Well I just hooked up my TMCC remote stuff back up and was running my Wabash in TMCC mode, then when I was just about to put the engine up to go to bed. I noticed that the rear driver wheel was rubbing the brushplate and I later found out that the axle bearing was worn out so much that you could just wiggle the axle very easily.
It was probably my fault because I didn’t clean the axles before I lubricated them, well I probably didn’t lubricate them much because I didn’t run the engine much and dummy me didn’t realize that lubricant evaperates over time. Its wierd because this is the first time I noticed it and I didn’t run the engine in months. I know though theres no way in haitees that i can fix this my self.
The rear axle bearings are wore out so bad that the engine doesn’t sit level anymore. My guess is that the metal filings that were stuck on to the axle by magnatism got in between the axle and the bearing and grinded away at the bearing while the engine was running. Note to self ALWAYS CLEAN METAL SLIVERS FROM THE AXLES OF MAGNATRACTION EQUIPED ENGINES WHEN SERVICING!![:(]
This is why I recommend 5W-20 engine oil for lubricating engines. It doesn’t evaporate. It doesn’t leave a gummy mess. It doesn’t get hard. On a recent post I told of a 2025 engine I have which hadn’t been run since 1965. It ran well before I lubed it, and it ran better after I lubed it, but the point is, it still had some lube left after 45 years in a box. I lubed it with 20W-40 engine oil back in 1965. You need to use lubricants that don’t go bad after a few years due to evaporation. Most greases and “light machine oils” like 3 in 1 oil evaporate after a few years and leave a mess behind. I just cleaned up a 2333 F-3 that had grease in the trucks. The grease was hard as concrete and took a while to clean it out. I used a whole can of brake clean and some WD-40 to get all the grease out. I lubed it with 5W-20 and the engine runs very smooth. I lubed the commutator with 5W-20 also, and the engine will start and pull a 8 car train with 7 volts at the transformer. I never saw an engine run as smooth as this one does.
Well thanks for the tip. I will try that it would be a heck of alot cheaper than Lebelle oil. I was very interested your long thread about lubrication also and baffled about lubing the commutator face with engine oil. Thanks![swg] I just kindof dread how much it will cost me for the guys at the shop to replace my worn out bearings on my Wabash Hudson from 1995. I’m guessing in the 100 dollar plus range.[sigh] Oh well if you gonna be dumb you gotta be tough.
Berk…rather than fret over this or pack the engine away to think about it, take it in for an rough estimate if the place is close by. You might be pleasantly surprised at how reasonably priced the fix is.
That is also why I am a firm believer in making a “magnet car” to run around the track to clean-up most of those filings that sluff-off during runs. Not only to protect magne-traction engines but you’d be surprised at how much of that stuff can end up in the speakers mounted in the diesel fuel tanks.
I used a piece of scrap Baltic Birch plywood about 2 3/4 wide and about 11" long, epoxied a couple of bar magnets about 1/4" above the track. Spaced about three inches apart from each other and if they don’t cover the full width of the plywood offset them so you get as much track coverage as possible on the curves. If you don’t run into clearance issues you can even make the car wider. To clean up any filings, as well as screws and other hardware, they pickup I use wide masking tape.
Use whatever old trucks you have, put a loco on to pull that can run nice and slow w/o stalling on turnouts.
Thanks thats a good idea. I guess they sell that stuff in the automotive stores like autozone. The 5W-20 motor oil works great. I lubed the gears, commutator,axles and motor bearings with it also, and my 2046 Hudson ran great. I did a comparison between two locomotives, the 2046 Hudson, lubed with 5W-20 motor oil, and a 2055 Hudson cleaned and freshly lubed with Labelle oil and grease. Both locomotives pulled the same 9 car frieght consisting of three lighted cars including caboose, four cars with diecast trucks and couplers and five with plastic trucks and couplers. Keep in mind that the 2055 is a lighter locomotive. But both locomotives have the same mechanisms. All tests were made using the postwar KW transformer on the same throttle. Here are the results.
