Grab Irons, Handrails on Proto 2000 locos


R

railandsail

Guest
The grab irons / handrails on the old Proto 2K locos was rather substantard as it turns out. that flexible plastic material was just toooo flexible. I noe see that their newer engines have changed materials for these grab irons, and BLI has a better material also.

I realize that one can replace these by bending up their own wire sets, but I have quite a number of these Proto 2000 locos, and that equates to a LOT of bending, shaping, drilling, etc. And there are a LOT of these older locos out there in the public's hands.

So my question is, are there any replacement grab iron kits for these locos on the market?? Sure seems like a viable aftermarket product??...just for the sheer number of E-units they sold
 
P2K grabs holes are too big for pre-bent wire grabs. I've changed some but if someone has a better way of installing these I'm all ears.
 
fill them in with putty and redrill, or use a lot of glue from the back.

I haven't tried putting in P2K grabs yet because I don't have the decals yet, but I will start doing it soon.
 
Just use some aftermarket grab irons and dip each end in some thick super glue and then insert the grab iron into the hole. Don't get too much glue on the grab iron or you will get some on the model. If you get too little, the hole doesn't get filled all the way. Once you put in a couple you get the hang of it. This same method works with Kato models too!:D

-Andrew
 
Smoke said:
Just use some aftermarket grab irons and dip each end in some thick super glue and then insert the grab iron into the hole. Don't get too much glue on the grab iron or you will get some on the model. If you get too little, the hole doesn't get filled all the way. Once you put in a couple you get the hang of it. This same method works with Kato models too!:D

-Andrew
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I really don't like using superglue on any visable external portion of a plastic model as it makes a shiney clear spot....real unprofessional gluing

I realize that one can replace these by bending up their own wire sets, but I have quite a number of these Proto 2000 locos, and that equates to a LOT of bending, shaping, drilling, etc. And there are a LOT of these older locos out there in the public's hands.

So my question is, are there any replacement grab iron kits for these locos on the market?? Sure seems like a viable aftermarket product??...just for the sheer number of E-units they sold
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Per this original posting, wouldn't you think someone would market a kit of grab irons for this BIG market of older PK2 locos that would READILY replace the old plastic ones without all of this filling and drilling??
 
One would think the logical company to produce replacement handrail and grab iron sets would be Walthers. Has anyone checked to see if they can be ordered though them? I'm not convinced that there's a big enough market for an independent company to make the investment in the dies and materials required and make a profit.
 
Call 1-800-487-2467. That's customer service. They also handle parts. I've called there with several problems where I needed a replacement, including the dreaded broken P2K gears, and I've always been treated with courtesty and gotten what I needed. I had a major problem with the sound system on a P2K GP-7 and one of their techs spent an hour on the phone with me, walking me through all the possible fixes. Turns out the decoder was bad but I didn't want to send back the whole engine since I had done some additional detailing to the shell. No problem, just sent back the frame and got a whole new locomotive. Walthers and Athearn are two firms that have always treated me well.
 
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They made you purchase those axle gears because after Walthers bought Life-Like, they sent out a ton of them. Walthers is supposed to honor the lifetime guarentee, but they added a new condition saying that you need to provide proof of purchase, which is probably illegal, but no one is going to sue them over a little plastic axle gear.
 
Where from my post did you get the idea I had to pay for those broken gears? Not only didn't I pay, they sent me 8 sets when I only needed 4 and shipped them for free. I don't know what your hearburn is with Walthers but I've been dealing with them a lot of years and have always been treated fairly.
 
I was responding to railandsail who said that he had to purchase them.

If you called a while ago, then you would have gotten them for free. Walthers decided to add a condition to the guarentee after a certain time and did not announce it.

Google the cracked axle gear problem and you will se many other people's complaints about Walthers.

As of right now, I have a GP18 that is inoperable because of the axle gear problem.

Walthers wants proof of purchase, and eBay does not count. If they truely honor the lifetime guarentee, then there should be no question of where the person got the product, but the fact that the person has the product in the first place should qualify them for the warranty. The only time where a proof of purcahse would be required would be for limited guarantees that expire after a certain amount of time.

The axle gears literally only cost them peanuts to make, and instead of fixing the problem, they are turning away their loyal customers!

I've learned from this and I will not buy any of the older Proto 2000 locomotives.
 
I got my gears less than six weeks ago. I think it must depend on who you talk to. All I had to do was give them the serial number of the model and they got the gears right off to me. No proof of purchase required, just proof I actually had the model. If you're responding to a specific post, it's a good idea to quote the relevant part of the post when there are other posts in between the one you're responding to.
 
serial number.... where would I find that? On the model or on the box? (my GP18 is at the model rr club riight now so I can't check)
 
MY L-L SD-9 has it stamped on the frame, on the box, and on the registration card that came in the box. I guess Walthers figures you should have one of those available.
 
UP2CSX said:
I got my gears less than six weeks ago. I think it must depend on who you talk to. All I had to do was give them the serial number of the model and they got the gears right off to me. No proof of purchase required, just proof I actually had the model. If you're responding to a specific post, it's a good idea to quote the relevant part of the post when there are other posts in between the one you're responding to.
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I was the one who had to pay for the axles...only about a month ago. I took photos of the original boxes of the trains I had purchased...some so long ago I had bought them directly in Balt at their factory annual sale.

A number of them had never been run so I didn't know of the widespread problem until I googled it. I was a little disappointed that I needed to produce a sales slip as I had make a housing move and lost or failed to keep all of these receipts. On the other hand they only charged 1.50 per axel so thats not too bad.

At the same time I discovered a faulty motor in a C-liner, and they replaced that whole chassis for free.
 
Maybe I just beg better than others. :) I always ask to talk to George, who seems to be their technical guy. I just told him the serial number from my warranty cars. He asked me how many other L-L engines I had and I said two, so he sent me enough gears for all three. These were all Life-Like marked engines so it's not clear to me that these were even produced after Walthers bought Life-Like. Seems like they are just providing good customer service since I have no idea if the purchase of Life-Like meant they assumed responsibility for repairs on every Life-Like engine ever built.
 
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