Just ordered replacement gears for 2 GP 7s. Any special tips for replacing the cracked ones?
The rep. for Walthers asked how many P2K locomotives I have in total & will ship enough for all of them even tho they haven’t all broken yet. As you know this problem occured before Walthers purchased LL. so they really don’t have any obligation to replace the cracked gears. My hat is off to Walthers. Jerry
All that is required is to carefully pry the bottom cover off of the trucks, remove the wheelsets, pull the wheels out of the old gear and push them into the new. Check gauge with a NMRA standards gauge, put the axles back into the trucks, lubricate, and replace the cover.
When Walthers sends out replacement gears, you’ll actually receive new axles with the gear already installed as a complete unit. Simply remove the bottom cover from the truck (there are little locking tabs on the sides of the cover between the wheels and truck) and then lift out the old axle/gear assembly and replace with the new unit. I cleaned out the bottom of the truck before installing me new gears , lubed the new unit and closed it up.
Don Z.
They call them TUNE UP KITS. I just replaced the wheels in a GP30 I got off of Ebay, took all of two minutes.
Hi,
I processed 9 of the GPs last week, with anywhere from 1 to 4 axles needing replacement. The good folks at Walthers sent me enough to replace all the axles on all 9 units - which I thought was very good of them. Some of the following was written earlier, but there is one caveat at the end…
I used a small flathead screwdriver at each end of the gear cover and with a twist the end would rise up. I did not try to pull it off with just one side raised, and when I did the opposite side it popped right off.
The wheel sets come out easily and if you hold each wheel and give it a gentle twist, the broken ones will turn.
Replacing the axles was usually very easy, but a few of them fought with me a bit. Once installed, I lubed them and snapped the cover on. Then I ran each one on a test track.
Ok, here is the “caveat”… One of the locos had a short after I installed the axles. It turns out that one of the axles had one wheel NOT insulated from the other. You could pull it apart a bit, but then you are in effect breaking the seal. Anyway, Walthers sent me a replacement.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
Do you have contact information because I have 11 GP30’s and 4 SD7/9’s in the box new never run and I imagine they will all need attention at some point.
Just go to Walthers website and look for customer service or better yet just phone them. They have a toll free number.