Problem with K4 running gear

I thought those were shoulder bolts they put in them. does show any signs of threads?

LMS lines -
Actually I can fix this for you... too bad your a 'bit' down the road...
I would remove the side rods, place the fastener/rivet through the hole, is there enough material to 'spin' or swedge material on the back side of the fastener?
if not you will need a new one. I would treat the repair like a rivet installation.
I had good luck with a nail set to spread the material or flair the end of the fastener, then using a small vise 'swedge' the material down to encompass both rods.
Good luck.

This has happenned to me as well.

1) Remove Shell.
2) You will see a screw holding the running gear ( First Wheel In Picture )
3) Remove Screw freeing up the broken gear
4) Use a hex screwdriver to remove the internal screw ( Second Wheel ). There will be a couple washers that will free up.
5) Tricky Part: Either try and find a soft new rivet, put gear section back together, and then use a metal surface and tap the new rivet so that the back expands with a nail set. Make sure you do not make it too tight to bind up, and apply a little grease for added assurance.

Use this picture to place the center part of the gear in its original position which is critical. Then reverse the the above steps to reassemble.

J Daddy and mcguire,

Thanks for the replies. I will take the running gear off and try to re-rivet. Any suggestions where I can find a new rivet if it is needed?

LMS

Looks like you can use an allen wrench to remove the main crank pin.
Slip off the eccentric crank and re-rivet.
Then reassemble the entire drive.

Probably the current lionel K4 rivets would work, since the design is based on the k-line k4

I've made rivets using small brass screws; the slot/Phillips head may or may not bother you.
Try Brasseurs for K-line parts. "Small Parts" may have something.
I had the same thing happen to my Lionel Niagara, but I was able to re-use the rivet.

Just get your parts off and fiddle with it. It can be fixed. Don't force anything.

As a follow up, I found that Brasseur does not carry the K Line rivet for the eccentric crank. As an alternative, I purchased 1/16" x 3/16" flat head steel rivets from Jay-Cee Rivet Inc. The size of these rivets was very close to that of the original K Line rivets which were probably a metric size. I used a small ballpeen hammer to expand the back of the rivet. The K4 is back up and running. Many thanks for to everyone in this thread that provided suggestions for re-riveting the running gear.

LMS