Bachmann Alco S4

[central.vermont]

I was wondering if anyone on here has disassembled a Bachmann S4 in particular the trucks. The axles look like they may be 1.0 by looking at the drawing. Can someone measure the axle diameter? Also how many teeth does the gear have on the axle and whats it's diameter as well.

I'm looking to see if any of this can be used to replace the axles and gears in an Arnold S2.

TIA Jon

[JMaurer1]

NWSL makes replacement gears and axles for the Arnold S2. Wait, NWSL is going out of business, but you may still be able to find them.

[central.vermont]

NWSL makes replacement gears and axles for the Arnold S2. Wait, NWSL is going out of business, but you may still be able to find them.

Yes I am aware of this but the price for them is $49.95!!

There is another way and that is to get the wheels and gears separately. Gears are $9.95 each and the wheels are $1.00 each. Then use your old axle's and save yourself $2.15 
Or I could just replace the gears and turn down the old wheels and save $10.15 

So this is why I'm checking out this avenue.

Jon

[central.vermont]

The Bachmann parts post got me to thinking about this. A complete truck only costs $7.70
So this is why I asked the info.

Jon

[peteski]

Why not just turn down (or file down) the flanges of the original wheels?  Cost: free!

EDIT:  Oops - forgot about those cracking plastic gears. 

[garethashenden]

How many Arnold S2s do you have? Can’t you stock up in the NWSL parts? They’re not closed yet.

[mmagliaro]

I was wondering if anyone on here has disassembled a Bachmann S4 in particular the trucks. The axles look like they may be 1.0 by looking at the drawing. Can someone measure the axle diameter? Also how many teeth does the gear have on the axle and whats it's diameter as well.

I'm looking to see if any of this can be used to replace the axles and gears in an Arnold S2.

TIA Jon

Can you measure the Arnold axle gear for:
1. Thickness
2. Diameter
3. Bore size of the hole (the axle diameter)
4. Number of teeth

I think I can steer you to replacement gears that will not be too expensive.   You would still have to turn down the wheel flanges.

[CRL]

NWSL has the Arnold axle gear listed with dimensions on their online store.

https://shop.osorail.com/product.sc?productId=1149&categoryId=71

[mmagliaro]

The NWSL spec says 15T SGdx 5.15mm OD x 1.0mm bore

I don't know what "SGdx" means.  Judging from their other listings, I think "SG" just means "spur gear".  But "dx" is a mystery. 

mod x (numTeeth + 2) = outer diameter
0.3 x (17) = 5.1mm so we can reasonably assume it is a mod 0.3 gear with 15 teeth.
It has a 1.0mm bore, and since they don't specify the thickness, I'll guess a 1mm thickness because that's a pretty common axle gear thickness.

This ought to work.  You can get it in white acetal or brass:

https://shop.kkpmo.com/product_info.php?info=p377_gearwheel-pinion-m0-3---15teeth.html

2.97 Euros each = $3.36 each.

I just hope "dx" doesn't imply some exotic gear cut, like a special angle.  But I have seen those gears and as I recall, they are pretty plain, straight spur gears.

The catch will be knowing just how close that bore tolerance is and whether it will fit tightly onto the axle or not.
"1mm" might be a tight press fit (good) or a "slip fit" (bad).

[CRL]

You can speculate, or you can pick up the phone & call NWSL.

[rodsup9000]

 Jon,

 I'm guessing that you want to see if the Bmann wheels sets will interchange with the Arnold. I have 2 Arnold's and 8 Bmann's. So what do you want to do????

 Both have 1mm axles, but the Arnold has a larger gear than the Bmann. It appears that the Bmann wheels will go right on the Arnold's axles.

Hope that helps..

[peteski]

Another possibility is to contact the company in Germany which sells the old Arnold parts. When Arnold closed, they picked up their parts inventory and have been selling them ever since.    But of course those will be the original (cracking prone) plastic gears.  I don't have their URL handy now - I'll try to look it up later (unless someone else beats me to it). Right now it is time for me to leave for the Greenberg's model train show.

[narrowminded]

If you can get the basic gear, 15 tooth .3 mod per Max, and it doesn't have the right bore or hub I can either bore it or sleeve it to fit.  Let me know if it comes to that.