P2k gear issue. No not that one, completely different


NVSrr1500

NVSrr1500

Well-Known Member
Ok. I will bounce this off the collective seeing as I have never run into this. Maybe some of you have. P2k locomotives. I got two used for rather cheap. Non dcc is why I figured they were cheap. Skip ahead of the new cab, paint and doc sound. They were programmed and now on the main to start testing relook for anything needs adjusting. Well. All the functions worked accept one. The actual moving part. Motor spun fine in both responded to inputs. Just didn’t move. My first thought was the same as yours. P2k. Equals gears. To the work bench and popped the gear covers off and nope. Not the gear split issue at all. A totally different one. Lateral movement. So much so I allowed the gears to completely disengage and misalign. The idler gears don’t have that play. Just the wheel axle gear assembly. The gears themselves are only about 1/16 wide. Not helping. The whole gear assembly can shift that far. Never saw such a thing. Both trucks on both locomotives have this lateral play problem. Now I know why they were cheap. The last guy could figure it out either. Anybody have a clue how to fix this? I just had a possible thought styrene tube cut to length with a slit to fit over the axle on each side as a spacer. Anybody else run into this issue?

these post date the gear issue engines. The gear and axle are molded as on piece
shane
 
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Never heard of that before. Assuming these are Life-Like locos, almost sounds like someone has replaced the original cracked gears in the past with some other brand "X" gears instead of Athearn gears. A couple of options, check the wheel gauges and make sure they are correct, then maybe use your spacer idea. Or else obtain some Athearn gears to replace your current ones, as they are 1/8" wide gears. But maybe also check that the wheels and axle shafts are true P2K brand, or at least with nominal 7/64" dia. axles, in case those wheels and stub axles also brand "X".

Unfortunately I don't have THAT much experience with this stuff, so just offering my best guess for now. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in and let us know any more additional info. that they may have.
 
Mixed Freight said:
Never heard of that before. Assuming these are Life-Like locos, almost sounds like someone has replaced the original cracked gears in the past with some other brand "X" gears instead of Athearn gears. A couple of options, check the wheel gauges and make sure they are correct, then maybe use your spacer idea. Or else obtain some Athearn gears to replace your current ones, as they are 1/8" wide gears. But maybe also check that the wheels and axle shafts are true P2K brand, or at least with nominal 7/64" dia. axles, in case those wheels and stub axles also brand "X".

Unfortunately I don't have THAT much experience with this stuff, so just offering my best guess for now. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in and let us know any more additional info. that they may have.
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Good point tho in the brand x. The idler gears are also just as thin. Not sure if th replacements from Walthers would work tooth wise. Have to see. Could be somebody did just that
 
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The one piece axle gear assembly No split gear not the ones that happened too.
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Look how far laterally these shift.
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inside the gearbox when it shifts. only 1/16 wide both axle and idler gears. never had a lateral shift issue like this.
 
Supposed to be P2K 38-2's when I got them used. They are P2K chassis and drive line. Not so sure about these gears tho. I am not sure the shell isn't redone and adapted to the p2K frame. Not so sure how much is original. I altered the shell a bit as well. Nothing to the drive line. did add an eau V5 21 NEM660 to it. As somebody said, these might be some part X from some cheap parts place out of china and not actual proper pieces. never come accross such lateral movement before.
 
Maybe the 38-2's are different, but all of my P2K trucks have the brass bushings and 3 piece axle/wheel and gear combo. Exactly like all Athearn locos.
 
Those do look like atlas trucks can you take a couple photos maybe not so close And one or two of the entire drive train

Also looks like the side frame is not tight so it allows the axle to shift

Atlas made GP 38-2 so it could be one without some picts of the drive train and the shell its hard to tell for sure

The Atlas gears are thin like those
 
I took that truck apart to get the pics and was only holding the side frames on so they are not fitted at all. I altered the shell quite a bit. I forgot the pic have to do that tomorrow
 
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I have a Proto loco like this. It looks like the bottom cover was put on before the sideframes were all the way seated. The design looks like a Kato or Genesis or Atlas. The sideframes go on and their mounting pin has a little notch near the end. The bottom cover has legs that fit into the notches and hold it all in place. Either the notches are broken off or it wasn't assembled correctly.

I said I have one but it's never run. It has a half built GP39-2 shell I was kitbashing before Athearn came out with theirs. Now I have the Athearn running around and the Proto sits half done. Hit me up if you need a chassis.
 
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Well working on the trucks. Closer to an answer. tis is as far together as I can get the side frames. it still allows a lot of lateral movement. that is all the further they will go together. even after applying some clamping force. The side frames do not even touch the cover plate braces. Not really clear in this pic but they are nowhere near touching it. And it will not go any closer. I am thinking figure this out. Note the bottom axle is out of alignment compared to the top one.
 
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