I’m jumping back into the hobby as a runner and not a collector, I have too much stuff. As I drag out the Life Like 4 axle units most of them run a foot and lock up with the dreaded cracked axle problem. Remember when the BL2 came out guaranteed for life? Walthers bought LL and doesn’t honor it? I know I’m being cheap and am junking out old Blue Box wide bodies to get axles. To me the P2k units were not cheap when I bought them and everybody pitched a fit about fuel tanks on Alco’s and that was fixed. Anybody else with me? Should wathers pony up?
I don’t think so. Walthers continued to support those issues for some time, but I don’t think that it’s fair to expect them to do so in perpetuity.
I don’t own any Proto diesels, but have repaired many of them for friends - the parts are readily available and not especially expensive. I’d guess that those locos still having the split gear problems have been languishing on modellers’ shelves for some time and are eventually popping up on ebay - probably not run for years. If you’re getting them at bargain prices, there should be sufficient funds left to make the repairs. [;)]
Wayne
What he said.
Seriously, I paid $35 to $50 for most of my older LL P2K diesels. Now that non-DCC diesels are up to about $150, springing a few bucks for new gears doesn’t seem out of line, even taking inflation into account.
I’m also old enough to remember cutting your own flywheels, disassembling motors and rewinding and balancing the armatures, and other methods just to get the engines to run reliably, or sometimes even at all.
A decent beer is four bucks, a Big Mac is four bucks, coffee is a buck and a quarter, hamburger is up to five bucks a pound for the cheap stuff around here. Having to spend a few bucks on new gears is peanuts. That’s why nobody else is bothered.
A lot of people did complain from having the same problem that you are now. Life-Like/Walthers listened, and fixed the cracked gear problem years ago. Walthers even offered replacement axles for a long time, but since these older drives have been out of production for so long, it’s possible they don’t even make the gears anymore. If you have a bunch of old P2K diesels that need new gears, Athearn’s new replacement geared axles with nickel-silver wheels are about the best fix you can get, and they’re only around $10 for a pack of 6 axles![:D]
By now, all of those old Life-Like diesels should have had those cracked gears replaced. And, for those locos yet to have their cracked gears replaced, replacement gears should be on hand. That’s what we all have done.
I have a whole bunch of P2K locos, and I have replaced cracked gears on several. And, I have a supply of replacement gears on hand for those locos that have yet to exhibit the problem.
After Walhers bought LL and stopped providing free replacements, I bought several bags of Athearn gears, six to a package. You should do the same. Forget about Walthers honoring LL’s lifetime warranty. Ain’t gonna happen.
Rich
Athearn drive axle Gear. #ATH 60024-six per pack.
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
I once swore off LL P2K locomotives around 12 years ago because of the crack gear problem…Fast forward today and I have two P2K SCL GP9s and several SCL/Seabord System GP38-2s.These was bought used and the gears had been replaced but,I have several Athearn gears on hand just in case my luck buying used P2K engines runs out…
Walthers probably has the cost under $2 for these axles, maybe less. I would call them up and explain the situation. If they have good customer service, they’ll send you the replacement parts. In business the customer is always right* (*within reason). When a company has good customer service, you will be more likely to buy from that company again. If Walthers is smart they will send you the replacement parts which they will make up when you buy another product from them. If they try to avoid sending replacement parts, then I would say something like, “I’ll just go to Athearn and buy parts from them.”. The fear of losing business should fix any problems regarding the warranty.
If they still don’t send you replacement parts, I would recommend Athearn parts.
Fitter Roger:
Congratulations on getting back into the hobby.
I’m sorry but I have to agree with the others that expecting Walthers to pony up for equipment that is that old is unreasonable. Things wear out, dry up, break down…however you want to put it. If we expected the manufacturers to pay every time something broke for as long as you owned it they would have to be charging some pretty hefty prices up front to cover future losses. Just look at what current household appliance extended warranties cost.
I think Walthers deserves cudos for supporting the product for as long as they did considering the fact that they didn’t create the problem.
[2c]
Dave
Appears everyone agrees (Hard to believe here on the MR Forums!!!) that it’s not out of line, this late in the game, that Walthers would expect you to pay for these replacement parts.
No, it won’t.
Walthers claims that it got burned right after the acquisition of Life-Like by modelers requesting inordinate numbers of replacement gears. So, when it ran out of supply (replacement gears turned over to Walthers by LL), it began to charge for replacement gears from the next run.
Rich
People have even posted here that they requested replacements even though they didn’t even have a P2K loco - to get plated wheels to replace Athearn Blue Box sintered wheels (instead of ponying up for NWSL wheels). Waltehrs seemed to always want proof of purchase, Life Like didn’t seem to care and just handed them out. I just use the Athearn gears now - I buy most of my locos on ebay or at train shows, generally for $40 or less, and I just replace the gears as I put them in service, I don;t wait for them to crack (or not, if they had previous been replaced).
–Randy
Got a link where I can buy these?
There are some being offered right now on eBay in the HO scale trains area, or you can go to Athearn’s web site and purchase them under their ‘Parts’ category.
Expecting Walters to offer free replacements for a product they didn’t make, that is now close to 20 years old or older, is like expecting Ace Hardware, or any other major retail outlet, to replace a product they never sold in the first place, made by a company they bought out.
I simply keep a ready stock of Athearn replacement gears on hand to use when a club member purchases an old LifeLike locomotive that we all know is going to have split gears.
Frank posted it up above - Athearn part #60024. I ordered several packs right from Athearn to have them on hand.
This is just the gears - you reuse the wheels as there is nothign wrong with them.
And you DO need an NMRA gauge - you do NOT push the stub axles on the wheels in as far as they go.
–Randy
Kyle,
One of the 1st things Walthers did after buying the Life-Like line of diesels is standardize future production on a 14:1 gear ratio. They have sold out/warranty replaced the old 12:1 gears years ago. Life-Like seemed to change the gear ratio with every new model. Only the old GP’s kept the 12:1 gear ratio.
The only way you are going to get gears is use the above mentioned Athearn parts. You are asking Walthers to produce parts they no longer carry? Even the automotive industry is not on the hook for parts if the car is over 10 years old - This is just model trains!
Jim
Very minor fix as you could do a repair in about the same time as composing a response [(-D]
A bigger issue for Walthers is to support replacement parts like Atlas Kato Athearn etc does with actual parts listing. Every time I call the answer is they are not available. So l stopped buying Walthers engines. Not looking for freebies just want to be able to repair what I have.
Too bad that Athearn didn’t buy Life-Like.
Rich
All the years working on these, I never did examine/ figure what made the gear ratio changes. If the axle gear is the same on 12:1 and 14:1 am I correct to assume the change is done w/ the idler gears. is the worm the same?
I have had 11 NIB Proto geeps and 4 Proto SD’s which I bought new for the going street price which have been in storage since then. Gurantee’d I will need wheel sets replaced one most all of them. It ain’t fair yes, but I got myself to blame for not getting the wheelsets when they were being offered by Walthers - I’ll have to pony up just like everyone else.