Thank you for the pictures, I have a few questions and comments.
1) Does the GP38 come with the flywheel show?
2) FYI the small gear is only pushed onto the splines of the shaft about 1/8". It can be pushed onto the splines further if you need to move the chain closer to the tower. This can be done simply by tightening the shaft nut, it won't damage the bearings. Make sure you back the nut off after you do this to prevent binding the tower bearings.
3) My GP9 was a bad runner and I stripped the entire drive train down and found an extra shim inside the lower gear box that was causing binding.
4) Per the instruction in my kit I use locktite and only hand tighten the two lower gear box screws/nuts. Any tighter and the loco started to run bad again.
5) I had flashing inside the brass tube that connected the two lower gear box's. One was also bent a little. I cut new tubes. Make sure the tubes are not to long and pushing against the large lower gear or it will bind.
