do the gears from a older athearn sd 40 fit a proto gp18 for the cracked gears? If not which ones will?
Yes, and you can buy the gears from Athearn - I don’t believe Walthers makes the replacement gears anymore. (The problem was from older engines made before Walthers bought Life-Like’s train line.)
http://smallrails.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-fix-proto-2000-axles-dreaded-p2k.html
you need the Athearn SD40-2 gears - 60024 is the part number
Sometimes they are available as replacement wheel/axle/gear sets.
The Athearn gear is what I use, too, but it is nice to have sets already made up for a quick swap so having spares is handy.
Cheers, Ed
Athearn has complete Axle/Gear/Bushing/Wheel assemblies available now for about $15.00, and that is what I used on my GP-7 that had this problem.
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You need 40" wheels for the GPs.
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-Kevin
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This has been a topic I’ve been looking into for awhile and keep putting on the back burner. I have a few older P2K locomotives that I know will need this done. Are the replacements compatible with pretty much all of those locomotives? I have mostly GP40 or GP50s that will need them done.
Note that the above link shows the Walthers item (or the Athearn substitute) for many of the P2K GPs, etc.
The following item is for many of the E-units.
When these are not in stock at Walthers, check EBay for someone who has some available.
When you get into them, note the number of teeth differences between these 2 types. I don’t recall whether there is a 3rd or 4th. Also, check the wheel sizes are not different.
An older thread may list all the variations for the P2Ks.
Athearn 40" axle, gear and wheel sets:
http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH40028
Mike.
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These are also a good idea to install in older Athearn Blue Box diesels just because the wheels are so much better quality.
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-Kevin
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Yep, whenever I “up-grade” any of my good running BB diesels, wheel replacement is part of the over haul.
Mike.
But to fix cracked gears in P2K locos, you don’t need new wheels, just the gears. Much cheaper. In either case, I wouldn’t trust the wheel gauge without checking with the NMRA gauge. The wheels most definitely do not get pressed in to the gears as far as they will go.
–Randy