Can We Make It Run? Junked Life-like GP38 Locomotive
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ต.ค. 2020
- I was sent this junked life like GP38 locomotive in the mail a while back and I've been meaning to fix it. This one had many problems (both electric and mechanical) so it took a little more effort to try and get it running again but I believe it was worth it in the end.
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DING DING DING! SMT GETS A POINT FOR GETTING THE MODEL RIGHT!!!! GP38-2
Wtf is youre problem
@@spamtongspamton97 nothing, wtf is yours?
I got a a Life-Like VIA complete set earlier today, going to make a video about it soon
If only every topic on youtube was covered in as intricate detail as SMT Mainline. The world would be a better place.
Great restoration in the Life Like locomotive.
I have N scale Life Like locomotives.
Santa Fe.
2 GP38-2.
Dummy 3560.
Super excellent video, it was VERY helpful. I have an old Life-Like with an engine like that and it has never run right. Now I can see clearly that it doesn't have the correct drive shaft in it. THANK YOU! Nice job on the restore.
The shell looks splendid!
This one was fun to see. I am glad to see you bring them back to life for the track.
Another one for the books my boi. Keep up the good work!
But beware for “it” is approaching
No I’m dirty dan
peanut butter lube, and cat fur! my favorite!
If you didn't have the linkage...a piece of heat shrink tubing would work. Slip it over the metal tabs and shrink it with your soldering iron. But since you HAVE the linkage - ignore me!
silicone tubing is dirt cheap and more flexible
Thanks for the tip. Worked like a charm!
Still loving these fix it videos!
Been saving up my trains that need fixed for the winter time.
I'm actually doing kinda the same thing though mine is a ICG dummy unit and I'm converting it to a powered unit.
SMT, I built an Accurail Chicago and Northwestern ACF 3-Bay Center Flow hopper kit today
Man you do a great job SMT
I never knew life like had that kind of motor as well
Gotta love old Life Likes
I had a Lifelike locomotive looked exactly like this but the motor system was the pancake motor and the gears was stripped somehow it happens to get like that when it ran fine. Great restoration go team lifelike lol.
thats what happened to mine, and that's what brought me from praising life-like to absolutely despising it. Ho scale pancake motors are the worst. I'd take this one over that just cause it's not a pancake. And it's still not that great because the couplers are truck mounted and you can't get knuckle couplers for it.
Lot of personal experience helps, with locomotives, gears, wiring and electrical motors. Too bad yelp didn’t exist in the 70’s to 90’s era locomotives. As a kid you wanted a locomotive and better have the money to buy it if your parents didn’t want to. Luckily my Dad was into model trains.. But Tyco, Bachmann were cheaper. Life Like was barely getting into the market. Hobby stores was Russian roulette and selections sucked. Mind you this was in El Paso TX in the late 1970’s-80’s. There was only mail order catalogs and maybe two hobby stores in a big city.. Model railroading wasn’t popular.. Yet I’m grateful for SMT’s agility in servicing these classic locomotives. I drove to my storage unit to bring home my Tyco Diesel and did my first motor autopsy in over 35 years! I’ll be 50 next year.. I don’t know if I’ll bring my train board out but that’s ok. SMT might think about monetize his collection or auction off or swap with other model railroad collectors. Create a locomotive swap shop, or have an endurance test layout of favorite model scene spots in Canada that his fleet looks great in. Just a crazy idea..
@@lawnmowermanTX I also think that you bring it on yourself. I haven't seen or heard anybody say anything negative on your comment either I have no idea what the hell you're talkin about not trying to be disrespectful but just saying
@@mercuryoak2 You are on to something... But that's Ok.. I thought we all have differences of opinion, or points of view, some find offensive, some go to far, some just have no understanding.. We place too much value in electronic platforms, instead of human to human communication.. Yet, if I bring things on myself, and without good feed back, then critique our points of views.. I might not understand... I deleted the 'offensive' comment... Yet that's Ok.. I put too much faith, confidence and value on an electronic platform instead of building real relationships locally. That's my fault. I apologize for hurting anyone else's feelings.
@@strike9716 theyre horrible in n scale, too. the only hobby pancakes i ever liked were in the aurora thunderjet 500 slot cars- plus they were kid-friendly. oh, i miss the aroma of that 'special racing oil'.....
Nice restoration. Great video!👍
I find your video's very entertaining! U sure do have the confidence to get the job done! Great job SMT!👍🎩👍
he's the motor man from can-do!
