I have seen many posts throughout the years about cracked and broken locomotive gears. I never really read them with interest because I didn't feel it affected me. Now that I am getting more time to run trains I am beginning to have some occasional problems such as derailments, electrical problems and so on. My two part question is what are the symptoms of a cracked or broken gear and what locomotive brands are prone to this?
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
The main culprit has always been the blue box Proto locomotives, namely the Geeps (GP7, GP9, etc.) and the SD series (SD7 and SD9). The tell tale sign is a thumping as the locomotive rolls down the track.
I have read where others see crack gears on other brands and types, but the Proto Geeps and SDs are the main culprits.
Usually though this does not result in derailments or electrical problems, so you may have other issues as well.
Rich
Alton Junction
I have seen the rare blue box Athearn do this as well. Not as common as the early Proto engines though. Some of the Bachmann engines are prone to it as well, especially the 3 truck Shay logging engine and the 2 and 3 truck Climax. NWSL makes/made a metal replacment gear to fix the Shay issues. In On30, the Climax and Shay are also prone to geartrain/drive line issues. Athearn also had issues with the USRA Pacific and Mikado having split axle gears and the coupler between the flywheel and motor splitting. NWSL has replacement gears for them. In the brass world, many early models made by Samhongsa and Kumata have issues with gears splitting and NWSL has replacements for those as well. Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
There was also a run of blue box Athearns that had the gear problem SD45, SDP40, and the SD40-2, I think it was the late 80's?
I have 2 of them, an SD45 and an SDP40. The usual thumping sound, and a slight bouncing or jumping of the truck with the cracked gear.
No derail or electrical problems.
Mike.
My You Tube
willy6 My two part question is what are the symptoms of a cracked or broken gear and what locomotive brands are prone to this?
tstage 1: You'll hear a "thump, thump, thump, thump" at regular intervals related to speed 2: A few early (Pre-Walthers) Proto 2000 locomotives - e.g. GP7
1: You'll hear a "thump, thump, thump, thump" at regular intervals related to speed
2: A few early (Pre-Walthers) Proto 2000 locomotives - e.g. GP7
This has been my experience with cracked gears.
On the Proto-2000 GPs it is an easy fix.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
It's more like a "click, click, click".
Have s gp 18 doing that . What athearn gears could i use since i have spare parts? Proto gp18
I really appreciate the great answers I got, I know what to look for and am fixing my other problems. I figured out my derailment problems...turnouts because I haven't installed manual throw switches or electrical ones I am going to use for my mainlines.
dh28473 Have s gp 18 doing that . What athearn gears could i use since i have spare parts? Proto gp18
This is one of those topics that should be stickied somewhere since it comes up every few months.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
If you want you can also buy new wheelsets with the proper gears attached. These new wheelsets are a bit better quality than the old 1980's-1990's ones. Walthers also sells larger wheels for the old LL Proto E-units.
https://www.walthers.com/replacement-geared-driver-assembly-diesel-wheelset-pkg-2-for-early-proto-2000-r-bl-fa-gp7-9-18-20-30-60-proto-1000-tm-f3
BTW in my LL GP-9 I didn't get a thump or click but more of a grinding sound that came and went. I suspect at times the wheels quit turning and the gears were grinding or something.
I have experienced this on a BLI N&W A class. I gather at some point around 15 years ago they used a type of plastic that contracted as it cured long term. It does manifest itself as a click click synchronized with the wheel rotation.