need help with on30 rail truck gears

[dogwood960]

I have a new bachmann On30 railtruck, but only makes spinning sound and truck goes nowhere. I have read on a few On30 forums that the gears are faulty and split. This truck is new how do I get replacement gears? I have also read that NWSL makes replacement gears, is this true? Would I be better off replacing with bachmann gears or the NWSL gears? Will bachmann even care to send replacement gears?  Thanks, Dave.

[Sherwood]

Hopefully someone will chime in otherwise but the last it was left in the forum, Bachmann had no fix nor plan, but would offer to trade a rail bus for a bad railtruck.  I still want the railtruck, so I am stuck with one that goes down the track like it has a square wheel.  I don't see a kit specifically for the railtruck on the NWSL website, but they do respond to demand.

[the Bach-man]

Dear Dave,
Please contact the service department.
Thanks!
the Bach-man

[Model T Ford]

Dave,
About 12 months ago I purchased three new sealed in the boxes On30 railtrucks from a well known EBay retailer in the USA (I am in Australia). None of them would run.  I didn't want to spend the money sending them back so dismantled them to find what the problem was.  Being an Engineer I was thinking I may be able to do something to fix things (= void any warranty, but such is life). 

All three had split gears either on the gearbox output shaft or within the differential, or both. I couldn't even muster up enough good gears to make one railtruck run.  Tried repairing some gears with tiny amounts of superglue but that didn't work - only a few revolutions before the gears split again.

I have always found Bachmann products to be very good and this is the first time I have had any problems with their wares.  Suspect a design or manufacturing fault, so I would not get another railtruck until Bachmann resolve the gear issues and either issue spare gear sets or re-release the model with modified gears - if they ever do.

If you really want a railtruck then one option may be to fit a third party mono drive rear axle to a Bachmann unit - not an inexpensive solution (would probably cost as much as you paid for the railtruck) and would require some failry major modifications to fit.

Regards,
Trevor

[mabloodhound]

This is a known problem for a couple of years.   Currently, the only replacement gears from Bachmann or NWSL are for the Shay;   nothing for the Climax, railtruck, etc.
I have seen others fix the split gear by adding a brass tubing sleeve around the round portion of the gear to keep the split from opening up.   This sleeve has done the trick.   A bit of Goggling should find some of these fixes.

[richg]

This is a known problem for a couple of years.   Currently, the only replacement gears from Bachmann or NWSL are for the Shay;   nothing for the Climax, railtruck, etc.
I have seen others fix the split gear by adding a brass tubing sleeve around the round portion of the gear to keep the split from opening up.   This sleeve has done the trick.   A bit of Goggling should find some of these fixes.

The below link is what NWSL has for replacement Bachmann gears. Take your time and look though the list. Some for HO and some for On30.

http://shop.osorail.com/category.sc?categoryId=44

Rich

[TimR]

So far, my rail trucks have been OK. (knock on wood) However, the Climax locos have been a nightmare with the couplings splitting just like others have reported with gears on other locos. I told you that story to comment on the fix with brass tubing. I did this with the Climax couplings and it has held up very well. Use some calipers to get the normal outside OD of the gear shoulder in question, then get the closest ID tubing you can. K&S has a great selection. You may find either brass or aluminum available for your size requirements and either should work. Once you have it all ready to go with a dry fit, add your CA adhesive between the split on the gear and then around the outside of the gear shoulder then press the tube on to hold it all together. I used the full length of the 12" tube to make it easier to handle then cut it to length later. I also used a taper reamer to ever so slightly taper the tube to make it easier to align the small coupling into the tube opening. Once dry, cut to length. A small drop of CA on the shaft and then press the gear (coupling) on and you are good to go. It hasn't split or slipped since. (at least not that I can discern)

It's worth a shot. Hobby town USA carries a good selection of the K&S tubing and it is pretty cheap considering it can save what are otherwise very nice Bachmann models from being relegated to static display pieces.

[mabloodhound]

This is a known problem for a couple of years.   Currently, the only replacement gears from Bachmann or NWSL are for the Shay;   nothing for the Climax, railtruck, etc.
I have seen others fix the split gear by adding a brass tubing sleeve around the round portion of the gear to keep the split from opening up.   This sleeve has done the trick.   A bit of Goggling should find some of these fixes.

The below link is what NWSL has for replacement Bachmann gears. Take your time and look though the list. Some for HO and some for On30.

http://shop.osorail.com/category.sc?categoryId=44


As I said, the ONLY replacement gears from NWSL are for the On30 Shay.....there are no other On30 gears for Bachmann On30 locos/trucks.

Rich

[Sherwood]

Has anyone had a fix for the railtruck from Bachmann service other than the a fore mentioned offer to swap with a rail bus or some other critter?  I took my railtruck out to risk its once a year run, and now instead of running but hopping like it had a square wheel, it just moves a little and sits still with motor running.

I see some railtruck gears in the service parts section now, but not clear which ones they are or whether they are likely to be the problem. I don't really want to take it apart if there still is no fix and have to put it back together broken as a display anyway.

[Biglars]

I have four with broken gears. I did receive one set of replacement gears but they also failed. I have not figured out a fix but I am still working on it.
My next thought is to strip all the gears out and power a trailer cars to push the rail truck. I also have one truck in a sealed box. I was thinking of trying to cast replacement gears from a new gear.
Such a shame that such nice models sit unused.