All Nation dual drive or CLW drive in an AN F unit, which is better?

I like both, but would choose the CLW with tower for one end, and couple through a driveshaft to the other.  That is the way AN sets up the A unit.

Earlier AN transmissions are quite good.  Maybe a bit noisier. Sort of depends on what you are doing, and how clean your layout is.  I suspect the AN transmissions will not last as long as the CLW.  Both will outlast you unless you are a club, and forced to run eight hours a day.

And nothing about either system dictates what kind of truck you use - suit yourself if you like brass sprung trucks.

I prefer the AN.  Both are decent.

Jay

My AN drive is dual tower which I was told came later on and will fit in the A unit.  The CLW drive I have has no towers, but is a direct inline set up with the motor set low in the fuel tank area and directly coupled to the axle gear boxes on both trucks.  I did get my AN drive assembled last night, it is only slightly more noisy than the CLW, but its still stiff and I was just running with test leads and no shell on the chassis.  I can see that either are quite robust.   Mike

I have an idea, maybe a bit screwy, but since you say you are going to run 2 units together, but dummy one, because you don't need the tractive effort.   

I thought it might be more flexible to power just one truck in each unit using one or the other drive.   You  seem to have all the parts except maybe an identical motor.   

That way you could separate them at times if just a few cars and park one at the engine house for repairs.    And you could power the rear trucks in each and detail the cabs.   

I am going to use the CLW in the F3 once I get it painted.  I would like to swap the powered wheel assemblies for non powered wheel sets.  The duel drive that came with the unit, will not work in the A unit unless I cut open the bottom of the headlight box.  I am unsure if that will affect the structrual stablity of the unit by cutting a bit opening in the nose box to clear the gear box.   Mike

Artful Dodger:  Do you intend to detail the A unit's cab interior?  If so you'll want to check that the drive sits low enough in the body to  clear the cab floor.  One issue I had with AN drives in a pair of repowered AHM FM diesels was that over time the sintered iron wheels pitted due to arching.  As a result they picked up  crud much faster than any other locomotive on the roster.  The steel wheels on CLW units stayed cleaner and had fewer pickup issues.

No, I will just put an engineer figure in them.  No in cab detail.  The wheel pitting issue isn't the fault of the wheels, Athearn used them for years in HO scale with no major issues, Sintered iron wheels pull better actually. The pitting is from a high amperage draw on the motor due to a weak field magnet.  I run into this in HO brass steamers I rework for others and install DCC.  I replace the weak magnet with a stack of these little high power Neo magnets from Micromark.  I can get an HO scale brass steamer to run as smooth as a Kato diesel(considered a benchmark in  HO scale drive train smoothness).  I plan to do the same for my O scale motors.  If the stack isnt quite tall enough to wedge in the space of the old magnet, use metal shims to make up the differance and complete the magnetic circuit. Either way, I need to make the F3 a non powered unit and let the CLW powered unit do the pulling.   I was also going to make up extra wheel pickups to give powered unit all wheel power pickup, this will also help with crud build up on the wheels and any arcing that might happen.    Mike

I wouldn't allow a sintered wheel anywhere near my layout.  Ever.  Opinion.

Not all the A-N wheels were sintered iron.

I looked at the wheel sets in my trucks, they look like they are blackened steel.  That point is moot anyways as I plan to use the CLW drive with its duel power trucks in the F7.  I might see if the two power chassis run close in speed, but the Amp draw will probably be more than my power pack will tolerate.   

Blackened steel is good.  I would trade you in a heartbeat, but for some reason 40" wheels are out of stock here.

I found a NWSL part number via an auction on ebay.  Guy has them in a set of NOS AN trucks.  Question is now are they a current part number from NWSL.  I wish the gear boxes just screwed together and I could just yank the worm gears for now, or remove the gear boxes from the axles and put them away incase I want to power it later.  But they are rivited together and it would ruin them to do this.  I could probably modify the bottom of the nose light box to allow room for the gear box if I wanted to power the unit.  Also need to come up with another Kemtron Mars light circuit and 2 screw in 3vt light bulbs so all the lights are on battery power.  I just put the shell back together, got the large number boards mounted, class light holes drilled and only have the steam generator details left to mount.  My F7 has them flush mounted, where as the kit has a mounting boss.  I do not remember seeing any holes drilled in the roof of the F7 when I installed the Mars light battery box, he must have ground off the mounting boss, unless he mounted the details incorrectly.  I am having problems finding a good roof shot of the steam generator hatch on a F3.  

Does anybody think that cutting open the bottom of the nose light box will effect the engine?  I can use the forward most mounting holes for the double bolt that clamps her together.  I can notch out the light box with my dremel cutting tool so the top of the gear box will have room to turn and the chassis can mount properly. 

I'm confused.  I know of no NWSL parts, wheels or anything else, meant for the A-N drives.  CLW, Weaver, RC, yes, but not A-N.

Jay

look over on ebay, there is a set of dummy trucks with NWSL wheel sets in them.  I didnt know NWSL had wheel sets that fit either.  Mike

The NWSL sets he's using are just 8253-4s.  They are 40", 145 tread w/1/8" axles that are1.810" long and have a .088" shoulder.  They are the standard 40" O Scale 2r wheel.  They were not made specifically for the A-N truck.  That they might fit (without modification) is just luck or coincidence.  I order them in bulk for some of my drives though I rarely use the NWSL axles any longer.

I have A-N non-geared axles w/wheel sets but I thought you wanted CLW.

Jay

If I could find another CLW drive it would be nice, but for now, making the unit non powered is the least expensive option, otherwise I will have to modify the nose light box to clear that front gear box.  My F7 with the CLW drive and extra ballest will pull anything I need it to.  I dont need the second unit powered.  Nor do I have the money for a much large(amperage) throttle to handle 2 big open frame motors.  So yes, I need the 4 non geared AN wheel sets.

Well, trade with Jay.  If he doesn't want to, I will happily pull a set of All Nation wheelsets from my nearest dummy and trade with you.  I can do that this morning.

More confusion on my part.  Trade what for what?

Jay

I would say the geared assemblies for the non powered wheel sets, but I suspect the geared assemblies are worth just a tad more.

I agree!  I suppose I could throw in some of the Kemtron Mars light kits.  How many do you want?

Jay

How about a couple of the kits and the wheel sets?  Mike

Mike,

I'll go to the storage unit and pick up 4 A-N wheel/axle sets.

I'll throw in 3 of the Kemtron Mars light kits.  I have five and will never use them myself.

You can email me with your contact info and shipping address.  My email address is in my profile.

Jay

Sounds good, I sent you an email.   Mike