Atlas S2s splitting their own axles?

[u18b]

Way to go Paul.

That's one of the reasons I love Atlas products.

[u18b]

By the way, my two nominees for the worst is splits stuff is.....

Bachmann F7.  Almost every axle I have ever seen had split gears.

Bachmann Amfleet cars.  70-80% of all axles I have ever seen split.

[nstars]

Way to go Paul.

That's one of the reasons I love Atlas products.

+1

Marc

[MK]

+2!  I'm glad Atlas stepped up to the plate as I knew they would eventually once the smoke clears.

[narrowminded]

While I certainly applaud the response from Atlas Paul and their efforts to satisfy a customer I would still be concerned that the replacement part will still have the problem built in and the failure will repeat.  That doesn't ultimately help the customer OR Atlas in spite of their laudable efforts. 

I would be very concerned about what caused the failure to begin with.  Was it fit too tight?   That would certainly do it.  Or was the molding temperature wrong?  Possibly rushed for production or energy savings or...   That would do it too.  The machine certainly has the power to ram it through and the initial assembly might go ok but sometime in the not too distant future, if that's the case, it will rear its ugly head.  All of these considerations are pretty common to plastics in general. 

The specifics to Delrin are at least mentioned in that applications guideline which could probably serve as an outline for the right questions to ask, for those who might be curious enough.  Or maybe, with the years of experience these folks have with these kind of parts, they already know the answer but it's not the kind of thing you would want to admit especially if you tried to cheat it.   And then, if it didn't work for the past decades what would make a person think it would this time?

And Paul, I don't envy you days like these.   You guys do a pretty good job juggling the pressures of the business you're in.   I've generally had good, reliable service from your products and your reputation suggests that's the norm.    Except some #5 turnouts, of course.

[Chris333]

I bought 4 spare S2 trucks to use as HOn30 tender trucks. I pulled out all the gears because they weren't needed. Maybe I should go take a look at the axle gears.

[coosvalley]

Our repairman was out on Monday, so I got with him this morning about this.  This is the first report we have had of the gear splitting.  We pulled some of our spare parts and they are showing signs for splitting as well, so I will now contact the factory and see how quickly we can get some replacement parts.

I liked this better when I thought I was the only one. I wish you guys luck in these trying times...

Meanwhile, I have another replacement truck on it's way...Hopefully this problem won't affect ALL axles over time

[nkalanaga]

Ron:  My Bachmann F7 never split a gear - it was one of the earliest ones, and had all-metal gears.  Noisy as could be, and didn't play well with my Minitrix Fs, so I never bought another one, but it ran until I quit using it in the 80s.  It probably still runs, if the burglar who raided the old house in 2009 wants to run it.  All he got was the "junk" I left when we moved into our new place!  He must have sold it off to someone, as some of it turns up at the local train shows now and then.

The best one I found there was a set of my old tank cars, made from brass tubing, wood ends, and cut-down plastic boxcar underframes.  The guy selling them said he got them from someone who claimed they were early N scale kits, and he'd already sold a couple!  Some people will buy anything...

[peteski]

Ron:  My Bachmann F7 never split a gear - it was one of the earliest ones, and had all-metal gears. 

If the metal gears were prone to splitting then we would be in some serious trouble! 
I think I still have a Bachmann "U36B" with metal gears in the trucks.

[Cajonpassfan]

I liked this better when I thought I was the only one....

Well dang, me too, that is frustrating. I own five of them, four still in their boxes...
Hopefully, @Atlas Paul can come up with a fix... 
Otto K.

[C855B]

Well dang, me too, that is frustrating. I own five of them, four still in their boxes. ...

I'm in the same boat. I have one with a decoder that sees regular service, the others are in the "needs decoder" pile on the bench. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Hopefully Paul will be able to get their supplier to respond in a timely manner; otherwise, I will get the calipers out and size for banding, if only as prevention.

[tom mann]

Any possibility of a fix using another, off-the-shelf part?

[Point353]

Any possibility of a fix using another, off-the-shelf part?

Good thought but, back in reply #8, peteski indicated that the axle and truck assembly was a unique design not found elsewhere.

[coosvalley]

Well gang, I picked up a spare truck, and already received it. While I was in there, I decided to take a look, and, sure enough, the other axle in this truck is starting to split.. Looking at the replacements, they have a noticeable bulge in the plastic axle, but so far they are not split,...yet...I cleaned the wheels once I got it back together, and , sure enough, the other truck is making a telltale "click click click" in unison with the wheel rotation, telling me the other truck is having the same issue,although not yet enough to be noticeable unless the locomotive is under full load..But at least she's running smoothly again, for now...

I have another S2, from the first run, and they were bought at the same time, from the same place, and it does not show any signs of trouble, at least not yet. But this loco has been getting run at least once a week since I've had an operational layout, whereas the "broken" one has not..

[ek2000]

Well, I haven't been running my S2 Pennsy as much and now have a LH on the mail. I will have to run these locos more frequently if that makes any difference.