I had a chance to buy a proto gp9-2 but I don’t know if there is a difference between the older gold brown boxes and the ones in the newer blue boxes maybe to avoid this problem. are these newer better made models or the same parts? rambo1…
The early (origional) gold, Both the blue boxes (shell off chassis and complete engine (narrower box), can all suffer from the cracked gear issues. Of coarse these are only the 2 axle (B) trucks BL2, GP18, GP7-9. Any of the newer runs, and not sure if all these are in the new packaged silver box have no gear problems.
If that GP9 is a great deal, it is very simple to change the gears w/ either P2k or Athearn gears. Mine were all changed early on when Lifelike was sending out the gear/ axle/ wheelsets.
Don’t let the cracked gear issue bother you as it’s a very very very very simple fix that takes less then five minutes. Proto GP9’s are great running loco’s and you will be very happy with it.
Just this weekend had my Proto 1K F3 crack its axle gear. $3 for a pack of 6 netted replacement Athearn ones from the LHS. 10 min tops to disassemble the truck, replace and check the gauge of the wheels and get it back together. Not a hard job at all.
I have a p1k rs-2 that had one bad axle. Replaced it and all is OK now.