Nice looking Santa fa
great video 🚄👍
YUP ! IT's A GP38-2 ! 😎
Truck covers: the generally accepted term among model railroaders" is "Sideframes".
Good for you but who the actual fuck asked
They had a reputaion for selling crud. But that changed in the late 1980s- especially in N scale. I had two of their GP38-2s. Five pole motor was a strong puller, good low-speed starting with a Tech ll power pack with Pulse Injection. Had some chintzy wiring, though.
really? i do motor work at an n/z scale club and i can tell you my fellow members get pissed when the old plastic life-likes run better and more reliably then their beloved, failure-prone, and over-priced proto units. apparently, their motor maker didn't believe in conducting lubricant, either. too bad- it would have saved them a grip in warranty coverage. and its a lot easier to install decoders in the plastic units, as well.
I thought you said can we fix it, not we can fix it! Good fix SMT! And you even got the model right! Great job!
great job thanks
⭐️Well done Harrison ⭐️
they used the same lube on the early proto 2000 locos. thats why the axle gears split.
That’s not at all true the grease does absolutely nothing to the gears. The gears are made of a certain and very thin kind of plastic which leads to splitting
Nice job
some of these makes of locos more difficult to change couplers; valid to have cars with diff at each end to transition to knuckle or whole horn hook train
Nice restoration SMT! I know Walthers continued making these GP38-2s after they bought out Life-Like in 2005, but I think production ceased a year or two ago!
#teamlifelike
Great job restoring it!
I have an identical parts engine im gonna send u when i get enough for a full box. Same roadnumber
Cool!
That loco is a gp38. Two exhaust stacks each side of the dynamic brake cooling fan. Also two cooling fans on rear of engine. The gp40 had three cooling fans on rear. Also they had only one exhaust stack in front of dynamic brake cooling fan.
Wayne
I've never seen a Life Like with a can motor on it before. The first one I had was evidently a newer one, back in the 80's, as it had the "pancake motor" by then. I'd like to find one of those.
Cool
My dad got this same engine when he was a kid. We have suspected that this model was re-painted by a previous owner due to the front logo not being present and the stark difference in the finish of the blue and yellow paints
Good job in the restoration of the Life Like locomotive.
GP38-2 Santa Fe.
HO scale.
My N scale Santa Fe locomotives, GP38-2, Life Like.
3500 and 3560.
Where is you 🐱 ?.
Scooby Doo is a good dog.
Scooby Dum is a nice dog.
Scrappy Doo my pup.
Scooby, my best friend.
I have two of these locomotives, hoping since this is here I can get the broken one running that won't turn on. The other's couplers are no where to be found. And yes, it is made by life-like trains.
Someone either ran it on carpet...or they had a cat.
One of the few redeeming features of modern HO starter sets is they usually come with some sort of plastic "ballasted" track. Does a good job of preventing the gearing from getting all tangled up over time.
@@trainzguy2472 Yea, but those of us who received/bought train sets bak in the late 70's, there wasn't that "pre-ballasted" track.
Nice! I converted mine into a custom Dummy unit.
Tin the wires before attempting to attach the wire pick ups. It makes a better and secure joint.
Santa Fe GP-38
17:30 Well Done!
That model might be an early 1970s era with the Life-Like WM Uni-Drive/Posi-Drive motor (pre-Pancake motor)
It is, I wish they made the rest like that.
Hello SMT!!!
I have a few locomotives myself. But most of them are tyco and I haven't really tested them to see if they work or not?. But I do have a life like locomotive GP-38 union pacific 2007. But it looks like it's very low hour and it's in really mint condition.
SMT - Regarding that cracked coupling on the motor; I wonder if something could be wound around the non-slotted part to reinforce it?
Nice! You pretty much built it from scratch. All it needs now is new couplers, sound, DCC, ditch lights and some weathering and you can sell it for $300. Maybe $400.
Yes
Wait life likes had those motors?!
That is a GP38, the GP40 has 3 radiator vents in the back
I Have Tons Of Life Like Loco's & Cars Even Though Im 12. My Friend Gave Them To Me. They Were His Grandpa's
I’ve recently got into this hobby HO scale I seem too like it the most it’s the perfect size easy to work on with my big hands. I have a question so 8 wheel driven I’m assuming all 4 wheels on both trucks are powered by the motor so that be all wheel drive right. That should give the locomotive more power in theory right.
