Question about BLI 2-8-0 Gear Materials

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hello All–

I wasn’t inside any of the BLI 2-8-0’s to know for sure:

Of what material(s) are the gears made? plastic? nylon? or metal?

My new BLI GN S-2 4-8-4 has what appear to be all metal gears.

The reason I’m asking is an Ebay buyer claimed a defect with the gears on a model I just sold, that ran perfectly before I sent it.

John

2

Hi,

While I cannot answer your question, a call to BLI would do so. They are super helpful and will gladly oblige you. Worst case, the guy can send it to BLI and they will repair with no problem. The cost would be shipping it to BLI.

Its possible the guy is legit, but a call to BLI would confirm…

3

John, the ones in my are plastic. Onl gear problem I have had was with my Class J, the gear started spinning on the motor shaft. BLI sent me the need gear.

Cuda Ken

4

it is made from metal

5

Thank you all for the responses.

Technically because I am not a dealer, and ran the item I sold, it is used (was sold as used, as I’m switching to brass) and the manufacturer’s warranty is only to me the original purchaser, so they (BLI) are not obligated to do anything for the buyer in question.

There’s 2 production runs of these, the one in question is from the first, which may have had plastic gears based on the one post above. Maybe the 2nd run has metal gears?

John

6

You’re still in the dark. Seek enlightenment from the importer. BLI.

7

Speaking from experience, it is highly likely BLI will either supply the metal part or repair it “gratis” - ex shipping.

8

If something like that happened to me. I would ask for the engine back. After it arrives then refund his cost. Have him pay the shipping charge back to you.

There are low life’s out there that will tell you anything to get a cheaper price via you refunding some money because of his complaint.

You would be surprised how many will never respond after you ask for the item back.

Dave

9

deleted - see below.

10

I’ve had several of my BLI steam locomotives apart and they all had nylon gears on the axles.

Out of a roster of 36, I have only had cracked gears on two, both PRR I1s. BLI gave me three options for repair.

  1. We will send you replacement gears at no cost;

  2. You send us the axles and we will install new gears and return them to you, no cost; (I pay shipping to FL)

  3. You send us the engines and we will repair them at the flat fee of ($75 IIRC).

I chose option two and they repaired the gears and had them back to me in a few weeks. I was not prepared to pull the drivers, press the gears, re-quarter the drivers so option two worked great for me.

My main point here is that BLI has never required any proof of purchase or warranty registration papers. They stand behind anything they manufacture and try to keep the customer happy.

In the case of these I1s I did happen to buy them on Ebay, from two different sellers, and they were at least five years old or more. The cracked grar problem did not surface until quite some time after the sale.

I hope you resolve your issue,

Regards, Ed

11

I had to send back my son’s Santa Fe 4-8-4 when the smoke unit fan went bad. They told me over the phone that I had to submit a copy of the original purchase receipt, which I did indeed have, and if I recall correctly they then repaired the model at no cost to me. It just took a little while.

That was about a year ago or so. So at the time of my warranty repair, proof of purchase was required.

John

12

OK, well there is hope. The guy who purchased the engine is refunding most of the refund I sent him today, via check, because Paypal won’t cooperate with him very effectively on refunding a refund.

I’m only going to be out the actual cost of repair for a cracked plastic gear in a very lightly used new BLI 2-8-0.

Therefore, I have no complaint here.

Please note: the buyer did contact BLI, who refused to send him any parts without him providing proof of purchase of the model, which he cannot provide because he is not the original owner.

Instead, his local repair tech will replace the gear with something else and requarter the driver.

Thank you all.

John

13

Received full payment from buyer, in form of a personal check, less the agreed upon fee for his repair tech to fix said model.

There still are people out there who can be trusted to pay up.