Ok, as some of you may recall my P2K SD45 was making that high pitch gear noise. After I bought the MRC Power pack, (which was the best thing I have ever done.) I thought it was fixed. I also never ran that locomotive before cleaning my track doing it like the way you guys said.(Which was another good tip you guys told me) But yesterday the noise came back, and It’s even worse! All I I know is it’s coming from the front truck, it doesn’t make the noise in reverse, and it sound like a high pitch gear noise. I don’t know what’s wrong, maybe a gear is cracked, or maybe it needs to be lubed up. But could some one help me again. Can some one also tell me how to get the shell off to? I haven’t figured that out either.
I can’t help with the question about how to remove the shell, but if it was a cracked gear the locomotive would make a thumping noise, not a whine. Lubrication seems to be in order once you know how to remove the shell and gain access to the worm gear.
Thanks for your help. Any more advice from any one else? I have only ran this locomotive probably for only 7-8 hours, and that was over 3 months or so. It quite making the noise when I got the MRC power pack for about a month. But after ithas been sitting for a while it has come back.
I’ve never actually dealt with this problem on a P2K [yet] but, FWIW, what you’re describing sounds like too much ‘play’ in the worm gear on the front truck. When the loco moves in reverse it is seated properly, but in forward, the worm gear is being pulled slightly out of alignment.
As for getting the shell off and installing the shims to correct the problem, call Walthers Customer Service (1-800-487-2467) and ask for ‘Keith’, he’s helped me out at least twice already with my own P2K issues!
is it kinda a ripping grinding sound? Dont run it anymore until you can open it and check it out.
I am not familiar with the p2k shell arrangements, the possibilities are either hold-down screws or
spread-shell divots (the best name I could think of) similar to Athearn shell removal (at least like the old Gp9 and F7’s)
You will have to look for a way to open the truck to see the gearing. It could be screw removal or again some form of spread the device to pop a cover off. I can only guess that maybe a gear support may be loose. If its not seated in a support hole it could be just popped into place.
But the grinding isnt good meaning the gear may be already damaged, or it could be split or broken, requiring replacement. You will have to check with Walthers for parts.
But maybe NWSL has a better gear choice, just a thought.
It’s not like a ripping grinding noise. It’s like a high pitched noise. The best I can describe it is it’s like a cricket cherping but really fast and non stop. Somthing like that. Maybe I could take a short video tommrow and see if that helps.
Had the same problem with an Intermountain F unit, a high pitch squealing noise only in one direction. lubed the worm gears (I did both) and it seems to have solved the problem and that was 6 months ago.
As for getting the shell off, usually with P2k’s it’s held on by the coupler boxes and 2 screws around or near the gas tank. the only problem is with P2K is that you’ll have to do more than just pull the shell to get to the worm gears, you have to take the weight off too which means you will dismantle most of the locomotive. Unless there is a big enough open area to get the cover off the worm gear without pulling the weight, usually there isn’t.
The good news is that they are actually very easy to work on and come apart and go back together rather well.
Sounds like a loose part touching some moving part, like when the motor is spinning. Torque will push the motor slightly in one direction, maybe hitting the thingy while the other direction is just fine.
It might be resonance in some plastic flashing or part of the shell that one of the gears contacts when slack is taken up after the change of direction. Shimming, carving, taping…any one of these might cure the problem…along with lube, of course.
At my hobbyshop (theres a few actually get to near here) they had a set of lubes, it was like 10 bucks, but thats the best deal when you get a whole bunch of variety of lubes to deal with a problem. It has Plastic compatible, and NOT plastic compatible.
I will almost always give my new models more lubing up. Any model having plastic is simply going to use a plastic compatible lube, as spinning can spray it around on shells and parts.
But I will use NON-plastic compatible on my Bowser all metal lokies.
Worm gears best for a light grease, rotating parts a light oil on bearing surfaces.
I wouldnt want to see a bearing getting spun around by motor when it runs one direction, thatll damage parts. There could be reasons for this like a little chip of metal that didnt get smoothed off in the manufacturing process.
I don’t own the model but only giving ideas to look for.
Sounds like a bad bearing to me. I have a GP38-2 that did the very same thing, squeling sound from the front truck when going forward, ran fine going backward. Lubed the worm shaft bearings and the problem went away.
My GP9 would screech horribly sometimes, then run near silent for a while, then begin screeching again, usually in one direction at a time but sometimes both.
It takes near 50% throttle just to get it moving, so it won’t MU with anything and it’s hard to run multiple trains with it in play, so it mostly got ignored for a year or so.
Then I found a matched pair of GP9s that had split gears, a standard Lifelike complaint, and bought 12 replacements.
When I opened up “old screechy”, sure enough, 3 of four gears were cracked, so I replaced all four.
Haven’t heard the screech since.
Getting a GP9 shell loose from the chassis, and back on again, is enough of a hassle that I’d pull the truck covers first. If one wheel on an axle spins while you hold the other tight, the gear is probably cracked, and needs to be replaced in any event, since it won’t stay in gauge.
Sorry guy I haven’t replyed. I’ve been a bit busy. I’ll try getting off the shell of some time. This weekend is booked, so I don’t think I’ll get it open. But I’ll try next week.