Cleaning Wheels


4

4Starcstms

Member
After sitting all summer..all my locos need a good wheel cleaning, they are pretty nasty.

How does everybody accomplish this?/ Sit with the lil eraser and clean a part of the wheel..turn it...repeat for however many axles..Or is there a better way??

Ive found things like the Driver Cleaner from Kadee, but that really wont work with DCC loco's will it?? How well does that thing work anyhow?

Im sure that somebody has a neat idea, thats better than cleaning each flippin wheel..

Thanks In Advance
 
The Kadee locomotive wheel cleaner still work fine on DCC engines that also have DC enabled. For straight DCC engines with no DC capability, you can use an old t-shirt, soaked in rubbing alcohol. Stretch a small strip across the tracks so you can have one truck on the uncovered track and the other on the strip of t-shirt. Crank up the power and let the wheels clean themselves. Flip over the cloth strip and then do the rear truck. Change out strips as needed when one gets too cruddy.

One product I've seen in use is both easy and effective - just not free. :) The Gumbuster 2000 at http://www.cleantrains.com/id21.htm makes it quick and easy to clean wheels and goes for $30. I's worth it if you'd rather not spend the afternoon cutting up old t-shirts.
 
I use a similar method to Jim but I start with a piece of paper towel (the non fuzzy kind) wetted with Goo Gone across the track. Hold one truck of the loco on the towel with power to the track and gently push side to side with the wheels spinning. Repeat for the other truck. Then I do the same process with Alcohol to remove any residue.
You can also run your cars over it to clean the wheels, I sometimes run an entire train over! Goo Gone works great to, well, get the goo gone!
Also works for cleaning track.
 
I use the wet cleaner towels that I buy in the automotive dept. at WM. They come in a container & you just pull out each towel at a time. I lay them across the track & put 1 end of the engine on it & let it run till the towel gets dirty & then just move it over half way & run it again till I don't see any grudge & then turn the engine around. I have a certain place on my work bench just for cleaning wheels. A short piece of track w/a small transformer wired to the track, set on high. I also have a Trix wire cleaner sitting on 1 end of the track that I sit an engine on for heavy cleaning just before the clean wipe cleaning. There's enough of those wipes in a container to last you most of the year unless you have real dirty tracks. I run all of my engines(55) over the wipes about twice a year for good measure. I'll put a photo on here if you like.

Larry
 
I usually hold one end of the locomotive while running the throttle on high.
The important thing to remember is turning the throttle down before letting go.........
 
See I knew ya'll would have some good ideas. ive got some of those cleaning towels...Ill give that a try, had a bottle of Goo Gone, but its empty.. Think the cap got left off or something - dunno

Give it a whirl this weekend see what works best for me!
 
4Starcstms said:
See I knew ya'll would have some good ideas. ive got some of those cleaning towels...Ill give that a try, had a bottle of Goo Gone, but its empty.. Think the cap got left off or something - dunno

Give it a whirl this weekend see what works best for me!
Click to expand...

Don't forget to follow up the GooGone with another chemical to remove the Goo Gone residue........it DOES leave a residue that gets sticky as it dries, collecting MORE dirt.
Personally I like Dexron III trans fluid. Cleans the wheels. Doesn't get sticky afterward, and seems to keep dirt from accumulating so fast. The last time I had to clean loco wheels was over 2 years ago.
 
I never would have thought that theyd collect dirt SITTING there... But.. the track is clean - Ill see waht happens this weekend - cant wait to get them running right again.. its cold outside, and I miss my Model RR
 
well I managed to get outta work today, Sooo I put a bit of time in on the Cleaning wheel problem. Tried Larrys suggestion of using the cleaning wipes - Worked pretty well. I need to clean the rest of my track thou so I can get back to enjoying my very far from finished Pike!
 
Scott,
I finally remembered to see what my cleaning wipes are; ArmorAll Cleaning wipes. 25 wipes to a canister. Don't leave the cover off or the wipes out in the air very long. They dry up.

Larry
 
Ive found things like the Driver Cleaner from Kadee, but that really wont work with DCC loco's will it?? How well does that thing work anyhow?
Click to expand...
Why not? Actually it works quite well, if I could get a decent buy on another one I' take it.
Holding it in one hand and the loco in the other, well it's a pain in the afterburner.
I clamp in in a vise, hook it to a throttle and hold the loco wheels on it for a few turns each.
For DCC all you'd have to do is hook the connector wires to the track. During the new rebuild I'll most likely mount it to a bench. Until I mounted it well, I wasn't impressed with using it though it did a good job wheel cleaning.

Cheers
Willis
 
Willis,
I use the Trix wire wheel cleaner on mine. It sits on the rails & I have a small trainset transformer wired to the rails on my bench. You sit your loco wheels on it & it runs the engine pretty fast.
No matter whatever diff. 1 U use, you're still going to have to use some type of cloth laying on the rails to polish those wheels. Monday, I'll try to remember to take some pics of my wheel maint. procedures using the cloths/wipes. I use to have the 1 you are talking about, but it was too hard to hold the engine & press it on the wheels & all the gunk fell back down in the engine.
I'll look on the Trix web site & find the 1 I'm using.

Larry
 
Here's the 1 I use. I've been trying to find another 1 so I can hook them together to run the whole loco w/out having to only run 1 end at a time. They have them for N & HO.

Larry
 
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Thank's Larry, yep that's the way I use mine also (clamped in a little vise, actually a quite heavy vise for use with a drill press) much the same idea. I bought mine at a train show, from a shop going out of business. Now I wouldn't go out to buy one of those vises, I just happen to have a couple for my drill press. I'll take a photo (soon as I clear some overburden from it):D

Cheers
Willis
 
Seems like a stupid question after all these sworn methods, but is it really safe to have something wet laying over electrified track? Seems like someone would have been zapped by now.
 
Nah, the worst you've got is 16 volts AC if you're using DC or 12 volts DC if you're not. Those voltages won't even give you a tingle unless you're sticking your tongue on the track. :)
 
Okay....Well I'm at my whits end on this... Ive cleaned both Loco's wheels so they are nice and shiny and clean... Yet my loco's are still exp. Spotty operation. They will Run good for a few minutes, and then...just wont do anything..you gotta jiggle em to get a good contact..it'll move a inch..stall again...jiggle..move a inch or so...stalll

Ive cleaned the track several times..Bright Boy...Goo Gone...Metal Polish...

One Loco is a Atlas Gold Line
The other is a Blueline from BLI ...


any suggestions...help??
 
4Starcstms said:
Okay....Well I'm at my whits end on this... Ive cleaned both Loco's wheels so they are nice and shiny and clean... Yet my loco's are still exp. Spotty operation.
Click to expand...

Put two drops of LaBelle 108 on each rail. Or that old standby Wahl clipper oil.

Andy
 
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