OK, I was reading some post on the forum the other day, whose title/subject I don't even recall. It might have been an old or new post, I just don't recall. But somewhere in that discussion, someone added their two cents on the subject which included a picture of a 600 series (Pullmor) motor truck or an ALCO 200 series motor truck, that they had done some work on - I am not even sure it was related to pinion gears.
But what I saw in their photo was a homemade fix for worn pinion gears. It was basically a two-fingered brass strip affixed to the motor frame, and the two fingers were pressing on the flat sides of the pinion gears. When pinion gears manage to wear out a stud, they tend to get sideways - the result is always very high gear noise, very high wear and an imminent failure as the gears eventually will lock up.
By pressing on the exposed, flat surface of the pinion gears, they are pushed against the motor frame and are thus aligned with the rest of the gears. Just keep the whole thing greased and the problem looks solved.
Did you post that picture? If so, I would like to hear and see more - what material did you use, how did you fashion it, and has your fix held up over time? Even if you're not the person that posted that, but have done something similar, please post on here - I would like to learn more!
George
