Disclaimer:These are suggestions only – use at your own risk. I successfully used this series of steps to install a decoders in one of these locomotives without damage to the unit. Take your time removing shells, it will save you time repairing or replacing parts in the long run. If you are not comfortable disassembling your expensive locomotive, please save yourself a lot of agony send it out to a reputable dealer.
Run time = approximately 1 hour (your mileage may vary)
Disassembling
1) Remove handrails from cab holes. I used a tweezers to gently pry the handrail out of the hole. They came quite easily.
1.1) One on the engineers side of the cab for long hood.
1.2) Two on the engineers side of the short hood.
1.3) One one the fireman's side of the short hood.
1.4) Two on the fireman's side of the long hood.
2) Gently pull the long hood out of frame. There are two tabs on the long hood, one on each side at the back. Gently pressing in on the radiator louvers will help release the tabs. There is also a tab on each side under the cab. The tabs on the short hood are right at the front on the sides. Gently work the cowling off from front to back. Be very careful not to break any of the handrails. The cowling will eventually pop off.
3) Note the locations of the wires on the factory circuit board.
4) Remove the plastic covers from the motor leads and gently remove the motor leads.
5) Untwist the loops for the truck leads.
6)Lift the factory circuit board off of it's pegs. The circuit board needs to be higher than the weights in order to remove the rest of the wires.
7) Remove plastic caps from truck leads and remove wires.
8) Remove plastic caps from front and rear LED's and remove wires.
9) The leads on the LED's were stranded wire, so you may want to tin them with a soldering iron before re installation.
Re assembly
NOTE: When I reassembled my wires according to the factory wired circuit board, neither of the LED's functioned, and the motor was wired backwards. Don't snap the circuit board down until you have tested operations.
1) Start by replacing the motor leads and the plastic caps.
2) Replace the front and rear LED leads and replace plastic caps.
3) Replace the truck leads to the four outer lugs on the decoder and replace the plastic caps.
4) Test unit. If neither LED lights up, reverse the leads to the LED's.
5) Once the LED's are working, test motor direction in regards to the front/rear LED lighting up. If the direction doesn't coincide with the proper LED lighting up, reverse the motor leads.
6) Gently snap the decoder back on the motor posts. Be very careful of the wires, the LED wires are very stiff where the heat shrink tubing has been applied from the factory.
7) Re route the wires as the should be, and gently twist the truck leads to deal with the excess length.
8) Replace the hood. Pressing on the radiator louvers will help ease the rear tabs back in place. Use the same technique on the short hood. Press hood firmly down to snap into place fully.
9) Replace the handrails.
Other Upgrades1) I replaced the factory knuckle couplers with Kadee #5's and the bronze return spring. They are a drop in replacement.
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