Labelle oiled 2055:
absolute minimum starting voltage: 8.5
minimum voltage (minimum speed without stalling): 8.9
voltage for fast speeds 11.5-12
2046 with 5W-20 motor oil:
absolute minimum starting voltage: 8.2
minimum voltage (minimum speed without stalling) 8.5
Just my 2 cents… Why are you guy’s putting a multi viscosity automotive oil onto your prized trains?
If I was going to run my trains on the back deck in Michigan on a nice January day at 4 degrees I would think about the 5 weight so it would flow a little easier. On the same token if my engine were running at 190 degrees and 9000 r.p.m. I would want the 20 weight to handle the heat and shear load.
I would be very concerned about modern additives that are being put into automotive type oil having a adverse affect on your models. These oils are designed for very extreme operations . High shear loads,combustion and extreme temperature swings just to name a few… This is not a case of over kill this is a case of doing damage. You guy’s do no that if automotive oil is not brought up to operating temperature on a regular bases it will start to absorb condensation and that if gone unchecked it will produce acids in the oil. This acid WILL start to attack metal…Ask any classic car guy about it.
I think Lionel and the others have done the home work. I’ll stick with what they tell me to use…If you are concerned about your grease getting hard then you need to step up you P.M. ( preventative maintenance ) work.
As far as some one telling me that they did a scientific test by running a few loco’s around and looking at an amp load or voltage gauge I would call in to question the parameters of the said testing apparatis.
I have used Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil with good results also. I dab it on with a Q-tip or a tooth pick. This was recommended by “Dr. Tinker” at OGR. The gentleman’s proper name escapes me at the moment.
It doesn’t evaporate. It doesn’t leave a gummy mess. It doesn’t get hard. If you step up to Mobil 1 or Amsoil, it clings to metal surfaces & won’t break down, it’s super-slippery, and is retained well in oilite and other bushings, allowing long service intervals, smoother running, & longer trains with less wear.
It is also much less expensive than “hobby” oils & greases… some folks here have hundreds of locos and thousands of cars in their collections and maintaining them all could be a full-time job.
The multi-viscosity aspect is moot. A 5W-20 will be 5W for all uses in model trains.
This is completely false with regard to toy train use.
This would only be true only if the oil is subjected to combustion gasses and cooling cycles in the first place - like in a car engine. Not in your Lionel or American Flyer.
Suit yourself, but why not take advantage of the newest technologies in lubricants to make the hobby more enjoyable for you?
I have a hard time believing your bushings were worn out from what you say especiallyif you did not run it much… I have 70 year ols trains run god knows how much with less than optimal lube that are fine. I have some new lionel engines that have very sloppy bearings from the get go. I have one that had no bearings installed on one truck! I had to make one with my lathe as lionel did not have the parts! You did not wear that bearing out unless you ran it alot and a whole lot.
Dougdagrump … do you realize you may make your second million by designing and patenting one of those cars ? Or a conversion kit for some existing one !
It is one thing to have owned an item from new for 70 years and know what has or has not been done maintenance wise, when, storage (how, where, how long), and of course running time. Quite another for many whose 60-70 year old items are on their second or third homes and unknown operating environments.
My stuff (acquired new) logged a zillion hours before 1960 and, like you, wear is still not apparent. My father taught me the mentality: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, with the trains and with automobiles.
Re the other poster’s comment that this type of wear can be mitigated with routine cleaning, recommended maintenance, and quality lubricants…makes sense to me. As stated in a previous post, I’ve used different stuff starting with Lionel products that came with the engines, to Singer sewing machine oil, to a fine machine oil used by Western Electric maintenace crews (ATT/Teletype Corp.), vaseline, lithium grease, and currently Lionel oil and lithium grease.
If there is a difference, I don’t see it with my stuff; but one person’s experience carries little weight in the grand scheme of things. The synthetics hold some interest for me due to their coat and grab qualities, and the coefficient of slippery ([:D]).
The benefit for me in a discussion such as this is the experience and operating environments of others I could not replicate on my own.
Dang I didn’t know that. Thank you for your imput. Yeah I guess my little experiment is not really valid enough. I was just looking at some cheaper alternative, but you may have a point.