I have a 6-18001 RI , I am hoping to purchase a Lionel 6-18009 on eBay. I have heard both of these locos have Nylon/Plastic gears. Where should I go to find brass/metal replacement gears? Any help would be greatly appreciated.Yours in railroading. Howie
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Hello Howie
the lionel 18001 Rock Island 4-8-4 "Northern" came with brass gear but the boiler casting is rough. I had one of those back in 1987. It is a poor runner if you are aware of that but can be repaired. It has the same chassis as a old 736. I am not sure of the 18009 Mohawk as I never taken one apart.
Tiffany
Neither of these locos have plastic gears.
What is the procedure for making this loco run more smoothly? Tiffany suggested this loco has a rough casting is refitting the casting with a bushing a cure? Again thank you for your help.
I don't know the number of the correct ones but Lionel assembled the motors with the wrong bushings. An easy fix on this chassis. Once replaced the engine runs good. It was only made for 3 years and was a new casting.
Send an email to Lionel - they just created new brass gears or look at the Niagara thread I started last December. Lots of answers on where to get gears - try Gunrunner John - he's very knowledgeable on them.
Howie, where do you hear these things. No plastic on these steamers.
Rod Miller
Jim is correct, I had one of these, replaced the bushings and put spacer washers between the driven gear so that it stayed properly located. I wasn't super happy with the performance of it, but I was able to improve it enough to make the customer happy. Not one of my fun repairs, but I made it work.
They are 2 different drive systems. the 18001 is direct from the motor, the 18009 has a shaft drive. gears are brass on both.
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