I had seen on here some posts about some of the Proto engines having cracked gears . Which gears were being referred to ? I purchased 4 sd 45’s new & tested them on my test track. 2 outta’ the 4 wouldn’t run right . One seemed to be binding inside & the other seem to be slipping on one truck. I haven’t done anything to them yet as I don’t know whether to send 'em back or what. Are these just lemons or does proto put out 2nd quality stuff ? I usually buy Atlas & Kato with no problems. These are Ho scale.[tdn]
I don’t think the sd45’s had the cracked gear problem. I would suspect they might need lubricating. to check for the cracked gears simply try to rotate the wheels by hand. If the wheels turn free with a little pressure then the axle gear is cracked. A good gear won’t let the wheel turn without a lot of pressure. Check all wheels this way. Usually if there is a cracked gear you will hear a thumping sound when the engine is running down the track.
Dan Pikulski
The cracked gear problem was on very early P2K locomotives made by LifeLike before Walthers bought them out, primarily the first run of BL-2 models.
I’m not familiar with current P2K models, but if these SD 45s are recent models, they should not have cracked gears. Clean the wheels and track and see if that helps.
As the one poster stated, you will here a thump thump noise, and if you have freight behind it you will also here a clicking noise. I have some of the older GP7’s, GP9’s, GP18’s, and GP30’s, they all at one time or another developed a cracked gear, its an easy fix and cheap to fix. Athearn made axel gears that are 99.95 the same, but made a bit thicker. If I had one gear that was cracked and acting up, I replaced all of the gears at the same time. Its just a matter of poping the cover off the bottom of the truck assemblt and dropping the wheel sets out, change the gears out, gauge the wheels, then put it back together.
Whats funny is that some of the older P2k’s had cracked gears brand new. I bought a few of them right off the shelf that were bad. Allot of the retailers were selling them a few years back at a discount. Some owners sent them back to the manufacter and got them fixed, or they contacted the company and they sent them the new parts.
Here is a link for the parts from Athearn.
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH60024
As I remember the locos with this problem are the GP7, GP9, GP18, GP20, GP30, FA1/FB1, FA2/FB2, BL1/BL2. There may be others.
I had a problem on a new proto SD-45. The drive shaft to one of the trucks had the U joint loosen, so the shaft spun but the U joint didn’t and the gears didn’t. I took it apart and put some CA glue. Seems to have worked Ok as I haven’t had a problem since.
Tom
Did you buy the locomotives new? I have several P2K locomotives and all run beautifully. No problems at all.
Our number one kid has several P2K GP-7 & GP-9 locomotives and all had cracked gears/axles. We xontacted Walthers and they replaced the defective axles with new parts.
As mentioned the defective gears will lead to a thump noise ans sometimes a jerk in the movement of the locomotive.
IMHO P2k locomotives are top drawer.
Oh, I have one of the older P2K’s (Formerly Jeffery’s) and it had a cracked gear before my ownership, and it runs fine. Oh, and by the way, it’s a GP-30.
All 4 axle gears on that one were cracked. They were all replaced with gears I scavenged from an old Athearn F7.
Send 'em back for R/R…No need to fix a high end locomotive and Walther’s needs to know they have a QC problem…
FWIW the crack gear issue still appears from time to time on some newer models…
yeah,I had one of those BL2.forgot all about it till reading these posts.It did make that clunking sound while pulling.I thing i just scapped it after a lackluster attempt at repair.However,I recently purchased the walthers H-44 with sound and its squeeling badly.As loud as the sound system itself,which by the way the has the lowest volume by far of all my other sound equipped locos.Whats up with that?
Thanks for everones’ input . I disassembled one of the locos and fixed it like Tom had posted earlier. It looked to me like the coupler for the driveshaft that is pressed into flywheel had never been inserted at the factory,so much for quality control . It should be ok now. The other loco was so dry inside the gear towers it wasn’t even funny. Labelle took care of that. I know I should’ve sent them both back, 6 degrees outside today,so I kinda enjoyed tinkering with them. These are nicely detailed locos for the bucks. Randy…
Hey armchair,
You have encountered one of the most common topics on the forum. It comes up all the time.
I have put up this info couple of years ago, but it bears repeating:
ALL the older P2K models are prone to this problem. It can happen to one or all the axls/gears on a loco. And it can happen on a NIB oldstock loco AND to a loco that you have right now that runs fine, but will develop a cracked gear in the future.
Not every P2K older axle will crack. The problem is that a glitch in one LifeLike press (before the days of Walters involvment) resulted in a very big swak of these wheels being pressed onto the gear with holes that are too small (by an infintesimal amount) in the gear. Unfortunately no one noticed for quite awhile as the axles will sit nicely in the loco on the shelf and then just pop open (tiny cracks mind you)…whether the loco was ever used or not. And they can pop open year later even today on one sitting on your layout. I suppose it may have a bit to do with temperature or humidity.
