I bought my son a Life-Like Proto 2000 GP-9 from a train show. The loco runs OK, but when I turn the Tech IV power pack to say 80%, it barely runs. I also hear a slight clicking sound with it, which I think could be cracked gears. Does Walthers have a repair program that I could send this loco in to get fixed?
The early Proto engines do run slow and require more power to get rolling. This gives them better slow speed control.
A cracked gear is an easy fix. All you need to do is remove the bottom cover on the truck and remove the axel with gear. If you can grip the wheels and turn them in the gear easeily the gear is cracked. If you can’t find a proto axwl with gear you can use the Athearn gear and axel for the SD40-2.
Walthers has a repair dept give them a call.
Bob
They do?
I was not aware of that.
They do have a Parts Dept., but it is understaffed and slow to respond and the usual answer is, No we don’t carry any spare parts.
Walthers acquired Life Like a few years back, but they don’t seem to stock any spare parts for Life Like products.
Rich
That’s interesting, I have bought lots of parts from Walthers, for Proto products and others.
Admitedly they are not stocking as many parts as Life Like did, but that is a sign of the times with all these manufacurers/importers.
Bachmann seems to be the only company trying to improve their previously poor supply of parts.
As others have stated, it sounds like the gears are cracked. If Walthers does not currently have them in stock, Athearn F7 gears are same, also used in several other Athearn locos.
One note I keep repeating, I have a large fleet of Proto diesels from the cracked gear “era”, not one Proto replacement has ever cracked.
About the slow speed - the earliest Proto GP7, GP9 units uses a large bank of diodes for the constant lighting circuit. They eat a lot of voltage and slow the locos down. If you are running DC, I would suggest you find a knowledgeable modeler in your area to rewire them without the diode board. If you plan to run DCC that board will be replaced by a decoder anyway.
Also, finding a local repair person is likely a better bet than sending the loco to Walthers. I don’t think they will Warranty the loco if it is that old.
None of this is real hard to do, but if it is outside your skill/ability/knowledge, you may want someone to do it for your or show you how.
Sheld
all the while i was reading these posts, there was an ad on the right side of this page that said, Walthers-Great Products-Great Service.
charlie
Sounds like a cracked gear to me. What you need is a package of Athearn Part # 60024. It’ll replace the gear easily, as others have noted, just take the bottom gear cover out and they’re right there, easy to get to and swap out.
To the extent Walthers offers warranty repear, my sense is that they often have to raid stuff on the shelves for parts, and then they offer the raided item at a deep discount on their scratch and dent bins at the HQ in Milwaukee.
Walthers offers after market wheel axle sets to replace the cracked gears that were a problem with the early generations of Proto 2000 EMDs.
Unfortunately they are not currently in stock but some hobby shops carry them – mainly because those cracked gear problems were so pervasive
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/920-584408
Since the P2K engines very much borrowed from/copied Athearn, as an above poster says, Athearn parts can also substitute
Dave Nelson
Note that the cracked gear issue came up before Walthers bought Life-Like. For a time Walthers offered a free replacement of the gears, but eventually stopped and now do charge for them. However as noted the Athearn gears work fine, I believe you can also buy Athearn wheelsets with the gears in place and just pop them in…but I’m not sure of the Athearn part no.
I will try to take out the lower cover plates today to see if I can see and identify the cracked gears. Thanks all!
The half axles press into the plastic gear in the center. If any are loose or the gear is obviously cracked, you’ve found the problem. You take the old half axles and press them onto the new #60024 gear, reinstall and you’'re done.
While you have things open, check the grease to make sure it hasn’t hardened. This happens when things sit on the shelf, so it’s a possibility considering the time since it was made. If so, clean and replace with a proper plastic compatible model grease.
Here’s a short blog post I did on changing gears that you or others might find helpful.
http://www.smallrails.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-fix-proto-2000-axles-dreaded-p2k.html
Todd
Awesome! Just what I needed! I’ll check to see if this is a problem.
That link is a good explanation of the process, however it leaves out one very important step. You need to acquire an NMRA gage to set the distance between the wheels. If you push them all the way in against the gear, the wheelset will be to narrow, resulting in major derailment problems. Another thing to pay attention to, is be sure the wheels don’t bind at the bearing blocks.
Not recently, Sheldon, because Randy who runs the Walthers parts department emailed me back in January that Walthers no longer stocks parts for the Life Like products manufactured before the Walthers acquisition. Walthers doesn’t even stock parts for their own products. Have you ever tried to get missing or broken parts for a Walthers Cornerstone kit?
And, consider yourself lucky if you have never owned a Proto diesel without split or cracked gears. Statistically, that is a near impossibility for anyone who owns more than one or two Protos. I own in excess of twenty Proto 2000 diesels, GP’s, SD’s, etc. I have a large supply of Athearn gears on hand on the assumption that those that haven’t split or cracked already eventually will.
Rich
I heard the reason they stopped was because to many people were asking for them when in reality they never had them or were asking for more then they actually had. Just like the Athearn gear is a direct replacement the better quality Proto wheels were a exact replacement for the cheaper Athearn wheels. [:#]
Rich,
I have dozens of Protos that had cracked gears, Life Like gave me a bunch of wheel sets for free before Walthers bought them. Walthers gave me some for free, and I have bought a backup stock.
I said none of the REPLACEMENT gears has ever cracked, many of the originals did.
And yes, I have used them to replace old Athearn iron wheels, they work very well.
Why should Walthers still stock parts for pre buyout locos? That was over seven years ago now? Try buying a non esential part for a car more than seven years old - maybe you get it, maybe you don’t.
And yes I know they have decided to not stock many/any parts for new production, but when they got Life Like they got a BIG parts inventory from them - maybe its all gone now.
Sheldon
Walthers was very good to deal with when I needed Proto 200 parts. I had a couple E8’s damaged in a move and Walthers helped me out. The parts weren’t exact but a little paint worked just fine.
RMax
I removed all four gears and checked them out. All four were cracked at some point in the actual gear. Lovely.
Now to find the replacement parts for the cheapest price.
Holy crap! My hobby shop has these in stock. They’re 5 miles away! Woohoo!
Ahh, sorry about that.