I got a Fairbanks Morse #8056 that I picked up and so far I have chewed up 3 drive gears. Finally figured out that the worm shaft was trashed. So I find a older PW 2321 motor in like new condition. I installed that and replaced the gear again and start the test. I got twice the life out of that gear before that got chewed, What gives? I’m now thinking that maybe the truck has some manufactoring flaw thats causing it. Im reluctant to try switching trucks around or swap trucks with another loco to see if it gets chewed there. Any ideas? Thanks
Just bumping you back up to the top till one of the postwar guys sees it & can help. You might check Olsens web-site, http://www.olsenstoytrainparts.com/, for a schematic on that engine & see if you can spot what the problem might be also.
Thanks, John
Thanks for the bump csxt, was startin to worry with 40+ looks and no replies. Thought I was gettin blown off on it! Been there, done that. Even Lionel’s site for pics and part #'s for the gears and nothing to help.
It sounds like your having the same problem I had with my GG-1…And that was really two problems. I chewed up gears and finally took the whole truck apart. I found the magnatraction had sucked a tiny ball bearing into the works… That was problem one which is fixed… Problem two is Lionel’s garbage replacement gears. These are made of soft brass not bronze and the teeth are cut as straight slots not with the involute tooth form. The idea behind this Idiotic approach is to have the hardened motor worm wear in the teeth during break-in. The flaw is the teeth just keep wearing until they are gone. In a two motor engine one motor is always slightly faster than the other and as a result one gearbox gets trashed.
My GG-1 now sits on a shelf. A monument to faulty engineering. It’s been replaced by real runners from Williams. I hope you have better luck. Try the parts guys to see if you can find an original “Postwar” worm gear… These were made right.
Try Timkos repair Depot in Ohio. He knows more about this than anyone I know. 1-937-429-1461
FTIMKO@SBCGLOBAL.Net
Dale Hz
My other one has tons more run time than this loco, and never had/have a problem with that. That’s what makes me think the truck is bad.
The story says it all! I have replaced all the bushings, inspected everything [axles for straightness, slop, etc]. I have runs this and it runs alot better and quieter with good pull, BUT I have chewed another gear again! Both motors run the same speed no thats not a problem. The armature/shaft is new. Everything checks good and still chewing worm gears. This crap is getting old and may just download this headache on someone else if I can’t get this fixed. Any ideas here? thanks
Sorry to say but you have a Shelf Queen!! What I mean is that you need to park it on a shelf to look at from now on. Ever try to get a 235 scout loco running again? Now that is a true shelf queen.
Or if you want to spend the money replace both truck assemblies and motors with new ones.
Lee F.
Well it’s just the 1 truck. What really P.O.'s me is there’s tons of new parts on it and it’s still fubared.
You could have the wrong armature. An F3 and TM motors look alike but the TM has a slightly longer armature.
Nope, there the same!
Get a new truck. Second, replace the whole thing. Find a like new one or order one. If it eats that gear, not the gear’s fault. If it doesn’t, you’ve won.
Im leaning that way chief, I hate to spend the bucks and still have it happen again. The struggle continues!
Probably end up cheaper in the long run to replace it all. Also get lots of run time which = more pleasure. [:)]
Before condemming the truck, do you check the motor bushing.