Gear Failure Question

[ScaleCraft]

Not 0. Actually #1 gauge.
USA 44-tonner, new axles, wheels and gears. Sent to a customer for display running by a good friend of mine.

We have NEVER seen these PRC drives chew up a brass worm like that.
Lubed, confirmed, all I can tell him with the lack of worm gear damage s SOMEBODY took the bottom cover off and the square journal bearings got installed wrong. Blombergs, square to rails, SD-40's diamond, cannot remember 44 tonner.
Told him I'd ask here.

[bob turner]

Brass is a horrible gear material. Expect a brass gear to fail in the first hour.

Bronze, Celcon, steel - even bakelite - way better (hundreds of hours, if not thousands.

[ScaleCraft]

True. But. Rule-of-thumb is worm has to be harder than the worm gear. And in 25 years of these things, we have never seen a brass worm to THAT, and never seen geartrain failures with axle wormgear intact like that.

[robert.]

What lube did you use? If somebody put an EP lube in there it will eat yellow metal. EP( extreme pressure)

[ScaleCraft]

I think he said HobbyLube.

[bob turner]

Are you sure your earlier gears were not bronze? Sunset went to bronze gears after a number of failures, and you couldn't tell by looking at them. Ditto NWSL.

Brass just disintegrates in gear service. Almost anything is better - I have a crummy Loco Works plastic worm that has lasted decades. It is just dirtbag plastic, not even Celcon.

[ScaleCraft]

All USA engines have brass worms. Some king of plastic worm gear. Highest failure is splitting wormgear hubs. Never, ever seen a brass worm do this in a USA engine.

[bob turner]

Can you tell us what alloy USA Engines uses? You are sure they have never changed alloys? Or are you relying on sales literature?

[ScaleCraft]

Good question. Most of the PRC crap we have to deal with just uses...brass. I have no idea the alloy, but knowing how them clowns work, cheapest they can get.
However, those worms worked fine until the plastic wormgear split, and were replaced....then the worms died.

I cannot imagine how plastic gears could strip out brass like that.