Alex, I am working on finding gears. No real luck at the three main suppliers, PIC design, WM Berg or Stock Drive Parts. I have found one that might work for the smaller 13 tooth gear but no match for the 19 tooth. I plan to check out the RC shops. I have a set of gears from Lima I will use to match up. I doubt there will be any exact replacements but at least hope to find match gear diameters and pitches. Then machine to fit. Not interested in paying 85 bucks each to have them custom cut. 

As for the U joint I am using one from Stock Drive parts but also have a pair of metal ones from eBay. Search on 4mm U joints and you will see them. Just use a piece of 4 mm rod to join them. I am busy now but can email more info later.

 More info here:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...l-nyc-niagara-owners

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...40#41553382150830740

Pete

Alex,

Is that mine or Jeff's unit? Both of us blew the gearing pull lite consists. Great .pictures

Wow, that is ugly. Maybe I should hand over my other unit and have you do a rebuild before it breaks. Plastic - can't believe Lionel used without a major life cycle test - but plastic all to save a few bucks.

Hopefully, we can get it back on the tracks.

Alex,

I just ordered a few of the universal joints. Not sure when they will arrive, however, once I get them, I will give you them as I am going to ask you do upgrade my second unit once this get back on the rails.

I fixed one of these with the gears from Lima. I tried to buy better gears from North West Short Line, filled out the form for a quote but never got a reply. 

I ordered the Universal Stainless Steel RC Joint coupling 4mm

Thanks guys for all the great info, Kevin this is Jeff's engine. The 4mm drive shaft is a good idea but the bigger issue is the plastic gears in the gear box. Being they are plastic even if i replace them with new one's they can easily strip again. Like Chuck and Pete said above it's not easy to find Metal or brass gears. Pete is on the hunt for metal or brass gears, let's hope he can find them so we can repair these engine's the right way. Keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks,

Alex

I have four MTH Niagaras in my collection - glad I passed on the Lionel model.

Alex,

Read the OGR forum chain on these gears and drive shafts. I would suspect that my second engine will experience the same issue. Unfortunate that Lionel used plastic on a key piece. Crappy QA and I would be hard pressed to belief they did a life cycle test on the gear and shaft. Strong QA and testing would have identified this issue. Nylon gears could work if engineered properly. If I had to pay for them to be cut as suggested - I will just to have the engine functional. Would purchase a few sets just to have them and to reduce costs for all that need them

Hopefully Pete and Chuck are successful. 

Has anyone thought of contacting Sunset Limited to see if they have these items or something close?

Anyways, we will wait until you all get it settled.

Plastic does a real good job of disintegrating over time - especially when subjected to temperature variances.  

I can imagine if Lionel redoes this engine with Legacy (and I do say IF), they'll fix this problem and the replacement gears for that one will be metal or some other stronger material. Then, people can use those on the older CC models, too.

Mikado 4501 posted:

I can imagine if Lionel redoes this engine with Legacy (and I do say IF), they'll fix this problem and the replacement gears for that one will be metal or some other stronger material. Then, people can use those on the older CC models, too.

In this era of Lionel ordering their spare parts by buying extra complete units and then disassembling them stateside, what good will that do?  There quite likely won't be enough extras for people with the old engine to all buy a set.

-Dave

Also don't rule out a differently designed gearbox. A new gearbox may not use the idler gears, just the worm on a worm gear mounted on the axle. It may come to having to replace the complete gearbox if replacements cannot be had. I haven't ruled that out for my engine.

Pete

Mine has been self-benched due to a cherry switch failure.  Not thrilled to find out about a nylon drive gear problem that I didn't know I had to look forward to as well.

Kind of stupid meshing metal with nylon.  Had the same problem with my 71 Pontiac having nylon teeth on the timing gear.  Teeth started breaking, clogging the oil filter and pump, and loosening up the timing chain - made the car run funny.

It's the oil that causes the nylon to become brittle and fail.

Fred

I agree Fred about the oil. I plan to use teflon grease if I have to resort to using the nylon gears.

Pete

These CC-2 engines were supposed to be the latest and greatest from big-L at the time and we see the faults with them now!

Now the VisionLine is the latest and greatest,has anyone opened up a gearbox in one of them and see if Lionel is still using nylon gears? Even with Legacy electronics are they still not using the cherry switch or did they change to the hall effect sensor?  I do like Gunrunner Johns deal with his optical sensor and hope he gets it together and to market ,I just don't care for the reed switch and magnets,never had good luck with it.

Just my 2 cent's,Doug

Alex have you tried gears for radio control race cars? I found a brass drive shaft universal for my EM-1 this way.

Yes the plastic gears... heat, moisture and stress will disintegrate them all soon.  

J, The RC shops are my next stops. Its highly unlikely anyone makes a drop in replacement. I am hoping to find some gears with the correct profile that I can modify. If anyone else wants to help with the search the basic dimensions are as follows.

Small Gear, 13T, OD .410", width .132" with a .125" (1/8") center hole.

Large gear, 19T, OD .576", width .132" with a .125" center hole.

Number of teeth and OD are the most important. If its wider or has a smaller or no center hole then it could be machined to fit. Anodized aluminum or mild steel preferable, also delrin. Less desirable stainless steel or brass.

Don't ask me about pressure angles or mods. A real "gearhead" ME would help here.

Pete

This always upsets (well, you know...) me when it comes up. The Niagara is my second-favorite loco (guess #1) and I have a Lionel, an MTH and more-than-one Samhongsa (Williams) version. The Lionel is the best-looking, and has been a problem-child from day 1 - my gears are still fine, but the driveshaft split (fixed). 

I hope one of you guys comes up with a "kit" for this (gears and joint) - I'll buy at least one, maybe two. I would pay a decent price for it. (Wouldn't it be nice if someone - oh, say, Lionel, just to be crazy - did just that? Not for free; I'd pay.)

BTW, my MTH PS2 Niagara is an awful runner (surges) and, even at Factory Defaults, won't answer my DCS Remote Commander; it will get ERR one day. Lionel sound is better (this is not  new loco). MTH uses plastic in it's steam drive trains, also. Don't know about the gears, but a Premier Hudson that I ERR-installed this year has plastic driveshafts and u-joints. Saw them myself.

The Samhongsa brass Niagara (with ERR) seems to be a tank. Tracks better (sprung), too. A bit typically "brass-noisy".

What about trying this? They can fabricate anything you want. Just need a drawing.

http://www.emachineshop.com/