I broke out the Bachmann twins that have been put up for some time (years) and gave them a few laps on the test track.
Both are growlers and were running rough.
One had a smell to it as it passed by me, not ozone, but rather burning oil.
Decided to open up the worst offender and boy was she packed with hardened dried white grease.
I split the frame apart and removed the trucks, into the degreaser bowel it went.
The commutator was covered with oil and the gaps between them was clogged full of junk.
I figure that’s where the smell is coming from.
After a couple of very thorough hose downs of the motor and trucks with the CRC contact cleaner, it looked pretty good.
Two hours dry time later; I spent about thirty minutes removing all the fuzz and lint from the six axels. I put it back together and lubed it sparingly.

Back on the track it went and this time, ran worse than before I messed with it. I still caught a whiff of burning oil, or hot motor, as it passed by.
Open it up again and do a complete teardown of the trucks and removal of the motor from the frame half this time.
And what before my wondering eyes should appear but two cracked axel gears in the rear truck (center and inside most) and a cracked yoke on the forward truck (all gears on that truck are OK).
Surgery now required.

Before re-assembly I will remove the brush caps and brushes and degrease them.

I bought a bunch of axels, gears. drive shafts and such from a show last year.
I’ll have to find them, and measure, and do a gear count to see it they will work. I do not remember any yokes but maybe I have them too.

The good news in all of this is I did find my NMRA gauge while looking.
It’s late now and I have to call off the search.

Have you considered a replacement loco from Bachmann? I sent back a two motor 44 ton diesel that has a cracked gear. The replacement is on the way.

www.bachmanntrains.com...ervice.php

Rich

Bachmann does sell some parts for the N scale 8-40C, but yours may be the older one and I don't know how many parts interchange.
estore.bachmanntrains....h=66_70_85
I got one of the newer ones from Bachmann as an exchange like Rich mentioned.
I like it better than the older ones.
My older one had this drive.
www.bachmanntrains.com.../86051.pdf

The new one has this drive.
www.bachmanntrains.com...S001_2.PDF

Just a thought....I would suspect that what is causing the gears to crack/split is what Charlie Chan over in China is using to lubricate them at the factory. Also the bore on press on axle gears may be too small which causes them to crack because they have too much stress on them.

Using a petroleum based grease/oil on a plastic gear is a no-no. It softens the material. Then when it dries out it leaves the material brittle. Might be a good idea when getting any new loco from the "owners of our economy" that it be disassembled and all lubrication be removed and then relube it with synthetic lubricants such as LaBell oil and Teflon grease.

Don't use any thing like contact cleaner to to clean plastic gears. It will dry them out too. Use alcohol. Jim Beam or Jack Daniels is good...you can drink what's left over Even if you spill some you can lick it off your workbench!!!

MMMMmmmmmm oily whiskey

Those gears crack if you look at them. And the N scale (also old style HO 44 ton) motors hate oil and carbon on the commuter. Yet the buttman still oils the hell out of them. Last 44 ton I bought new smoked like hell on the track before I degreased it. It's a love hate relationship, because they make great HOn30 critter drives for cheap, even free when Fred sends me some from a show (Thanks again Fred!).

Don't know if this will help, but it's worth mentioning...

I've heard of folks in larger scales repairing these and similar gears. They remove the axles, wrap the cracked section TIGHTLY in monofilament fishing line, and soak the whole thing in ACC. An alternative (probably stronger, if the sizes are right) would be to slip pieces of brass tube over the cracked gear hubs before re-inserting the axles.

Thanks guyz, all good suggestions.

Mine are the first version (according to spookshow) both were given to me as gifts, one from my wife and the other about 9 months later from my daughter.
They are both NS road but different numbers. So returning to the B’mann is not an option, ‘sides that, I have both the registration sheets in front of me, never mailed them off, even if I did, still wouldn’t be an option.

The parts from B’mann, in the link from Ray, look like they are interchangeable, available, and a good option.
Vic’s suggestion of not using the spray contact cleaner raised my brows, as I have been using it since my re-intro back to the hobby and settling into Normal scale back in the mid 80’s.
Maybe it takes this long to mess the gears up, but I like his suggestion of dealing with the spillage.

