is a #8362 proto 2000 fa2 loco worth buying? i saw it at a shop the other day but wasnt so sure.
I have an A/B set, both powered, and love them. They run fantastic and look great. Mine do not have much track time, but seem as well made as my other Proto-2000 locomotives.
This is an older model and might have the gear cracking issue. I have not had many of my Proto-2000 models have this problem, and it is an easy fix, but it does happen.
Whether or not it is worth buying is up to you. Will you need to convert it to DCC? Is the price right? Is it used or NOS (New Old Stock)?
-Kevin
thanks for the information! i havent checked the price yet but im pretty sure its new old stock. i was just worried a bit cause ive heard old proto 2000s like the BL2s have motor problems or something. ill go for a buy if the price is good![:D]
I have not heard about any motor problems, just the axle gears cracking. The gears are an easy fix with several solutions available.
-Kevin
I bought several Proto 2000 locomotives. They are very fine runners and look great. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another even if I think the axle gears are original and therefore defective.
I’ll go so far as to say Lifelike revolutionized model locomotives by making significant improvements to Athearn’s Blue Box basic design. The current Genesis line directly benefits from that progress long after Lifelike closed operations. Walthers now owns that Proto brand and still makes similar diesels.
Walthers sells replacement axle sets with the gears already fitted and the wheels in gauge. Any of these models that are new in box will likely have failed gears. The repair is very easy and cheap, even if you’ve never tried to repair a locomotive before. The shell doesn’t even need to come off. The repair is performed with the locomotive upside down. A foamy locomotive cradle is handy but not essential.
If the model has never been run or even just not run since shortly after original purchase there is no way the current owner can know the gears are split. The split in the black plastic gear hub where it press fits to the axle halves is virtually invisible even if you know what you’re looking for. The split develops in one side of the “hub” of the gear where the axle half shaft is press fit into the gear, inline with the axle half shaft.
The symptom can be a clicking sound or sometimes just a little hesitation in running as the spacing of the driven gear teeth right at the split is slightly too wide. The drive gear can skip that tooth (the click) or can hiccup as the slightly wide tooth gap passes through the drive gear. Rarely will the split be so bad as to cause the gear to slip and the locomotive to refuse to move. A simple track test will reveal the problem right away, even at slow speed. The split doesn’t result from running forces, it results from the type of plastic being unable to handle the forces from being a press fit into the axle h
I never even heard of the FAs having the cracked gear issue - my GP7s all did, so I just replaced them as part of putting them in service. Not heard about motor issue, either - the only P2Ks with motor issues were a certain run of the PA which got outfitted with motors drawing 3x the current of the rest of them.
I have a set of FAs that run great. They can be a little delicate - since they used close to scale size ladders and grabs, and they have a door in the middle there’s not much room to pick them up and the fine details can be broken fairly easily. Mine are the later version, without the gimmicky operating fan. I have another chassis from the earlier one that came in a Roundhouse RS3 kit. You can tell because the rear flywheel has a pulley groove in it where the rubber band to spin the fan went.
–Randy
The #8362 looks like one of the early run FA-2 models, which had the interesting feature of a belt driven radiator fan and other details like movable radiator shutters. I’ve never heard anything bad about these models! Just give that fan a bit of silver paint before putting the shell on so you can see it rotating as it runs along.[:)]
You may be right. I’ve only had GP types show the problem. However, this thread indicates that FA diesels may also have this fault:
Oddly, this link will not insert no matter which way I try it.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/81021.aspx#81021
the posts are not numbered but the sixth post quotes from an email from Walthers saying some FA units had cracked gears.
There are other posts on other forums reporting the same thing.
No motor problems though.
thank you! it seems like the previous owner checked to see if it ran and it did. i guess there’s no problems with the motor or the gears on that loco.
sorry, but what kadee couplers am i supposed to use for the loco?
Kadee suggests either the #5 or the #148.
I used the #28 in mine. It is the same dimensions as the #5, but it is not metal. I prefer to use 20 series non-conductive couplers on anything with a metal frame. You know… just in case. I run a lot of brass freight car models and I want to avoid any chance of a short circuit through the frames.
-Kevin
UP,
If you like the looks of scale couplers, the #58s and #158 will fit, as well.
Tom
Make sure the couplers aren’t too short or too long, but just right.
thanks! i will try to convert it when i get it!
Kadee whisker couplers are the way to go now. #148 is the #5 replacement. It fits the #5 coupler box after the brass spring is removed. There is a 100 series whisker coupler now for each of the original non sprung couplers and a coupler box to match for just about any application. Kadee are generally cheaper and really just better made and better designed than all the competition trying to copy them. Looking in from outside the USA one can’t help noticing that well run US companies can stay ahead of anyone while still making their product in the USA. The whisker coupler itself has the centering springs (the whiskers are thin gauge spring steel, should last forever).
The older style couplers with the centering spring as part of the coupler box assembly are just more difficult to install and now offer no advantages over the whisker design.
It was clever of Kadee to develop a durable alternative to the other brands of coupler which copy the semi scale look of Kadee on the outside but use a variation of the old plastic spring dating back to the horn hook days. Those plastic springs are just not durable.
As for metal couplers shorting out the plastic coupler box prevents that as long as you also use a plastic mounting screw, as Kadee recommends. These plastic screws sound like a bad idea but the plastic is exceptionally tough. I suspect they are made from a type of nylon. One big advantage to using plastic mounting screws is they generally will not cross thread plastic screw holes. The plastic screw just won’t screw in if it goes cross threaded. Another advantage is the plastic screw is very easy to shorten and thread cleanup after cutting is very simple and quick. Just a single psss with a needle file is all you often need if you can cut square. Furthermore, plastic screws cannot seize in the screw hole because the plastic is completely stable. If it breaks off then drilling out the broken bit is simple. Plastic gear drives are used for similar reasons, they self l
The #5 box won’t short even if you use metal screws. If the ‘ears’ are left on, that insulated the whole rest of the assembly, but even if you run a screw up the middle hole, the plastic boss which holds the coupler insulates the coupler from the screw and frame.
My P2K locos all have a plastic coupler box, insulating even a full metal #5 from the frame even using the stock metal screw.
–Randy
Absolutely correct. The coupler boxes are insulated from the screw, frame, and couper.
After chasing an insanely aggravating intermittent short a few years ago, I simply prefer to be as redundant as possible now on any equipment with a metal frame.
I hope this did not cause any confusion for the OP’s coupler question. The #5, #28, or #148 (or #58/#158 as Tom stated) should all be fine.
-Kevin
These are the screws Kadee supplies with the #5 couplers:
https://www.kadee.com/fasteners-c-274_334_281/256-screws-insulated-nylon-256-x-12in-p-336.htm
For securing via the “ears” metal screws are fine.
It is true that the metal coupler sits on a plastic moulded in bush inside the plastic coupler box which should be enough isolation, but Kadee still supplies the nylon centre screw rather than steel.
For the #148 Kadee supplies only the nylon center mounting screw.
thanks everyone! i bought the loco today for about $50 New Old Stock