Converting an old MRC Santa Fe to DCC

The second locomotive I have converted to DCC is this very nice MRC Santa Fe.
Its code is "ALCO FA-2 SANTA FE 6951 1098"
The engine was bought sometime in 1970-1980, quite some time ago.
It had been used, but not very much, majority of the time it sat dormant.

I used a DCC decoder model 860014 from laisdcc. Great little chip with lots of functions.

The conversion went pretty smoothly. Time was taken to take apart the locomotive and clean it all out.
The bulb was burnt out and replaced with a white LED.

The locomotive

Insides

Planning the placement of DCC Decoder

Decoder installed to motor and pickups

LED Installed

The led was installed backwards so that it helps difuse the light. I also took a light sanding to the sides to make it more reflective and smooth out the light.

Running locomotive

Thats it for the install. Close up the shell and put it on the track.
Programming was a breeze using DecoderPro and a SPROG 3.

Tuned the vMin, vMid, and vMax values and it is now running excellently.
vMid was set to roughly 40% of vMax for better slow throttle control.

Other

The motor brushes

In very good condition, have a long life still.

Cleaning out the wheels

Lots of dirt and hair/fluff was in between the wheel and the plastic housing

Worn out worm gear?

Notice the left side of the worm gear has a few mm of plastic but the right side has been worn down to the threads.
Might be hard to find a replacement, still looking.

Replaced the traction tires

Being over 30 years old, the black traction tires were dry solid rubber. Upon removal they broke into many solid pieces.