I always wondered if you put a brushless motor into an HO scale locomotive and some gear ratios will it run smoother or would it just go insanely fast
I watched a youtuber who used to be on tsg multimedia. Daniel Cortopassi who has his own channel now but he put a coreless motor in one of his rivarrossi locomotives and it ran quiet. So i would say yes it wouldrun quiet and fast.
It's probably possible, the only challenge would be powering it since most brushless motors are AC. System they use to power drones would probably work since most drones use brushless motors for the added power.
@@SMTMainline thats one thing id love to have is a drone. when I was younger kid i remember an Rd car magazine that had motors that would push limits of locomotives i mean heck tiny rails at high rate of speed against the wheels would be way to fast. I have 2 of my diesels the lifelike and the Athearn if i was to put at full throttle the 18 inch radius is too tight ive seen it lean the loco as an experiment. Never again go that fast lol. The cars handle it but locomotive not so much lol
Noice
GP38-2
I have a ho scale diesel, same railway same number except it’s in the red and silver paint scheme
How do you get fix it?
Gp38-2s have 2 rear fans and gp40-2s have 3 rear fans.
Asbestos fingers , I was half expecting you to drop the contacts and use pliers
The real is now LTEX 3809(ex BNSF 2191) in lease service
I have a Sante Fe engine and it works but the wheels wont turn like they are stuck straight.
Do you have a Rapido trains VIA RAIL LRC Passenger set One thing I like about that set are the sounds they took sounds off a real LRC Locomotive and their only 2 LRC engines left in Existence both in operating condition
You need to fix that cracked gear.
It is a Santa Fe GP39.
found one for 30 bucks. worth it?
Hay smt I have the exact same locomotive and it’s not running. How do I fix it to make it run again?
Just wonder would this type of gear system turn on its own because i am making slug units capable of genarating their own power
Yes, it is a gp38.
When’s your next livestream?
What did you use to clean the wheels?
I don't know if you will actually read a new comment on this old video, but I was looking for you working on this type of drive as I recently bought a Life Like CN F7 with this drive and I have been trying to fix a problem in the gear box. The motor works fine and the pick-ups are great, but in the gear box the drive with the worm gear is pulled forward when running and the whole thing jams. I have tried to fix it by putting a shim between the front bearing and the worm gear but that didn't work. In frustration I have ordered a replacement chassis with the newer motor and gears design. I wonder if this sort of thing was common with this design as Life Like did seem to change the design after introducing it in 1967 to replacing it in the mid 1970's. I could and would probably be wrong.
Sometimes the nylon fails to hold onto the metal shaft. A bit of crazy glue will usually fix it but you have to be super careful because if it gets into the teeth of the gears the whole thing will be messed up.
Open frame motor. High current draw.
Definitely not an efficient type of motor, 40 year old magnets don't help.
Pre pancake motor life like?
Post-pancake.
So I was technically right its a proto 500 😆
@@pieseasmyseas that’s incorrect it is pre pancake
First they used something similar to what Varney made last, then this, followed by the pancake motor.
Fro me this was filmed at 12:00 o’clock at night because I’m from America lol
Gp38 Its had 2 rear fans the gp40 has 3
#Teamlifelike
A life like interesting and I’m pretty sure that’s a GP 40
What about the amount of the radiator fans
Idk I'm not a professional
Do you ever re-sell the locomotives that you fix?
Sad train
*Fe
U should make ur ho scale track bigger
It seems like they number all GP38 engines 3500. I have one numbered 3500, and I have seen others with 3500 as the number.
It was just for their Santa Fe GP38-2’s with the low nose. The high-hood Santa Fe GP38-2’s were numbered 3560.
I think that is a gp40 2 r because I got one in BNSF paint scream
nope its a GP38-2
Hello im mr murdoch
That happens when some body set the track on a carpet.
Nice Job, but please get yourself a proper soldering iron for this type of work.
Alot of wires for a non-dcc loco
I think the speed was too high
Its a proto 500 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆
Haha, brilliant!
Топ!!!!!
It's a gp 38
U have become a trans DOCTOR great job
Do you like my new logo is a picture of a hockey player who plays on the team the St. Louis blues named Vladimir taresenko
Ho Train Brad Hamrick
Hey brother can you please please give me a train I need one
I edited this comment so nobody will never know what it was
I have one like it and Mine is a GP 40