The flawed axles/gears were mixed endlessly with good ones and it is just the luck of the draw what comes up on your loco. I have had old P2K with no problems, one axel gone and some with all four kaput! Those of us who use a lot of P2K take it as a matter of course and keep a supply of replacements on hand.
At first I bought entire new axle assemblies from Walthes modestly priced but then found I really just needed the new gear which can be had for even less from your LHS. Athearn makes gear that will work well.
But dont despair over the P2K locos. I have had the exact thing (for reasons unknown) in more than one other Stewart and a couple of Katos. Go figure.
I buy some locos on Ebay. Many sellers indicate t
CK wrote:But dont despair over the P2K locos. I have had the exact thing (for reasons unknown) in more than one other Stewart and a couple of Katos. Go figure.
I wonder if there is a jobber that makes gears for all brands? I have heard and read reports of crack gears in Atlas,Athearn and Bachmann locos.[?]
Cisco ; so the bad gears are usually the axle gears ? I have a huge collection of older proto locos, some have not even been test run. knowing my luck , there’s some bad news in those boxes. I was planning a huge locomotive salvage industry on my new layout anyway !
Cold Steel, I would definately return the H-44 if it has problems, theres a lot of difference in price between it & those sd-45’s , I got a great price on them . The sound equipped protos I have run flawlessly.
Yes, that typical gear problem is the gear right on the center of the axle…a little black gear. Sometimes the crack is hard to see, but as someone else pointed out, the usual test is to try to spin them with your thumb while still mounted in the loco.
I just checked my packages to be sure, and the bag of replacement gears I have is labelled Athearn SD40-2, and these work for both Proto 2000 and Stewarts. The price shows $2.50 for 6 gears, which you then just press into place with your fingers once you pull off the cracked gear. Then you need your wheel gauge to set them correctly. Easy to do…(and if you are going to r&r some older locos it is a good idea to completely remove the wheel sets for a thorough cleaning of the old grease in the gear case and gunk on the “tires” anyway. What you will often find is not a lack of grease but that most people have loaded up way too much old grease in the gear case and it starts migrating out.)
The Katos and Bachmann that I have replaced have much smaller metal axles and these two are interchangeable…at least for the problem models I have had. Newer models are different.
I can’t recall how much Walthers charged for the 2-pacs of the entire new wheel set, but it was a few dollars per pack.
Sometimes a loco with a cracked gear will just run poorly, slowly or with a bit of extra noise, but often will “hop” and snap down the track very noticeably as the gear malfunctions.
Arm Chair, I have never bought a Atlas or Kato engine yet. But, I have PCM, BLI, Athearn RTR, Old BB boxes and Proto 1000’s and 2000’s. All the high end stuff like $600.00 PCM’s have had problems. On the other hand my old Protos take a licking and keep on ticking.
I all so bought 4 PK BL 2’s used (made in the 80’s) and all came in with craked gears. After refitting them with Athearn’s gears they pull strong.
Far as dry gear’s, none of my new Protos have had that problem yet. BLI’s on the other hand, well have had 3 dry as a bone.
Cuda Ken
Ken,I hear more complaints about P2K locomotive then any other brand the complaints range from the famous crack gears to “gear ratio of the month” that LL used.
There are numerous detail errors (saith the diesel gurus) on just about every P2K loco if that stuff worries you.
My biggest complaint and the reason I won’t buy any P2K loco is 30 out of 30 geeps(a mixture of GP7/9/30s) I had came with crack gears.Some from the box and other cracked over time with use.I had roughly $1500.00-$1600.00 in these locomotives…
Beyond that they are beautifully detailed locomotives.[tup]
And for what its worth the P2K GP7 blows the Atlas GP7 out of the water detail wise.
I have a lot of Proto 2000 loco’s and I think they are one of the best detailed and best performing loco’s available. Sure there was a problem with the GP series and a few others having cracked gears but I knew that before I bought them. The problem was fixed years ago but because Proto flooded the market with their loco’s the cracked gear issue still pops up because someone bought a new loco that is really 5 or more years old. People really need to give it a rest, the problem was fixed years ago but some people still feel the urge to rag on Proto.
Brakie, you need to lighten up on your Proto bashing. Every time somebody mentions anything negative about Proto you got to jump right in there and state your claim. I remember when it was only 10 locomotives you had that had a gear issue, now your up to 30? Your story just seems to get bigger all the time. Nobody cares anymore…
Now for the original question, I own 9 Proto SD45’s and one did have a issue with a gear. No it wasn’t cracked, SD45’s don’t have cracked gear issues. My problem was one of the gears in the leading truck had a tooth that was deformed from the factory, I emailed them about the problem I found and they sent me a package of gears, FOR FREE. Once you find your problem your going to find they will pull a ton of weight. The Proto SD45’s are one of the best for pulling power.