly) have stripped gears? 

In my experience, I have found the most common reason for stripped gears is improper reassembly, especially since the 2 axle F units have a different bushing orientation than the 3 axle ones. 

So maybe I will add more weightt.. the 10-11 pounds are total weight for the GP7's? (they really are closest to GP7's) 

Regards, Greg


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## W3NZL (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg, 
Just about all of these things have split gears, an I'd just have to guess that 20-25% were stripped, 
mostly caused by faulty re-assembly I'm sure, and some were just flat worn out... All the GPs & F units 
R 125 ton class engines, so at 1.3 oz per ton, its about 10 1/2 lbs is what I run them at... I don't deal 
with USA 3 axle units at all, don't like them, never have, I replace them with AC blocks, and sell off the 
floppies in the classifieds...
Paul R...


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Interesting and helpful information. Yes, I've found that all the stripped gears I have encountered (which is very few I will admit) were from improper reassembly. Many is the time I've had someone contact me and tell me that after "working" on them, they were noisy right after or stripped the gears soon after. 

I have no problems with the 3 axle blocks, in fact they handle abrupt grade transistions much better than the Aristo since they are basically a 2 axle truck with a floppy pilot. I have found that most of them have a large amount of friction in the "slider block" that guides the axle side to side. Lubricating and smoothing that eliminated any troubles I had. I also eliminate the traction tires on all USAT locos. 

That said, they are definitely not the pullers the Aristo blocks are, very few locos can outpull my E8's with 6 additional pounds of lead. You just cannot put any weight on the floppy axles. 

Regards, Greg


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