Model Railroading > Proto 2000 Diesel problems

I have several Life Like Proto 2000 diesels that were purchased about 5 years ago. Some will run, other will hum but not move. My questions is should I relube the motor and gears? Or is the problem something else? I have the GP-7, GP-9 and SD-7.

Could be the gears being cracked or broken. If so replace them with Athrean. They are a direct fit. Do not use PK2 replacements as they will cause problems again. I have a FA and FB both had problems with the gears. My SD7 hasn't yet but I do not run it much.

If you have never done so dont be afraid to remove the shell and start into the inards of those P2K units. The grease they used in the gear cases turnes to a peanut butter hardness in a few years. Tear down the trucks and completely remove that gunk, clean and lightly re-oil. Check the axle gears to see if any are cracked. This was due to several reasons I was told. New gears used to be able to be obtained through Walthers, if not Athearn ones will work. Sorry I dont have the Athearn part number. Hope this helps. Seems to me the problem was on the GP7, GP9, GP20 and GP30 units. Those seemed to me to be the worst offenders, Other models might also have the same problems however I have not found any yet.

The SD7's and 9's from that era have a different axle design than the problematic GP truck design, haven't heard of that being a problem in SD7's and 9's. There seems to be two sides to that design, runs with no problems and eventually runs after solving problems. I have three that are doing pretty good after quite a bit of tinkering. There's another issue with running them in multiples, I selected the drives out of a large batch and noticed that there seems to be minor design changes that may be somehow related to the success. Once again, some folks have not had any problems with them and they have great looking shells.

In years of running 8 Proto FA/Bs, 12 SD7s and 9s, and 6 GP9s, I've only ever encountered cracked gears with some of the GP9s - some had the odd one cracked, but one locomotive arrived with all 4 axles needing to be replaced. I also use Athearn axles as a replacement, with absolutely no problems encountered afterwards.

Brian Moore
Plymouth, UK

About 4 years ago I had several Proto GP 9 and 18"s do the same thing. The axle gear had a hairline crack in them. The gear would seperate when power was put to the motor and would cause the engine to hump and perform poorly. I contacted Life Like and they sent me replacement wheel sets, all together. All I had to do was take the old out and drop in the new. None of my Proto 2000 3 axle engines had this problem.

CSX1346