Older Aristo Drive Bogies

E

electricity_bill

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Hello again
I have several Aristo diesel locos including two U boats. A couple have the older type bogie with the side frame pick-ups and I noticed when wheel cleaning the other day that I had lost drive to two wheels on separate axles. I opened up the bogies and discovered the fault was that the plastic splines in the gearbox/diff assembly had stripped. There does not seem to be a replacement part available and the only advice is to change the bogie for the newer type. Does anyone know of an alternative less expensibe remedy?
Bill
 
Can you post a piccie Bill so we know precisely what's gone wrong? I have an older U Boat but cannot recall ever stripping the blocks.
 
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Hopefully this has now worked and you can see the plastic drive gears that have stripped or split.

Bill
 
Well done, the photo has uploaded just fine!

So... these are stub/half axles and the central plastic part has split?

That's not uncommon in these older models, happened to one of my Aristo tenders. It was easy to fix by replacing the plastic tube with part of an old ballpoint pen case and I was even able to re-fit the chuff magnet, but of course no gears to worry about in my case!
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Another method is to bind the split plastic with wire and secure with epoxy resin, but it's a bit of a kludge and assumes the extra thickness won't foul the chassis block. I tried that on one of the other axles on my problem tender (but can't find a piccie at the moment).

Are the gear teeth worn/damaged too? If so then that's going to complicate matters. Might be possible to find replacement gears of the correct size but then still need to fit them to a replacement axle tube. Probably better off buying new motor blocks.
 
Thanks for that. The gears look OK but they cannot be separated from the tube. The replacement blocks are about £50 each and I would like a cheaper solution.
Bill
 
Glue the stub axles back in place with epoxy?
 
Again thanks for that but you can buy USA Trains replacement axles with the gear for $15 and I have a few. The glueing idea may be the answer together with a wire wrap.
Bill
 
A tip when repairing the cracked axle extension only on the gear. You cannot repair the gear.
Remove the stub axle with wheel from the housing first. Thoroughly clean the plastic of any oil or grease residues. Spread and hold the cracked plastic housing whilst you insert some super glue in the cracks. Tightly bind strong cotton thread around the cracked plastic axle housing and douse with super glue. Let it dry for a couple of hours.
Then press the metal axle with wheel back into each side of the plastic housing. I used a drill press and a block of wood on either end of the axles and did it gently. If you force one side in before the other you may damage the thin plastic membrane inside the axle housing that insulates either side. Both axles must go all the way in.
 
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