Gearboxes

Traveling across the beach on wet and salty sand inevitable leads to corrosion of metal parts. The most vulnerable bits on a Segway are the gearbox drive shafts. The shafts emerge from the aluminium gearbox case through rubber seals. Corrosion on the shafts make for leaking seals so with a replacement core Segway fitted to my Genny (see previous post) I have sent my old leaking gearboxes off for repair

I have found a company who specialise in all things Segway. The company is called PT Pro and they are based in Amburg Germany. They have been great at supplying various parts over the last year and I am starting to build a relationship with one of the engineers. Isn't it amazing that many Europeans speak fantastic English - puts us all to shame

PT Pro have a great website where they have many resources and are able to offer services that aren't available in the UK. Things cost a lot and postage from Germany seems to be expensive but they are quick to process your orders and parts arrive when they are due. There are many simple repairs and modifications that can be made by someone with very limited knowledge and simple tools. I have highlighted some modifications in my Genny Mods page
 

A small and easy modification I wish I had made 5000 miles back was to change the type of oil and add magnetic drain plugs to the gearboxes. These easy to change items have a small magnet that collects the tiny metal particles that get suspended in the Segway gearbox oil bath. These items are available through PT Pro and are likely to extend the life of your gearbox. The parts required are: magnetic drain plug and gearbox oil. You will need one magnetic drain plug and 70 - 80ml of oil for each gearbox of which there are two on your Genny

PT Pro have have great information about the care and repair of Segways particularly in relation to GEARBOXES and BATTERIES, They can also sell new wheels and tyres as well as being able to repair those delicate buttons on you Infokey

Here is a picture of the corrosion on my Segway driveshaft after being sandblasted to remove the rust. The pitting will stop any effective seal leading to a loss of oil which is not a good outcome for a metal gearbox.