Drive gears and voltage

If it runs at 12 volt with no issues then it should be fine. With the gear we need to see it and where it goes. A snap ring may be missing.

Rod Miller

Here is a photo it is the large gear mounted near the center just in front of the cylindrical column..

if the gear turns on a plastic shaft you need a push on round clip you can maybe get at the hardware store!!

What is does this clip look like?

Called the local repair guy, super glue it is then.

Allin: There seems to be some missing information between your last two posts above (which are a month apart I realize). Just for the benefit of myself and others that may see this issue in the future;

Is it JUST the gear that is falling off continuously, or is it the gear + the shaft it turns on? I just don't compute where super glue belongs in a gear train system unless it is to hold the shaft itself to the truck block???

yea, a good photo before glue too.

Im willing to bet few have had them apart to know how it assembles.

I'm curious how it is retained. A flange head on a pressfit shaft?

The shaft that holds the gear falls out. Fortunately I have Fas-track and it catches the gear and shaft together. I have found no sign of any type of retainer what so ever, just a pressure fit that has failed. No bevel, no grip surface, no clip, nothing. Super glue is relatively reversible and I have it on hand, the extra thin kind.

Whatever you do don't try and apply the superglue direct from the bottle.  Use a toothpick and transfer a small drop into the socket the shaft pushes into.  Do not put so much that it oozes out when you push in the shaft. You run the risk of gluing the gear to the shaft it rotates on.

If the plastic shaft that the gear rotates on is a hard engineering plastic like Delrin (which seems quite possible), then the the super glue won't adhere to it.

I am mostly using the super glue to create a vacuum fit, or as a substitute for bearing retainer which Lionel seems to use. They used red lock-tight on a gondola's truck mounting screws I ended up getting a warranty repair replacement set of trucks from them. (I replaced the trucks, better deal for me and Lionel). i think Lionel has had some quality control issues on the 2015 and later products. My 2014 have been fine, while both engines built after have had two issues a piece( both had dead boards and both have machining issues with the drive train).

Now to wait for it to fall out again.

an old trick I have used when gears keep coming off is get a pear of needle nose pliers remove the gear off the shaft, grip the shaft where the gear goes and gently squeeze the shaft and at the same time move the needle nose piers to scratch the shaft and will then usually hold the gear because there will be a rough surface on the shaft now to hold the gear on! it is worth a try and I have had good luck using this method I would not use super glue ever!

good luck and let us know how you make out!

Alan

I did a little poking on the Lionel site.
Here is a link to a page on what should be your power truck
And a picture of the bare truck is below.

It's not clear to me which gear is at issue, or what turns.
Does the gear rotate on the shaft (stud) or does the gear and shaft rotate together?
On some postwar diesels, it's the side frame that keeps the gears from falling off their studs.

It is the large lowest gear that transmits power to the wheel. The axle that holds it falls off, the gear rotates without issue. I'll take a picture when it falls off again to show which one i am talking about. So annoying.

I called Lionel and yes a bit of something to act like lock tight and it no longer falls out. Used super glue and no issues. Just let it sit over night on its side when I put it back together. Here is a picture of which part kept falling out.