Class 57 - Wheelsets with Split Gears

[richierich]

I was just wondering if anyone else has suffered wheelsets with split gears?

 

I've got 57 601 aka Purple Ronnie and was just test running today and it was running really poorly. After stripping the bogies and carefully checking the gears for any debris preventing them from meshing properly, found three wheelsets had split gears. Its a bit disappointing because the loco has been stored for most of its life in a bedroom cupboard from new!

 

I'm just wondering if anyone else with recent Chinese made / designed Farish locos has had similar problems?

 

I thought we'd left this problem behind with late Poole made Farish models!

[woodenhead]

It was the split gears along with wobbly wheelsets on wagons that drove me away from N in the 90s, I hope this is just a one off and you have been unlucky.

[Wherry Lines]

My cl. 57 suffered with split gears. Fortunately mine was still in warranty and Bachmann repaired it. I believe there were some issues with the early Chinese manufactured models (such as the Porterbrook 57) which meant the gears were prone to splitting. My 57 came back with the updated gears which are a bit wider and made from a slightly different plastic, which does not seem to be prone to splitting.

 

Speak to BR Lines, who should be able to supply the appropriate gearset for you. BR Lines

[oggy1953]

I Have been having the same problem, but with class 66s. I now have 2 where the top gear that messhes with the worm has broken/ worn teeth. Strangely it hasn't happened on any other class, and i do know this was a problem with the old Farish loco's. The problem is even if i can get replacements ( any one know where) I cant see how to remove it.

[slow8dirty]

Hi,

yes I've had it with the 57003 version, had run perfectly until about an hour before it was to be sold along with my then layout. Better before rather than the first time run by its new owner. I believe his plan was to get the spares of off BRlines also.

Its a still present problem but far far less common in todays generation of models.

Matt

[Etched Pixels]

I've had a 66 and a 57 split gears. The 57 split almost every axle gear. As it was clearly a design fault I took it up with Bachmann who were extremely efficient and sent me a new set of axles for free. They really need to either change the plastic they use or the way they fit the gears.

 

(note btw that 'guarantee periods' of six months etc don't apply to faults present at manufacture in general)

 

Alan

[Stu from EGDL]

Hi Guys;

 

Just had this with a 57601..... had 4 axles split on this model.

 

I took the easy option and replaced all six axles with blackened standard Farish wheels. As these are a slightly smaller diameter, I had to open out the axle covers on the underside of the bogie frame (no great drama & future ease of access). The end result is that I have a good runner, sitting nice and low on the track and a couple of spare axles for future use.

 

I'm just wondering if these axles will prove troublesome in the future or if this was maybe just a 'first batch' problem. Certainly, later models seem to be fine.

 

Off to e-mail Bachmann now to see if they will be so kind as to replace the defective ones.

 

Later;

STU from EGDL

http://stusphotos.fotopic.net

[sagaguy]

I Have been having the same problem, but with class 66s. I now have 2 where the top gear that messhes with the worm has broken/ worn teeth. Strangely it hasn't happened on any other class, and i do know this was a problem with the old Farish loco's. The problem is even if i can get replacements ( any one know where) I cant see how to remove it.

 

 

 

Hi,i know i`m a bit late replying to this post.If you have got the bogie out,the shaft that the gear runs on just pushes out,one side of the shaft is slightly bigger in diameter,push from the smaller diameter end & replace the gear which can be purchased from BRlines or the N gauge society shop.

 

Hope this helps,Ray.

[Edwin_m]

Has the worm been "jumping" on the gear? I get this sometimes when it is pulling a heavy load and I expect it would eventually lead to broken gear teeth. It may help to remove the bogie and bend the metal tabs at the top outwards a little. This should help the bogie retaining clips stay latched in place, and also stop it dropping out when the loco is lifted.

