How is it fastened to the shaft to begin with? Drill a hole and pin could work....did you take the gears out yet?

Take it to a welder and get it brazed. I had to do the same with my dr who.

Steve Young refurbs these, and sends you back that is already done if you want to go that route.

Steve will also send you the parts you need.

please post the finished job

When I got my JD years ago, the planet and ring would spin in the same direction because the grease between the main shaft and planetary gear was seized together. Taking it apart for cleaning and fresh grease worked wonders

So you soldered it using the stove heating element?

Excellent MacGyver move!!

Great Fix.

200 Bucks is a rip off. All JD motors that break are a simple fix.

Jim

+1 Excellent McGuyver move...

Appreciate the post

Good job!

Any restoration job that comes through my shop gets any gearboxes that will come apart taken apart, the innards 'hot tanked' in my ultrasonic cleaner, and reassembled with teflon gel lube. Amazing how the lube Multiproducts used in these turns to varnish over time.

What held the case together? Screws? Can't see from your pic, and I've never done a JD.

When will these motors if ever get a repro?

JD is the biggest headache of a machine I have ever come across, and I've come across three in my time.

We have restored 5 JD's in the last year and only one has had a bad motor, yes very lucky.

After reading the first part of this thread, I was feeling ripped off having sent my gearmotor to PBR. Now seeing the easy fix isn't so easy, I can put it behind me. Not sure why but I was fearful to grind open the rivets on the gearbox. Perhaps because there are no new units and PBR only exchanges for repairable units. Good thing JD is a decent machine, as I have quite a bit more in mine than many people would be willing to pay for that title.

Hopefully Steve will sell you that faulty gear/shaft though there's a lot less gravy for doing that. I would have tried to do that if I had seen this thread last year.

That sucks.

He should be selling a "rebuild" kit.

I've got to tear into TWO gearboxes. Fingers crossed, they don't need gear replacements.....

Well...crap.

Both my gearboxes need work.

One of them was torn apart previously, and they tried to weld the part with two gears (as pictured above). The problem is, they ground off the end that sits in the gearbox casing so it has flat spots. It causes the planet to get stuck and slip.

Has anybody tried contacting the gearbox manufacturer directly?

http://www.multiproducts.com/

Since this is such a common issue for the Judge Dredd machines (and such an easy job to replace), it would be nice if we could get replacement gears from the factory. If Steve won't sell them directly, that is....

There is a company called Northwest Short Line that caters to the Model Railroad industry making gears for locomotives of all scales. They make a lot more then that actually but I know for a fact they will cut gears but I am not sure they have ever been approached before to cut gears for a different hobby. They probably have. If you need something replaced like this, might not hurt to at least get in contact with them and see what they say. Even better if you get a bunch of guys that need this part together to make it worth the while.

What this gear really needs is to be press pinned to a shaft similiar to whats done above, but to the shaft instead. Soldering or brazing it appearently doesnt hold the gear tight on the shaft enough to hold for long periods of time.

Just a thought.

I sent an inquiry to multiproducts.

It would help out many JD owners if they made the internal gear set (even if it was just the main one that fails 9 times out of 10) available as a service replacement part.

I heard back from multiproducts.

The rep said they don't have the components on hand for the old designs, but they do have a source to rebuild/repair them.

He gave me Steve Young's contact info. I guess Steve is the guy to talk to for all JD gearmotor concerns.

Hey, is there a consensus on what the best/cheapest fix for this problem is? My planet seems to be hesitating/sticking every so often, and I think this is what the problem is. I made a separate post about it at some point but I'm not very technically savvy... I'd like to fix this issue even though it's working fine for now.

Thanks!

How is the repair holding up ? anybody have a better solution? I now have 2 non-working gearboxes and want to find a good permanent fix.

Wonderful to hear, I will be drilling mine out for pins soon

Mine just did the same thing... Don't suppose anyone can give me a quick rundown on how to take the gearbox out of the machine eh?

I've taken mine appart too. Everything looks repairable. The one part on this machine that would render this game worthless if it broke is the plastic interrupter cam thing in the crane mechanism.
I purchased a couple backup units from pinbits. Last I checked they still had them for $15. But who knows for how long.

I can did the same repair that Dawson did on my gearbox except I used 4 spring pins to stabilize the gear and it works awesome !

TightR1 . . . are you in Kentucky or Tennessee?

I, or practically anyone else, could always 3D model it and put it up on shapeways if they ever went away.

I am hopefully buying a JD in a couple days, but the one I'm looking at needs the deadworld gear fixed. The owner told me it could be braised, but when looking around I found this thread. Does anyone that has performed the repair know what size drill bit and spring pins to use? Also how do these gearboxes come apart? i don't have the machine yet so haven't been able to lay my eyes on the gearbox.

Any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Not trying to be a jerk, but the word is "brazed" not braised, which is a cooking technique.

I only point this out because if anyone is looking for information about doing this repair via brazing I think the spelling will be important.

Brazing is easy to do, just high temperature soldering. You just need braze specific flux and the braze filler rod. Look for jewelry or air conditioning repair. This is a common technique that art metal use to join metals and refrigeration repair people use to repair coolant lines.

I cleaned the gears up, and silver soldered the gear in place. Working fine...
You need a LOT of heat.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

A butane torch.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

To remove it do you pretty much have to take the entire area apart? On the topside I have the rings removed, the bulbs out, etc, but on the underside do I need to remove all the plastics, other brackets, and everything to remove the gearbox assembly? It seems like the mounting screws are in an awkward place or maybe I'm just looking at it wrong.

You're looking at it right.
I meant to document the process...but time got away.
From memory...
...remove "subway" plastics
...remove entire dead world assemble. This requires loosening the crane bracket.
...disassemble all the way down to the gear box
...remove the lamp board on the top of the assembly. Cut the wires leaving enough insulation to ID proper reassembly.
...remove the cotter pin in the bottom of the shaft and pull the wires through.
...you may have to remove a bunch or all of the stuff on top of the shaft like the planet, etc.
...remove the motor
...drill the long rivets that hold the gearbox together. You won't use them during reassembly.
...now you can get at the problematic gear.

Take pics along the way and place parts aside in an organized way.

More info... http://kcpins.com/archives/720
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

I recall doing just about everything Chris mentioned except cutting wires. I think I removed the terminals from the connector. I believe I was also able to leave the subway in place by removing the planet and all top components first. Whatever makes it easier.

Two things that I have noticed that probably causes these gears to strip is the crane can come loose on it's shaft and the magnet will drop into one of the cutouts on the planet ring and prevent it from turning.

The other thing to be careful of is when you tighten the large not on the gearbox shaft, make sure to use a wrench on the other nut so you are not putting stress inside the gearbox.

To add to odin's cautions, when I reassembled one, the Deadworld ring would hang up on the ball gate, which I can see causing gear issues.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

I did not cut any wires. I desoldered the 4 wires on the board in the globe and pulled the wire harness out from the bottom.

_{Post edited by mbt: fixed typos}

As long as you can remember where to return them to, this will of course work.
I usually leave about 1/16" of insulation so I can easily resolder to the correct spots.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
ttp://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

In case it helps, here is a pic of the wiring.IMG_2219.JPG

Thank you for all the awesome replies! I will be removing it tonight. The rest of the Dredd looks to be in good shape other than a hauling mishap. I seem to have done something to the DMD because now it hums pretty loud and has waves in it. I want to get a color DMD anyway so it isn't a huge concern. Not as big as the deadworld issue anyways...