I just recently bought a Proto 2000 FA unit, and old stock but new in the box unit. The engine had the cracked gear problem immediately. I received replacements from Walthers, but after putting the new gears in, the engine just shorts out my entire system. I didn’t do anything else to it, but I can’t run it at all now. What about my changing the gears would do this? I don’t see any metal touching metal or anything like that.
Well this is eerie. I was about to post because exactly the same thing has just happened with a P2K BL-2 I recently purchased. It ran poorly when I got it - I replaced the gears with Athearn gears, buttoned it all back up, and now it’s dead as a doornail. What the heck is going on?
you might have a condition where the two half shafts are touching inside the plastic sleeve of the gear. this should not happen if the wheel gauge is correct but it is possible. if so, just paint the ends of metal axles with a bit of testors glue and let it harden before you press them back together.
grizlump
yep I v had two of thease ,if you have the body off try turnig the fly wheels with your finger, if there tite or dont turn at all theres somekind of gear bind in the gear tower…what I did is pull the covers and axels back out and try again to turn the flywheels in each direction if there still locked I take a small blade screw driver and try to manipulate each gear in the tower from the bottem ,not a lot of preasure while try to turn the fly wheel ,you should get them to mesh and the fly wheel should turn easy.then put onr set of axels in check flywheel then the other set…dont know what cause or proplem is just know thats how I fixed two of mine a gp7 an a fb unit both old stock but new both ebay just play with the gears & fly wheels then they run great…hope thats your problem ,Jerry
Monoguy, my guess is they are contacting each other inside of the new gears. Check the wheels to make sure they are in gage. Did you replaces all the center gears? Reason I ask is Darth Santa Fe was very kind and repaired a old kit bashed Dash 9 sometime ago. Drive shafts where a mess. When I got it back and ran it, it shorted out the layout. I check the wheels and found one out of gage, gear was cracked, replaced it and ran like a champ again.
When you get the BL 2 running you will love it, I am running one now pulling 23 Old Dutch Hoppers up a 1.5% grade.
One last thing, it could be the gears have nothing to do with the problem! I would try powering the motor out of the engine, not that hard to get out. If it is fine back track from there. One thing I learned from wrenching on real cars, stuff happens. If you would like me to look at it, let me know. I have fixed 4 of them, Mono a course.
Your Mono Friend, Cuda Ken
oh thats right on the fb unit the gear s in this unit were a tad shooter then the athern gears I had the athern gears were for a sd 40-2 the gears that were in the unit were a tad shorter not only allowing the axel ends to touch but the little bushing blocks to fall out of there saddles forgot about that on the fb unit it had a few problems both worm gear were cmpletely dry of grease causing an intermitnent squeal …new gears, lube ,fix the lock-up problem ,runs quite nice …oh the gears that were in it wernt cracked just short about a 32nd or 64th but enough to cause problem
I have Pk2 sound equipped engines…orig ran fine,now getting jerky…have cleaned wheels,track, and still run jerky. start stop, start stop, am i looking at same problem as described above?..thanks to any and all…Tom
Check the wheelsets to make sure they are in gauge. They can cause shorts if they are to far apart or too close together. (I’ve experienced the former, a friend had experienced the latter.)
Definitely sounds like a case of the axle shafts touching together in one or more wheelsets. I had the same thing happen in a P2K FA-1. Turned out the wheels were set just a hair too close together.
Hi!
Early last year I realized the P2K GPs had the axle/gear problem, and the good folks at Walthers sent me enough to replace them in all 8 of my ATSF and IC GP 7s & 9s. The job went well and I tested each immediately after the change. One of the last ones shorted out, which really threw me as all I did was change wheelsets, and didn’t even pull the cab.
I won’t lie, it took me a bit to realize that one of the wheelsets was out of gauge, and the metal axles were touching each other within the gear housing. Of course I just replaced it, and all was fine.
Before I opened up the motor, I would check that out.
Mobilman44
you are truly a lucky man. i told walthers about my problem and the said since i could not produce receipts and proof that i was the original owner that the lifetime warranty did not apply and i could pretty much get stuffed.
grizlump
Honestly I just emailed them, didn’t even get a response, but about a week later an envelope arrives with new gearsets.
Thanks for the help guys; I’ll check the wheels and whether they are touching or not and get back to you.
Do the new P2k F series have this same issue with the gears cracked?
I have 2 P2k E6 locos and they seem to run ok but they are a couple years old.
I had much the same experience - Walthers wasn’t particularly interested in standing behind their acquired product, but was willing to sell me replacement parts. Thanks for nothing.
BTW, I’m about to descend into the man-cave to try some of the solutions offered here. What a great site!
Monoguy, hope you find the problem with the BL 2. Let me know if I can be of some help.
Thanks for the offer, Ken. Acting on the very good advice offered here, I insulated all of the wheels by inserting a very small piece of plastic cut from an empty parts bag into each gear between the wheels. I also had to chase down a second problem that turned out to be a mangled washer and now, after a little breaking-in time, it runs like a champ.
Thanks to all who helped rescue the most distinctive looking engine on my roster, the lovely BL-2.