There seems to be an on-going discussion here about certain earlier Proto 2K locomotives being plagued by cracked gears. In reviewing some of those posts, I’ve concluded that there is confusion about whether this problem was with one specific run of models, or went across model lines during a certain period.
Any body feel sufficiently up-to-speed on this to give a simple history/explaination and in particular which models are subject to the problem?
Thanks,
Mike
I don’t think it’s just a cracked gear problem. I have a few Athearn RTR RS-3s that have the same type of wheel sets, and if the metal axle insert fits too loosely inside the plastic gear tube it will make a thumping sound just like the bad Proto 2000 wheel sets.
My understanding is the cracked gear problem was mainly with the LifeLike Proto 2000 Diesels made in the mid to late 1990’s and prior to the products being taken over by Walthers. I don’t have all of the years and models, but I believe it covered GP20’s, GP30’s, SD7’s, SD9’s, GP9’s and beyond that I"m not sure. I have 11 GP30’s myself but they are in storage but I expect they will need gears replace.
I for one never had an issue with many of the Proto2000 units I had purchased, I though it was a hoax, well…
I found out that I was really lucky with some purchases, as I had gotten some NOS within the same manufacturing runs (GP7/9, GP35, & earlier GP18) & then I got my string of pay back with broken axle gears.
The older they were the more gears were cracked (also results in loose & out of gauge wheels)!
So I simply took into account the great deal I got & small price of new gears & ordered a bunch up, No Problem!
It also gave me an excellent reason to do ‘preventive maintainance’ on the drivelines & rid it of all the old grease, & make a thorough inspection, & gauge check of the models. (Cracked or not).
It is actually not such a bad thing, I’d rather have this than cracked chassis, bad motors, or a noisy drivetrain.
Honestly, I can’t think of anything I have used & enjoyed to the fullest, that does not take a little maintaining.
I have several of the older P2K diesel locos and some have been in storage for a few years now. I took some of them out to test run, mostly F2A’s, GP7 and GP9’s. They all seem to have cracked gears and none have ever been run before! I have replaced most of them with the Athearn gears and also cleaned some of the old grease out. The replacement process is really very easy and once I did one, I didn’t hesitate to do the rest (although I still have 4 F3’s to do; haven’t tested them yet but know what is lurking in there!). The best part of this is that Athearn stocks the gears and they are very reasonable.
-Bob
I’ve got close to 100 Protos that had the cracked gear issue. Basically it was all the early run GP series loco’s as well as the FA’s. No six axle loco had this problem, they used different gears. Most of these I got off of Ebay or train shows dirt cheap, less then 50 bucks. Replacing the gears is a very simple procedure that can be done in less then 2 minutes. I did a little test on two of these loco’s years ago before I believed the crack gear issue was as big as it was. If you have a early run of these loco’s then the gears are cracked. How badly depends on how big the crack is. I’ve seen some that are slightly cracked that don’t effect the performance to some that were split into two pieces fresh out of the box. Trust me, they ARE cracked. Here is my test thread, it makes for some interesting reading on how durable these loco’s really are. These two loco’s are still running strong to this day. Despite the cracked gear issue that all of them have these loco’s I believe were the best bang for the buck years ago. Happy reading…
Hi!
I bought one of each number of the original ATSF GP7 and GP9s and likewise with the IC models. For the money, they were a terrific deal (and still are).
However, everyone sooner or later had a broken wheelset - some with one but most with 3 or 4. The good news is twofold… Walthers sent me replacements for all (free), and they are easy to replace and gave me the opportunity to “lube and tune”.
Walthers addressed this problem as I didn’t realize it existed when Lifelike was the seller, and Walthers did an outstanding job in doing so.
Walthers sent me free replacements as well but they have stopped doing it now. I bought a box of replacements from them last year, they call them Tune Up Kits. I have them for future purchases or for customers getting decoders installed in their loco’s.
The Proto 2000 models I had gear problems with were a GP30, several FA1’s/FA2’s, an E6 and an F unit.
I have had some of the Walthers run of Protos crack gears so it is NOT limited to just the older Lifelike series!
I can’t remember just which units they were as I don’t keep track - I just do the maintenance and put in the new axle sets I got from Walthers.
I then rebuild the old wheels sets with the Athearn gears for when the next set go bad!
BOB H - Clarion, PA