Does anyone know if the Axles/Wheels for USA Trains power blocks can be purchased seperately. I have some stripped gears on some of may USA Trains diesel units. I guess you normally just buy a new power block, but it should be less expensive just buying an axle/wheel pair. I say should, but the way companies sometime price parts, it may still be better just to buy a new power block. I wouldn’t want to get just the gear as my poor mechanical skills would prohibit me from doing the replacement without breaking the gear, the axle/wheels or my hand!
ED.
Depending wat exactly you mean by stripped you may be able to repair them
Have the teeth on the gear actually worn away or is it just that the wheels are loose and can spin on their own if you rotate them by hand?
If the latter, they have probably cracked the lugs on the gear moulding into which the wheels are pressed.
You can quite easily repair them with some thin cotton thread and super glue.
Remove the wheel and axle assemblies from each truck and then remove the wheels either side of the central gear.
Clean away any grease or oil and (very) tightly bind thin cotton thread around the cracked part and douse in super glue. No more than one or two layers of thread. Let harden for a day and then repress the wheels into the gears and reassemble trucks. They will not crack again.
They are pretty easy to take apart, I have some tips on reassembling them too, check my site under MOTIVE POWER… USAT…
(it’s important to put them back together right, and I also have the part numbers for new axles on my site)
Regards, Greg