Locomotive slowed down by grease


J

julienjj

Noodle is good
I have a few loco that are still on the oem lube, but I think they are overlubed , for example, my acela has a great internal resistance. How could I remove the old lube ? What can I use to replace it ? I don't believe a 10$ bottle of 100ml of train lube is better than what is used into a car.
 
Well open her up and check, if it's a bachmann it might have a chance of being over greased which will cause more friction and dirt to attract around the gears. You can look into Labelle, they have several different types of lube
 
1st try scraping off as much of the old grease as possilbe, any grease that isn't perfectly in between the affected surfaces isn't doing any good and just attracts dust. Then a very small drop of a lightweight synthetic or otherwise oil would suffice to dilute and rejuventate the dried grease that you cannot remove.

10w30 or any automotive engine oil is going to be a bit too heavy/thick. You'll want something much lighter especially if some of the original grease is remaining. LaBelle is a good choice, "3 in 1" or sewing machine oil works well in my experience altho there are better choices.
 
I just opened, and found that they did spread lube all around in the truck... some had leaked onto the power pickup, thats why i had poor performance, cleaned all and found a lil' bottle of oil that is used to oil electric razors mechanism, let a few drops in and now run fine :)
 
Congratulations Julien you just stumbled upon the lube used in the good old days of train modelling. Long before there were hobby lubes like Labelle and others they used hair clipper oil, the same stuff used in barber shops. One brand was, and still is, Wahl Clipper Oil which was used to oil engines and apply to trackwork for cleaning and slowing down oxidation of the rails. Similar lubes for razors and hair clippers should give equally good results. Even better than Wahl for lubing was sperm oil that clockmakers used but the world wide ban on whaling ended the supply as it ran out. Those master craftsmen now use a synthetic oil in clocks.
 
Are you running DCC? If so, wire the motor directly to the decoder to bypass the light board. The light board has one or more capacitors on it that affects the DCC signals. You should see the running characteristics improve.

If you only run DC, then it definitely is the trucks.
 
I guess i have nothing to loose by rewiring the motor leads directly to the decoder. I might also just repower it with a faster motor to archieve proto speed
 
The board is the problem!! The motor CAN reach proto speed! It's the light board that's the problem!

Don't remotor! If you want to keep the lights and power pickup hooked to the board, that's ok. Just wire the motor directly to the decoder and you will get proto speed!

If you have any of the older HHP-8s, this will fix the speed issue with those as well. Bachmann's new release of HHP-8s have a new board which allow them to do proto speed.
 
Don't those Acelas have those resistors under the motor?
Also, I've had good luck with Mobil 1 0W20 oil, it's pretty thin, as well as being synthetic. It's about $8 a quart, but for 8 bucks I have a virtual lifetime supply. BTW, the Castrol has some organic ingredients, the only two motor oils that are 100% synthetic are Mobil 1 and Amsoil.
 
I think the components are all on the board. It doesn't hurt to take a look under the motor though. And it won't hurt to take the resistors off if there are any down there.
 
i just checked the motor, and these is no resistor there, note that the drive line is quite impressive :eek: ! all joint use universal joint, not a weird hex slot like athearn do.
-there is one resistor under the board
 
:D The hex drive that Athearn uses is a clone of Kato's. The hex shaft makes it quieter and more reliable than the universals which break easily.
 
you never seen a Lego universal joint then, at 5$ each, and made with the famous lego plastic, they are just unbreakable. i thought of using them for my locos
 
I've seen the Lego ones. :D The hex shafts reduce the number of seperate/moving parts to reduce driveline noise.
 
a hex (spline) shaft is used to increase the number of contact points which reduces wear and provides a smoother transfer of power especially at higher angles. 2 pin u-joints can get jerky at high angles.
 
I bypassed the resistor and capacitor on the light board and wired directly to the engine, however no change in top speed since cleaning and regreasing, but it could be the decoder, its only a bachmann 4 function decoder
 
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