Athearn Genesis SD60i pickup problems

[mpi]

I have a first run Conrail SD60i, that I am converting to LED lights and Lok pilot V5 decoder. Using a decoder Buddy, I have hooked everything up the way it should be. The issue is the front truck is not picking up power. I have taken it apart, cleaned the excess grease, scraped the brass recess of any paint where the bearing blocks sit, changed pickup wires, and nothing. The Decoder Buddy is working as it should. I even solder wires to the front pads and, touched the wires to the rail and the motor spun. Some how the side plates of the truck is not conducting the signal on either side of the truck, from the bearing blocks to the wires that go to the Decoder Buddy.
Any thoughts???

[NS4122]

I had the very same problem with my two SD60I's. I found that the rivets that connect the pickup arms to the side frame were not making contact with the side frames. What I did was to create a solder bridge to connect the rivets to the side frames. You don't need to go around the entire rivet, just pick a spot, and solder to make a connection and file it smooth. I have not had a problem since. Others have suggested soldering the pickup wire right to the side frame, but I thought solving the actual problem was better than having a wire connection that might interfere with the truck swing. I don't remember if my side frames were painted black, so you might have to scrape away a little paint to make the solder connections. I recommend that you do this on all the trucks to prevent further problems. Hope this helps.

[tony]

I have a similar problem with an Athearn SD60M with MRC decoder - the problem was the decoder itself. The workaround was to run a jumper wire. The better solution was to replace the decoder with Soundtrax.

Also, check the wire connecting to the truck pickup on each side. Use a voltmeter to test connections (continuity test) for each wire, each wheel, both sides, each end.