JULY 15th, 2021 - LIONEL PURCHASE OF MTH TOOLING ... PLEASE READ!

@harmonyards posted:

Good points Rick!!  ….Detail wise, yes,…they’re right up there with the Kline scale Hudson,….as far as the drivers on the Kline and MTH Hudson, they’re the same ….I haven’t had anybody request a MTH chassis swap on a K4 yet, but I have some MTH K4 chassis sitting around…hmmmmm,…the next frontier,..😉….Kline K4 with a big fat Pittman??…it can happen….if the drivers on the Kline are that nicer than the MTH’s so be it, I’ll swap them over too,….use the best of the best,….the object of the game is to make it look like it’s as stock as a rock, ….some argue the MTH J1e Hudson is as fine as the Kline, ….I say not, ….that Kline boiler shell edges out on the detail dept…..those Kline scale models are the closest thing to high dollar brass that I’ve ever seen,….hence why so many have pulled the trigger to have me gut them like a fish and reengineer everything,….

Pat

I have a k-line K4 w/ elephant ears that’s a shelf queen due to a temperamental cruise and minimal pulling power. You’re tempting me! One of my favorite engines

@RickO posted:

No worries. I got burned by the Legacy version when the secondary gearshaft bushing started turning into shavings,lol!

It only had a couple of hours on it pulling 4 k line 15" passenger cars.

I have replaced the drive block on three of the Legacy K4 locomotives, the internal gear gets loose on the shaft, and the only possible fix would be to pull all the wheels and finagle another gear in there and get it secured to the shaft.  However, that would end up costing more than just replacing the drive block!  I keep a spare K4 drive block in my closet...

@RickO posted:

I was disappointed to see this gearbox in nearly everything these days,even articulateds. On my H10, the worm gear shoves the secondary gearset over so far only 1/4 of the gear face makes contact with the axle gear.

I have added a shim in the gearbox since these h10s have a removable bottom plate, but I refuse to purchase any more locos with this complex gearbox.

I actually was able to fix one of the K4 models with shims inserted from the top.  It was a bit of a PITA, but I managed to keep the gear in place and AFAIK it's still running.  The next one I think I'll pull the drive block and flush it with carb cleaner to get all the grease out, then use retaining compound on the gear to see if that works.

I'm going to check my H10, it hasn't run much, but I'd like to head off that issue before it happens.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I actually was able to fix one of the K4 models with shims inserted from the top.  It was a bit of a PITA, but I managed to keep the gear in place and AFAIK it's still running.  The next one I think I'll pull the drive block and flush it with carb cleaner to get all the grease out, then use retaining compound on the gear to see if that works.

I'm going to check my H10, it hasn't run much, but I'd like to head off that issue before it happens.

I did a pig & a poke at one of these afflicted compound gear boxes,…what a hunk of junk!…I developed a fix for these, as long as the gears haven’t gone into mangle mode, pretty invasive, and a real clock bandit,…the fix involves pulling drivers, pushing out the pin, adding better splines to the pin,  and a brass sleeve to keep everything aligned,….not one of their crowning designs,…..I’ve had a couple requests to duplicate the service, but both had destroyed gears, so no fix if the gears are wasted,….as John has stated,…it’s chassis time,…

Pat

Yep, after screwing around with these, I just slide a new chassis under them.  While I know it's possible to take it all apart, I really don't want to spend that much time on this kind of repair.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Yep, after screwing around with these, I just slide a new chassis under them.  While I know it's possible to take it all apart, I really don't want to spend that much time on this kind of repair.

Yeah,…curiosity got the better of me, and I wanted to see if there was a feasible repair,…..like I said, I did one successfully…..however, the ability to do it repetitively is kinda null & void especially if the gears are at discard,….if Lionel runs out of chassis, and someone had one with good gears, then I’d take another swing at it,….but right now it’s about a 5 hour ordeal to knock it all apart, and repair all the damage…..and I still have to put it all back together and test it,….

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

right now it’s about a 5 hour ordeal to knock it all apart, and repair all the damage…..and I still have to put it all back together and test it,….

Exactly my point, and you have the tools to get the quartering back right, it would take me longer I suspect, and I'd have to charge the customer way more than just sticking the new drive block under it.  Of course, he's going to have the same issue with the new drive block one day...