Ray - I too recently acquired a SD-60 which also needs work for me to be able to run it on my AC Hi-rail layout. The unit I have is scale DC so it needs an AC reversing unit (so if you are looking to unload one of your reversing units, I'm interested - also a sound card if you have that) and the hi-rail wheel sets. I've been exchanging emails with Ron Bashista at AM, who has been very helpful in answering my questions. They do seem to have parts, like the reversing PCB, the wheel sets and AF couplers (which I also need), listed on their website. Their site is pretty terse - hence some of my questions for Ron.
I don't know how far into your project you've gotten, but here's a few things I've found so far. First, getting the shell and chassis apart is a bit tricky - especially without a diagram or manual. There are actually only three screws holding them together, one horizontal at the rear of the loco just above the coupler mount and two (vertical) at the very front of the loco, partially hidden by the front truck. Ignore the other screws you see on the chassis bottom. There are also two pins - each about 2 mm long that stick out on either side of the chassis about mid-way that mate with two small holes in the shell - just above the fuel tank. So you have to spread the shell apart (carefully!) to disengage the pins. I also found I had to pull out one of the handrails at the rear of the loco as the chassis needs to rotate away from the shell at the rear in order to disengage the square block pin that fits in a mating slot at the front of the loco.
Once apart, here's what I observed. First, the motor is double ended, so there are drive shafts and U-joints at both ends going to the front and rear trucks. In my case, there is a front LED headlight - but interestingly, no rear light - though the lens and number boards are there at the rear - even the same lucite mounting block for the LED. I don't know whether the AC reversing board supports directional lighting - hopefully it does. The motor is pretty beefy with two brass weights as part of the drive train. I fired it up with a DC powerpack and found that the wheels on the rear truck would rotate less than one turn and then lock up - interestingly the motor didn't stall and the front truck kept on truckin' - so there must be a slip clutch somewhere at the motor output. So that meant taking apart the rear truck and after some messing around (literally, since there is a lot of lube in there), I found that both the front and rear axles had cracked gears - which no longer meshed with the gears in the drive train. Since I need to switch out the wheelsets to hi-rail, this shouldn't be an issue, but interesting. I don't think this loco has seen a lot of track time, so I wonder what would cause the gears to crack. They are black plastic - perhaps its just old age...??
One other note - after pulling the wheels from the rear truck, I again applied DC power. Its runs very smoothly and quietly from low to high RPM (all this blocked up on a test stand). I look forward to getting it converted and on the rails. Its a nicely detailed model - though it does lack figures in the cab. In fact, there is a shiny nut that sits on top of the front truck gear box that one can see looking into the cab - I think I'll hit that with a little the black paint before putting it all back together.
If you or anyone are interested, I can post a few photos ...
- Rich
