Hi all .
I'm new here and to model railways .
I just got a Lima-NSW-Class-38 loco.
I would like to replace the motor with a smoother running motor for DCC.
So what motor should I get and where from?
Greg

I'm afraid it will be hard to replace the motor. There was a deceased gentleman who did make replacement motors - ModelTorque   You might ask for it via the website to see "if" you can get one 2nd hand.

Google Lima replacement motors perhaps to see what other may have done.

Otherwise it will be a MAJOR operation worth more than the loco and needing some skill. You would have to pull the loco apart. Motor , removed, and even getting one main driving wheel out, not damaging the valvegear.  Then buying a motor-gearboxunit and a new axle and main gear to fit to the lima one.  Then redo the loco with the gearbox/motor somehow.  

There is also the issue og wheelstandards, the Lima loco will not work on scale track - code 83 or 75. Again no easy way to regrind the wheels down.

The few things you can do is to clean the motor, oil and greese the mechanism clean the wheels, perhaps add a resister to the loco to limit  full speed. One can fit a DCC decoder easy enough as well.


I hope others have something different to add !

Regards,
David Head

I hope others have something different to add !

Not much, I'm afraid. In fact I wouldn't bother with a Lima 38 nowadays at all! But back in the day there was little choice. Although if I had two, I'd try kit-bashing a 4-8-2 39 class.

My running modifications were to turn down the flanges on the drivers, additional pick-ups so all driving wheels collect power (both rail sides, and the wheels on the tender, leading bogie and delta trailing truck on the loco), make sure the spring tension in the motor brushes is optimum and not loading the motor, keep the wheels clean. Get rid of the rubber tyres. I also removed the little idler gears between each driver and rely only on the coupling rods for transmission. Add more weight.

There was a bloke who made a re-gearing kit for the Lima 38's and 44's. I got some for 44's and they made a huge difference, but my 38 doesn't have one. Maybe there are some still out there.

GG, you may have to build a new chassis if you want to fit a new motor. But it's probably not worth the effort.

Thanks guys . I will see how I go pull the loco apart and cleaning it.
Greg

If it still does not work properly it might be because the commutator in the motor has worn to the point of being NBG. It does happen unfortunately. If that is the case you need a whole Armature as a replacement and this are like hens teeth today. However as Lima used a standard motor in the majority of it's models steam and diesel then you might be able to find good running second hand Lima models to use as spare parts for your 38. Not just Australian Lima models though also check out the European range  as well, brushes and brush springs were the same on most of them as well. So it might just be a case of buying a few older Lima models and using them as sources of spare parts to keep it running! They are not the best made motor to start with but as David Head said clean it all up including the copper face of the commutator some Metho will usually remove the muck that gets on there and if you cannot get brushes for it if they are worn right down then get a childs formulative normal writing pencil and make some brushes to fit by using the lead in the centre of the pencil. Brushes in model electric motors and the centre lead of a normal pencil are both made of the same stuff, Graphite! You may have to do a bit of slimming the lead down it has to be a snug fit into the holder but not a tight fit though!

Hope this is of help and with any Lima model get rid of any places that rely on springs to transmit the power such as in pick ups in bogies on the pins. Solder a very short pice of wire to the pick up strip in the bogies and then solder the wire to the pin. Then unsolder the wire from the clips on the bogies and replace them to now simply hold the bogies in place. Clean of the top of the pin before hand and tin the area and after replacing bogies into the plastic chassis and securing them in place with the clips solder the wire to the tops of each pin. This removes from the original circuit places where if corrosion occurs then no electricity will flow and hence your model will not run or if it does run a bit it will run badly.

Here is a link to a page that shows the general set up of Lima pickups for diesel bogies the tender bogies on the 38 can be done the same though to improve it a lot.


https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/southozrail/how-to-fix-up-a-930-or-any-lima-diesel-t173.html