Loose gear LC+ RS3

If you are still within the 1 year warranty period, contact Lionel and arrange for it to be repaired by Lionel free of charge. Arnold

Thanks Arnold. I bought this around 2014. I bought it from Charles Ro, and I know they do service. However, up until now, I have never had to have anything repaired, I guess I've been lucky! Do you know what a repair could potentially cost? 

No idea.

My strategy with new stuff like LC+ that is out of warranty, is only to run it when I have an audience, like my 7 year old granddaughter. That way, I feel like I'm minimizing the need and cost of possible future repairs.

For everyday train running, I usually run Postwar, which is very durable, reliable and fixable. Arnold

Oh my goodness. My whole world is Lionchief! Your strategy, while enviable, is not adaptable for me. 

Thanks again. 

First off post war trains break too. I should know. You have to become good at finding spare parts, making repairs and sometimes making your own tools. Or you send it out for repairs.

Which train do you actually have? Model number? Road name? Did it come in a set?

Is it just the one gear? Are you good at fixing things like this?

Cost of repair could be a few dollars for the gear or $50 to $100 to send it out. Of course this all depends on exactly what is broken.

I'm more into fixing my post war because they always break down. I have more than a few older RS-3's with plastic gears but even with hard use I haven't broken one.

I you give me more info maybe I can help you decide if you can repair or send it out.

I wouldn't characterize the strategy as enviable. I pay $300 plus whatever for an engine, I'm going to run it. No sense having a bunch of money tied up and then babying it.  Out of warranty, no problem. There are lots of people available to fix engines. 

The plastic gear has stripped on the gear axle, only repair is replace the gear. The gear is around 3.00 and all you have to do is tap the new gear on the shaft. Fairly simple repair you can do at home.  If Lionel has the gear.

Replace it with a Williams or MTH truck block. No excuse for using plastic gears

Just checked Lonel's parts list. Obsolete. Figures.

Can you push it back on and put a little jbweld on it?

I have a Lionchief Christmas set that has this very same problem but the gear has not fallen all the way off. It was so bad I decided to set up DCS for the Christmas layout and run an MTH engine this year. The LC only got used once for last years Christmas layout. 

This is an idler gear I believe that turns on a shaft between the drivers. No way that I can tell to keep it in place. Mine was this way from the factory. I'll stay away from LC in the future. Dislike plastic gears in drive applications.

Good morning, and thanks for all the replies that came in overnight. 

The engine in question is Chicago & North Western Lionchief™ Plus RS-3 Diesel #1621

I had just set her up to be an ore hauler; purchased the ore care 6 pack by that road name to match up. I didn't get far!

I am afraid I am not handy with repairs, and I may bring her to Charles Ro and get her fixed. However, that will burn the money earmarked for any new acquisitions, which I usually make this time of year. But that's neither here nor there, I want this running again.  

Here is some video that might flesh out some details, thanks for looking.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QQSCsPv75hxDjeQBA

What you need is this:

It is a $15 part but Lionel says it is "obsolete" and "unavailable" 

Installation of this shaft w/ gears is a simple 20min job (well, 15 min since you already have the shell off). 

Thank you Geysergazer. Obsolete and unavailable?! That doesn't bode well for resolution.

But that might make my future spending money on LionChief obsolete and unavailable! 

Kidding! I couldn't resist. I'm not that easily fazed and I do remain undeterred to get it going again. 

I've read that the Chinese vendors are no longer making production runs of parts only for purchase by the US train companies. That instead, they have to order extra items of the finished product and then disassemble them for parts. So I guess that must be true. I don't believe it was like this when Sanda Kan was the major train vendor/manufacturer in China.  I could be wrong on that, but parts for common items were certainly more readily available years ago.

Even more disheartening, is that this is a larger production run item aimed at a larger audience than some of the high end items. That it is both "obsolete" and "unavailable" is not very encouraging for anyone considering a LionChief plus locomotive purchase.

It could also be that the "formula" of the plastic has changed. As an example, I've got rolling stock from the MPC period of Lionel, where the plastic knuckle couplers still spring open when activated. I've got more recent production Lionel cars where the plastic knuckle couplers no longer spring open. They do open, but they don't spring open as my MPC era cars still do.

Heck, I've got plenty of lower-end types of locomotives with plastic gears that don't have all the latest electronic/digital features, but I've never encountered a problem with any of the plastic gears on them like this one here.

Thanks Brian, that is food for thought. And I agree, this is a common enough loco, and I believe it was a good seller, at least that's my sense of it. Interesting.

Now the repair shop, do you think it will be the same story with them? The part required is unavailable and obsolete, and therefore we can't fix it? 

It's "obsolete" because it is a bad design. It's "unavailable"because others have had the same failure and exhausted the parts supply.

There's a good chance the new part would fail again anyway.

I'd get it touch with Ro and see what your options are.

Thanks Rick. Wow, this problem is turning out to be surprisingly severe! I am going to move on this, up until now I didn't consider it urgent, but I plan to get over to Charlie Ro, no later than tomorrow. 

It was the Lionchief product line that brought me off the fence and back into the hobby. I had a set when I was young, and considered picking back up with it again, and the Lionchief engines and their wireless remotes was the compelling factor. And as such, that is all I have, a nice little roster of (2) RS3, (2) FT units, (2) GP7's.

I was going to add a NW2 this year, but that is on freeze for now.