# Okay... Another Connie Gear Question



## sandbarn (Feb 13, 2010)

I've got a broken axle gear on my Bachmann 2-8-0. I'm sure no one else had ever had this problem or written pages of instruction on how to fix it







, so I thought I'd ask if anyone has any idea how to fix this. 










As you can see, I've got it apart enough to see what my problem is. And I've sent an email to NWSL asking about their replacement gear and kits to fix this.
What I don't know how to do is get the axle off the rod linkage to pull it apart to get the gear off/on. 
I'm modifying the connie for battery/RC operation so it's completely apart on my work bench. 
The tender is completed with receiver, ESC, Phoenix P8, 3" speaker, and 14.4V 2600mah Li-ion battery (also replaced the tender wheels with Sierra Valley and replaced the coupler with a 900 series Kadee). Any help, or direction to another thread, would be greatly appreciated.


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## RIrail (May 5, 2008)

Lloyd,
MIK has a nice picture and text about the process. Here is a link to it;

http://www.the-ashpit.com/mik/gear.html

I have done it, not hard just go slow and don't lose those little suspension springs in the axle mount blocks. 

Steve


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## sandbarn (Feb 13, 2010)

Thanks Steve,
That's exactly what I was looking for. I knew this was documented somewhere, but I couldn't find any hits using the MLS search function.
You know, sometimes what your looking for is right under your nose. If only it smelled.








I looked around mik's AV site and was surprised at how much good information it contained. Set up a permanent link to his site for future reference. Now if I could just hear back from NWSL.
Thanks


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## kiwin992 (Nov 13, 2009)

Lloyd, 
I understand this is actually a rather common problem for Bachmann....many of their locos suffer from split nylon/plastic gears, accross all scales...some ON30 are bad as well as these Connies. I have replaced two and used a replacement wheelset from Bachmann which contained the gear. Apparently this problem is caused by the 'plastic' curing too fast/early and then shrinking so much that iit splits. I have the wee Bachmann Xmas hand-cart and all its gears have split! 
There have been many posts on this subject in the 'Ask the Bachmann' forum 
rgds 
Brian A.


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## sandbarn (Feb 13, 2010)

Thanks Steve, Brain, and especially Mik for documenting the process. 

I finally got in touch with someone at NWSL yesterday and ordered 2 of the gears (I will be trying to get another connie soon). They said it would be about 2 weeks before they got the gear in stock again. My problem with getting the drive rods off was that the bolts on the end of the axles looked like it was cast on and not removable. I had put a socket on it and tried to turn it, but didn't apply very much pressure so as not to damage it.









So now that I have some time I guess I'll put this project aside and start working on my PNG freelance passenger/MOW car. I'm going to try to take enough pictures to document the process and then narrate it and post it. Haven't done this before so I don't know how it will come out.


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## kiwin992 (Nov 13, 2009)

hi Lloyd,
Actually you don't need to take the side rods off....leave them attached to the counterweight,and just remove the counterweight from the axle...you will see a small philips head screw,recessed, in the very centre of the counterweight which attaches the c/weight to the axle. just remove that screw and slide the c/weight/rod assembly off the axle. the axle shaft is keyed so you shouldn't get anything out of sync...from memory, I might have needed to remove the assembly from the third axle also, just to obtain enough sideways movement of the whole road assembly.
hope this helps.
rgds
Brian A


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