Kato 2-8-2

fifer

Active Member
Can someone tell me how Kato thinks the new 2-8-2 is DCC friendly?
Mine is in about 100 pieces and the motor in it is not even segregated from the frame. It is kinda like looking at a Rubicks Cube!

Mike
 

Travellar

New Member
Unfortunately, as there are no industry standards to dictate just what "DCC ready" or "DCC Friendly" mean, they can on occasion wind up with the same meaning as "New and Improved". :(
 

fifer

Active Member
Unfortunately, as there are no industry standards to dictate just what "DCC ready" or "DCC Friendly" mean, they can on occasion wind up with the same meaning as "New and Improved". :(

That is truely the case here as it is the same old chassis and no improvements aside from the front coupler and mine is in about 200 parts.

Thanks , Mike
 

woodone

Member
Fifer,
Take lots of pictures- PLEASE- I have three Kato Mike's to do.
Here they were one of the hardest to do?:( Do you have the traction drivers on yours? Have been told they pull much better with the traction tires on.
Like I said keep us up to date- on your project- I will be looking forward to seeing how you make out. I will need some good information when it comes time for my install.
 

fifer

Active Member
Fifer,
Take lots of pictures- PLEASE- I have three Kato Mike's to do.
Here they were one of the hardest to do?:( Do you have the traction drivers on yours? Have been told they pull much better with the traction tires on.
Like I said keep us up to date- on your project- I will be looking forward to seeing how you make out. I will need some good information when it comes time for my install.

I am waiting for the traction drivers to get here and the install is not really bad if you remove or modifiy the upper weight and use a Lenz mini , but I am trying to figure out how to keep the most weight and not tender mount it (I do not like all the exposed wire). I may start by flipping the resistor to the other side of the light board and cut a small notch in the weight and then mill some of the front frame and put the decoder under the light board.
Digitrax needs to make a slip in decoder to replace the light board with 2 small wires back to the motor and it would be a snap.
Mike
 

Boilerman

Member
Mike,

The link that Biased turkey listed is what I used to guide me through the process and it was my first attempt at installing a decoder and all went very well with out a hitch.
 

woodone

Member
Fifer/Boilerman,
Anyone put sound in these Kato yet?
This sound like you need to put the decoder in the unit befor you put all the details on. Is that correct?
 

Bones

Member
...the install is not really bad if you remove or modifiy the upper weight and use a Lenz mini ...

I haven't done the mod myself, and the one I have was tender mounted.

It seems, however, that with very careful measurements and mock-up, the boiler install wouldn't be too hard. You can keep about 75% of the original boiler weight I'm guessing.
 

woodone

Member
From what I have heard, the Kato is not that great when it comes to pulling a load. Therefor you must install the drivers with traction tires. I have a hard time understanding the manufacture, when they come out with a 2nd & third release, and don't upgrade the drivers.:confused: you must go out and buy them and install youself.:( To keep the pulling power up, I would think that you need as much weight in the loco as you can get. If you remove 25% of the weight I would think that you would loose a lots of pulling power.
Anyone got some photos showing how and where you removed the weight for the decoder?
Thanks in advance.

BTW. I am going to test one of my Kato's today to see how it pulls, I have very gental grades and curves on the layout so I will let you know. I don't have the traction tires on yet- they will be orderd soon I think.
 

woodone

Member
TEST RESULTS.announce1
Well I did a test on my Kato. 2-8-2. Brand new right out of the box.
No traction tires- Teck II power pack- pulsed DC. I put on 10 cars- all Kadee, 2 40' box, the rest 50 footers. (I ran out of 40 foot cars that were Kadee equiped) I have a 1 1/2% that goes into a 15 inche curve. The 15 inch curve makes a 180 turn. The Kato pulled all the cars up the grade and through the curve without slipping or any problems. Add two more 50 foot cars. With 12 cars you could see that the drivers were slipping a little on the grade but still pulled up the grade and through the curve. Two more 50 foot cars added. More slipping but still made it up the grade and through the curve.
I was able to pull 15 cars, with the drivers slipping some but not bad. the 16th car added brought things to a stop- Drivers will slip and not pull the train. I noted that the curves had more effect than the grade?
Well that does it for my test results. I thought that 15 cars was good, but I still ordered three sets of drivers with traction tires. I don't know how much the traction tires will help, but when they show up I will retest.
Now I need to go back to the train room and put all the cars back into there boxes. :(
I guess I should have started a new thread, but we were talking about the Kato 2-8-2, so I posted here.
 

Biased turkey

Active Member
From what I have heard, the Kato is not that great when it comes to pulling a load. Therefor you must install the drivers with traction tires.

Do not , I repeat, do not buy and install the traction tires . A poor pulling Mikado is a perfect reason to justify the purchase of a 2nd Mikado and run a consist :)
 

Boilerman

Member
As to installation of sound, I know of none that have been done, now that does not mean that no one has done it and or that it can not be doneballoon6 .

I would like to hear from some one that has done it:-D .
 

Bones

Member
TEST RESULTS.announce1
...I still ordered three sets of drivers with traction tires...

Just a heads up...
Unless you own more than one loco, you'll only be able to use 2 sets of these drivers at most. (Possibly only 1) From what I understand, you really only need 1 set.

On a Kato 2-8-2, there are 4 different sets of drivers. -See attached image-
The #1 has round crank pin holes.
The #2 has no holes, and a large counter weight.
The #3 has square crank pin holes.
The #4 has no holes, and a smaller weight than the #2.

Also- 2,3,4 are powered. #1 is not.

In theory, the #2 and #4 should be interchangable.... but seeing the difference in the size of the counterweight, they might have other small differences in design also. I would do some very careful testing before fully settling on using a #4 traction tire driver set in the #2 spot.

If you truelly want 2 or more sets of drivers to have traction tires, I would find a competent person to mill the wheels and add your own using the Kato replacement tires.
 

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woodone

Member
Well I have three Kato Mike's. The information I have is that you put the traction driver on the 4th axle only. That is the reason I orderd three, going to update all that I have. Should have the drivers in about a week. It will be interesting to see how much difference, if any they make.

Biased turkey,
I can run a three loco consist, with the three that I have, I don't think I can find enough cars to load that down. Don't have enough track to put cars on. LOL
 

fifer

Active Member
Here is what I have come up with for a decoder install in the Kato 2-8-2. I plan to write it up soon and create a page on our site but here is a preview.

DSCN4134.jpg



mfifer/Kato 2-8-2 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Mike
 
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