Locomotive oil?


dgrafix

dgrafix

Well-Known Member
Not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but what is the best thing to oil a locomotives moving parts & motor? I want to give my Mallard a full service and a WD clean of all the old "lube" which I can see is full of "stuff" like dust and static grass (from the previous owner) and put some new stuff in there.
I have lying around:
-Mineral oils (like Clipper/sewing machine oil),
-Engine oil,
-brake oil
-bike oil
-Armature grease (record player)
-Standard grease
I am wondering if grease would be too stodgy although it melts under friction, on the other hand oil might make a mess or get on the track. 🤔
 
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I may be all "wet" here as it has been a long time of me not doing any serious modeling, but I would think that a spray contact cleaner with a torn up T-shirt would be good for cleaning.
There are some good "expensive" oils for re-lubing as well as clipper oil ... and Label grease for the gears.
YMMV!
 
Yes I would use a 3-in1 like WD40 for the cleaning I was thinking mineral oil for the motor as it's 99.99999% non conductive and maybe a thinish grease for the cogs.. although I know you need to be careful of certain types if plastic is involved.
Just wondering what all the experts are using these days 🙂
 
I use 5w20 Mobil One motor oil for pretty much everything that rotates, reciprocates, or revolves on my stuff. A lot of the retail marketed "synthetic oil" for our trains is pretty similar, at a vastly higher price. A quart of M-1 is about $7, and a .2 ounce bottle is about the same price. I'm re-using a Labelle applicator that I refill with the motor oil. And it has never attacked the plastic, or gummed anything up.
 
bnsf971 said:
I use 5w20 Mobil One motor oil for pretty much everything that rotates, reciprocates, or revolves on my stuff. A lot of the retail marketed "synthetic oil" for our trains is pretty similar, at a vastly higher price. A quart of M-1 is about $7, and a .2 ounce bottle is about the same price. I'm re-using a Labelle applicator that I refill with the motor oil. And it has never attacked the plastic, or gummed anything up.
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Pretty much the same here, except Shell Rotella Gas Truck 0W-20 Full Synthetic. I'm guessing that the full synthetics should be entirely safe for plastics. I'd be a little leary of regular, petroleum-based motor oils, as they might possibly deteriorate some plastics over a period of time. 🤔

For HO and N scales, the light oil is probably just fine for everything that rotates or meshes such as bearings, pins, gears, axles, etc. However, on my bigger Lionel and the like, O-gauge stuff, I also use Red"N"Tacky #2 Grease for all gear teeth, since they are virtually always metal gears (brass or steel mostly). The Red"N"Tacky, as the name suggests, is quite sticky, and stays put on the meshing gear teeth. And since the gears are usually housed in, or surrounded by, metal frames, wheels, axles, bearings, housings, etc., there's no need to worry about plastic compatibility.
 
Hi Do not use WD40- it is not suitable. Use isopropyl or methanol, or something like CRC electronic contact cleaner and a cotton cloth. Use a latex glove so you do not pull out your skin oils. QTips are also useful, but make sure the fibers are not left behind. These fluids will degrease the parts, then relube with Labelle oil(s). I use #107, #108 and #102. I have worn off the bottle labels over time, but the really light oil is good for bearing areas. The medium or heavy oil is good for gears.
 
GGNInNScale said:
Hi Do not use WD40- it is not suitable. Use isopropyl or methanol, or something like CRC electronic contact cleaner and a cotton cloth. Use a latex glove so you do not pull out your skin oils. QTips are also useful, but make sure the fibers are not left behind. These fluids will degrease the parts, then relube with Labelle oil(s). I use #107, #108 and #102. I have worn off the bottle labels over time, but the really light oil is good for bearing areas. The medium or heavy oil is good for gears.
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Ok good to know thanks
 
GGNInNScale said:
Hi Do not use WD40- it is not suitable. Use isopropyl or methanol, or something like CRC electronic contact cleaner and a cotton cloth. Use a latex glove so you do not pull out your skin oils. QTips are also useful, but make sure the fibers are not left behind. These fluids will degrease the parts, then relube with Labelle oil(s). I use #107, #108 and #102. I have worn off the bottle labels over time, but the really light oil is good for bearing areas. The medium or heavy oil is good for gears.
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there is also a grease like material sold for model railroading, comes in a small tube I think Labelles. It looks a bit like white lithium. It might be expensive but will probably last a lifetime. I will take a pic of mine you will see it tomorrow if I remember.

I use that on my gears, not sure if it is better than the liquid product, however does stick to the gears as that would be desirable.

Dave LASM
 
Here is a pic of some specialized lubricants. I use the 106 for the plastic gears

lubricants.png

These items would last a lifetime.

Dave LASM
 
dgrafix said:
I will see if i can get hold of it in EU. Germany might have it. Otherwise i might have to import it 😩
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Just so you are aware, the little tube of lube becomes very brittle over time. The last several I have used I have experienced the little tube crumbling to pieces when I tried squeezing some lube out after the tube sat for an extended time.
 
Here is a pic of some specialized lubricants. I use the 106 for the plastic gears

View attachment 173368

These items would last a lifetime.

Dave LASM
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Hmm it contains PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) AKA "teflon".
I think my armature grease might be based with that, ill take a look next time i go storeroom diving and check the tech-spec whitepapers against this stuff you posted Dave, they might be similar.
(PS: PTFE while good at what it does, is horrible stuff lol. It's one of those "forever chemicals" :eek: Ever and ever and ever 😅.)
 
dgrafix said:
Hmm it contains PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) AKA "teflon".
I think my armature grease might be based with that, ill take a look next time i go storeroom diving and check the tech-spec whitepapers against this stuff you posted Dave, they might be similar.
(PS: PTFE while good at what it does, is horrible stuff lol. It's one of those "forever chemicals" :eek: Ever and ever and ever 😅.)
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I think the Teflon cooking pans are one of the culprits.

Look at it this way, the quantity is pretty small.

Dave LASM
 
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