Western Steamer - Repairs

[ripley802]

Quick video to show part one of three showing the very rare Good Western, Benkie, and Yoshitsune. All three of these Muddy recently sent over for me to take a look. First up I took a look at the Good Western. This one had a few issues with the gears being cracked. I added a fresh set of tires, and off he goes. It seems to be running well now, what do you guys think? I will take a look at the others soon and post back.

[Super]

Very good job Ripley. What you have found is common in all these western type steamers whether they be these or the Disney line. My theory is that in this motor type configuration they used white plastic for the gears which is prone to cracking instead of something more durable like neoprene or some type of hybrid plastic. These are even known to have cracked gears right out of the box. They all seem to run fine on a flat track but the proof is in the inclines as you have shown. I am guessing you have used new gears in you stock or did you re-use from other scrap engines? Those little finicky engines have given me the most trouble when reassembling as I always can't get those weights in the way they came out. Are you thinking of doing a pictorial of your repair on one of the next ones?

[ripley802]

Thanks Super. Yeah I would agree the white plastic gears seem to be more prone to cracking. Unfortunately these have some speciality gears that I am not sure replacements are available for, but I may try to source some. Muddy sent along some 10T gears that were perfect. The ones on this one I replaced were the one on the motor shaft along with one other one. See below. I may indeed take some more pics on the next on and do a quick overview. This have the most gears I think by far.

[Super]

Please let me know if you do find a source for some of the gears.

Awesome! I am so happy to see him climb again Thank you so much! Those are the darnedest little motors to work on aren't they!?
Man I thought I was gonna go blind and my fingernails were gonna fall off I spent so much time fiddling with all those parts! What would we do without you? You are the best!

Hi Guys, I am so glad that you started this thread. I got one of these guys as a 'throw in' in a lot I bought because it wasnt working. Everything you said was dead on. in the gear box there was a bent rod and I think EVERY white plastic gear was split. It is such a cool looking train though. I wish there was some way to reengineer a different gear box or swap it out for some other box. The pics help cause I didnt have any before pics and trying to rebuild a broken gear box from scratch... well im good, but not that good.
Ill keep you posted , and any advice, throw it my way!
KM

[ripley802]

Glad to be of some help. I am hoping with any luck I will be able to provide a guide and a parts list of sorts for these. I may even list a few gear replacement kits for these on eBay eventually. I was thinking of getting some of the rod (1.95mm) to get the gears pressed onto and ready to go so you could in theory just swap the whole assembly with the white gears out for the new ones. The only thing I could not really source was the white cone shaped piece of the one gear set but it may sti be something I can find and then use just a flat gear with it.

More info to come, gears are enroute from China.

@Kmott
What steamer is it that you acquired? Just curious.

[Super]

Now this is exciting news!

@Kmott
What steamer is it that you acquired? Just curious.

its the red one, I think its the western. ill post some pics when I get a chance

[Super]

Thats the very Rare one!