"clunk"ing bl2

[Anonymous]

at a train show, i was able to come accross a proto 2000 BL2 in rock island. good price, so i couldnt pass up something so original.
when i took it home, it ran great, except for an irratating clunking noise that made the entire loco twitch to one side.
upon inspection of the axle gears, i found tiny black lines on the axle. are these thi infamous LLp2k cracked gears?
im short of cash, so could i use the akles from an athearn to substutite for the bl2's axles?
Thanks
GEARHEAD426
[8]

[Anonymous]

Yes that's cracked gears. I'm 99% sure Athearn axles work.

[Anonymous]

the bl2 now runs smooth like it should. i replaced all the gears with athearn equipment and there were small clear plastic washers on evil on the worm gears that were somehow bent. they created the horrible clunking noise. i will eventually black out rock island and replace it with Conecticut River Valley. first experience with proto 2000: bad. oh well. still a cool looking loco.
GEARHEAD426
[8]

[MisterBeasley]

Walthers, the new owners of LifeLike and P2K, has promised to make good on all the cracked axles. They say they will finally get the parts in this April. I've got one Geep awaiting repair, but I'm going to ask for enough for all my P2K (and P1K) engines, because they may eventually fail as well.

I really like my P2K's. Even though I know I shouldn't run them in that condition, I just had to pull the guy off "injured reserve" and tie him into a 3-Geep consist, just for old times sake.

[SSW9389]

Gearhead we all feel your pain. This has been going on for too long. Looks like Walthers is going to do the right thing.

[cacole]

I have two of the original P2K BL-2 models and they both made that clunking sound -- it seems to be related to the two trucks not having the same gear ratio. I contacted LifeLike before they were bought by Walthers and received replacement Blomberg trucks that were for a different model but exactly like the ones on the BL-2. The clunking stopped with the new trucks on one BL-2, but the other one is still clunking along.

LifeLike sent the trucks at no charge, and they even paid the postage. If Walthers has replacement trucks available you may be able to get some. I don't recall the model that the replacements were made to fit, but they were exactly the same as the ones on the BL-2.