I assumed it was out of warrenty. To me reparing and tweaking is part of the hobby so it does not borther me so much. I can always improve almost any loco.
But the "no worm gear backlash" is a common problem with some of these locos.
It is easy to check by trying to rotate the rear driver by hand. There should be a bit of slop in the gears. It it feels tight then there is the problem. You only need to remove a few thousanths to get the clearences right. The worm needs to be centered between the smoke and axle worms gears.
Carl
