Gear mesh issue on LGB Ge 4/4 III, No. 2x42y

[phils2um]

I recently had to replace prematurely worn idler and drive gears on my LGB 21427 Ge 4/4 III "COOP" loco and thought others should be made aware. The cause was the same issue that I had with my LGB Ge 2/4 - bad positioning of the drive gear on the axle. Only half of the tooth width engaged with the spur gear of the idler. The first photo shows the replaced gears. I neglected to take a pic of the failed gears. As I mentioned in the previous post about the Ge 2/4, LGB could eliminate the issue completely by making the spur gear of the idler wider.



They actually did this on the new RhB Ge 6/6 II locos as can be seen in the second picture. (Note: after the COOP problem I had to check!)



You might want to check your Ge 4/4 III if you've got one. You're better off fixing the gears before they wear out and need replacing. It is relatively easy to move the drive gear if necessary. Just don't completely eliminate the side play of the wheelset and idler.

 

[rhaetianfan]

I have a significant number of Ge4/4 IIIs - nine currently. The upside is that none of them individually get very heavy use as I like to vary what I run, a typical session uses 4 locos. I started with the blue/cream MOB version when it first came out and the most recent acquisition was the MOB 'cartoon' version 27425, which was a new edition in 2014.

Last summer it was time to run the 27425 again but when I put it on the track it seemed very sluggish and the Navigator handset showed it was drawing a lot of current. Further investigation showed that the gears on one axle had stripped and the axle was turning freely but the second axle on that bogie was seized. It had probably been run for a total of no more than three hours since new by then and was always stored in its box.

Putting it to one side, I mentioned it to Matt at Garden Railway Specialists when I was there (I had bought it from them) and he commented that there had been problems with some of the Ge4/4s (II and III) around that time, which had been put down to insufficient grease being put on the gear train at manufacture. It's now been fixed and runs perfectly.

Needless to say, I bought some grease to check over the whole fleet (must get round to it!) - 9x mk IIIs and 11x mk IIs is going to take a bit of time! I have to say, however, that this failure is the only significant one I have had of an LGB loco in 25 years and I have only recently had to replace a single traction tyre. In my experience LGB locos are bullet proof so if they do fail it takes you by surprise!

M