[richierich]

Hi,i know i`m a bit late replying to this post.If you have got the bogie out,the shaft that the gear runs on just pushes out,one side of the shaft is slightly bigger in diameter,push from the smaller diameter end & replace the gear which can be purchased from BRlines or the N gauge society shop.

 

Hope this helps,Ray.

 

Actually seen this on a Farish 150 too. It annoying because the power collectors are kind of rivetted in place by melting the plastic to form a rivet. I know its cost down, but a couple of small self tapping screws to hold them in place would be much more maintenance friendly

[oreamnos]

In my experience the Bach-Far gears are much less prone to split that the Farish-Poole gears, but are still not immune from it. Over about 5 years time I've had three of the newer gears split. One was in a Bach-Far Class 25, one was in a Peak (I don't remember which class), and the third gear I regret I don't remember the loco. All of the locos were purchased new and all of the split gears occurred more than a year after purchase after light/moderate running. My fix was to purchased replacement wheelsets from Bob Russell at BR Lines and swap out whatever had broken. A bit of a nuisance, I admit. While the various versions of the "first generation" Bach-Far chassis all run exceedingly well, they are much more fiddly to disassemble to remove the bogie frames to swap out a bad wheel set than the old Poole chassis.

 

The split gear thing is all rather a mystery. In my collection are 20-25 year old Farish-Poole locos that still have their original black plastic gears which have never split, and then other locos of the same vintage where I've had to swap out almost a whole bogie's worth of wheels - sometimes even the little intermediate 16 tooth gears have needed to be replaced. The plastic used must have required close manufacturing tolerances for chemical composition, temperature and curing, which clearly weren't always met!

 

-Matt

[happyChappy]

Here's a totally unscientific observation on this topic.

 

A few years ago we moved to a brand new house and my at the time 12 Grafar locos, which had never had any split gear problems, got stored in the new loft for 2-3 years. When I eventually retrieved them 5 locos were found to have suffered one or more split gears.

 

With modern insulation standards this loft is very cold in winter and very hot in summer. Before the house move the locos had always been stored in a warm-ish spare room and this has also been the case since retrieving them from the loft. Now It may be just a coincidence but every split gear occurred during this period when stored in the wildly fluctuating temperature environment.

 

I'm sure there are many other factors at play here, (I recently experienced a brand new Bachmann model delivered with a split gear), and I accept this is purely a non-scientific observation but just may be worth considering.

 

Hope it helps.

 

Cheers,

HC

 

 

[54Strat]

The expansion of the metal axle will expand at a greater rate than the plastic gears, therefore weakening them over time, probably with extremes of movement in the day / night cycle, or say a warm day in winter, and eventually splitting the gears. My loco's were kept in a shed until I heard about split gears, now they're inside and I've not had a problem since. I can recommend Bob Russell at BR lines, he sorted my 25 out.

 

The NGS has a page just for this issue, though it doesn't provide conclusive evidence as to the cause of this

 

My http://www.ngaugesociety.com/index.php?page=split-gears

 

Paul

[Etched Pixels]

With my Mr Grumpy hat on I think describing it as the cause is plain misleading. It may well influence the failures and I think from observation you are right. The cause is pressure fitting an unsuitable plastic around the metal in the first place. Why they don't use nylon gears or some of the other plastics that will flex not crack with expansion is a mystery.

 

It's not rocket science, anyone here had a Dapol gear fail ??

[Dr Al]

With my Mr Grumpy hat on I think describing it as the cause is plain misleading. It may well influence the failures and I think from observation you are right. The cause is pressure fitting an unsuitable plastic around the metal in the first place. Why they don't use nylon gears or some of the other plastics that will flex not crack with expansion is a mystery.

 

Farish used to but they start to loose the corners of their teeth over time.

 

It's not rocket science, anyone here had a Dapol gear fail ??

 

I've heard of numerous ones on 73s and a few on Hymeks, but since I own neither I've not directly experienced this.

 

I have has a soft drive gear on a 9F that had all the teeth worn off by the worm.

 

Cheers,

Alan