Neither of these two locos has ever been opened up since I’ve owned them, never have lubed them.
All that crud is from the B’mann factory. Guess I will open the second one and see what’s up with that one, as it is a growler also.

Never heard Ken’s suggestion of the fishin’ line but guess it’s plausible, the brass tube, I like better, provided I can find some with the ID to fit tight enough on the OD of the gear hub. I do not have a drill press to ream the tubing at my disposal.

The other options I have are, to use a newer version of the Dash8 (as a donor) I have a ‘03 version in CSX livery, looks like the axle gears and yoke are the same, could do that. But that loco runs great, smooth and quiet for a B’mann.

Find all the stuff I bought at that show just for cases like this…

Or find another donor at an up coming show…, hope to attend ½ dozen more before the show season ends.

Thanks for all the input

First, I’ll get the Jack Daniels out, and probably find in the spillage, a few of the many missing MT coupler springs I’ve launched.

Hey Donzi, I should have been more specific about the contact cleaner. There are contact cleaners that can be used without harming plastic. But, off-the-shelf contact cleaners like you get at Rat Shack or hardware stores will screw up plastic even though they may say plastic compatible on the can. The damage just isn't always apparent and they "dry out" the plastic causing it to become brittle. The off-the-shelf cleaners are OK on metal but their solvents are harmful to plastic.

Two contact cleaners that we use in repairing high dollar electronics (amateur radio equiptment) are DeOxIt and Blue Shower. The drawback to them is that they run about $20 a can.

An old tooth brush and some rubbing alcohol will clean up plastic gears real good. I've even loaded up my airbrush with alcohol and spray cleaned away with it. Hope you can find the parts for the easy fix

I emailed bachmann the other day looking for a N scale Northern I had sent them (december 9th), and they are claiming 6 weeks turnaround on warranty. Makes one ask are they cheap and laid off most of their people, or are them plastic gears biting them?

I've heard that B'mann does not repair damaged items. They throw them in the trash and send out replacements.

The complaint (documented by a source I consider extremely reliable) was specifically about their large scale line, but I believe the practice is standard for the "repair" department.

Just a little warning, if you're considering returning a customized model for service. There have been reports of people kitbashing, painting, detailing, etc. their models, sometimes also including several hundreds of dollars worth of extra electronics, then sending them in for service and receiving a brand new model in exchange.

If you have a customized model, tell them.
I had a couple of old DD40 locos that I wanted to fix (before they came out with the new ones) I begged for gears to fix them instead of exchanging them because they had sentimental value to me.
They sent a pair of 8-40CW locos and let me keep the DD40s.
If you have a customized shell, I'm sure they will let you keep the shell.
It did take about 6 weeks for them to send them I guess that is normal.

True dat Ray!
When I bought my first Spectrum J it had problems (wires were disconnected from plug to tender).
Called B’mann and spoke with a service rep, told her I wanted to keep the shell because it was # 611. She said they didn’t have that # available at the time, and would send me #601 as a replacement.
I explained to her that’s why I specifically bought #611.
She was very accommodating, she instructed me to remove the shell off #611 and send the chassis and tender back which I did.
Yes, it was about 6 weeks later, (the J came out the very end of the year just a week or two before Christmas).
I received #601 and tender, and it was, as a Spectrum should be, smooth quiet and an exceptional puller.
IMO it's a better loco than the connie (a bit louder but a better puller).
I simply swapped the loco shells. Bachmann didn’t want the extra shell back.
I sold the extra (cast) shell here on this site right after I posted it.

Dealing with a customer return, whatever the product maybe, I have found you can catch more fly’s with sugar than you can with vinegar.

Call them first and explain your situation (detailing, decoder install, custom paint, etc.)
I have found the Bachmann to be more than accommodating.



To my friend Vic… I have retired the CRC as my locomotive degreaser of choice.
Thanks for the heads up!

Opened the other B’mann Dash 8 up this evening.
No cracked gears that I can see, lots of fuzz and lint though.

This one has always been the slower of the two.
Dunno why, as I see no difference between them.

I’ve got the weekend off, other than attending the Port Richey train show Sat. morning, I’ll put her back together and try to figure out that growl.

Maybe the axle gears from the ER Shark I dropped will fit into the other one.

The other’s I have are too small (dia.), not sure what they fit.