I have an Athearn RTR that is need of lubrication. I have Labelle 102, 106, and 107 lubes. I need to know what to use to clean the inside of the trucks and gears (soap and water/alcohol?) in order to remove the old lubricant.
Thanks
I just wipe them off with a paper towel my self. Main thing is just get the grit and hair out of the gears.
Cuda Ken
Try WD-40 and a soft brush to work it into the grease and crud. Then wipe clean as Jeff suggests.
I generally do a wash with some alcohol and a soft toothbrush followed by a complete wipedown. I then reassemble it and lube with Dexron III transmission fluid. It doesn’t take much.
Per the WD-40 web site:
Polycarbonate and clear polystyrene plastic are among the few surfaces on which to avoid using a petroleum-based product like WD-40.
Most petroleum based lubricants will attack plastic. If you use something like WD-40, make sure you wash the parts out with warm/soapy water immediately. For that matter, just wash the parts with warm/soapy water in the first place.
With all of the plastic/composite parts in our train models, I would not use any petroleum based lubricants(WD-40/3-in-One/Marvel/sewing machine oil/etc…). Labelle and other specialty manufacturers offer ‘plastic compatible’ lubricants that will not damage your model.
I have rebuilt at least 100 HO engines through the years and liquid dish washing soap works just fine for cleaning out gear boxes in the trucks. I use an old soft tooth brush to scrub the parts. I use Labelle #106 grease in the gear box area and Labelle #108 oil for the worm/motor bearings. Do NOT use the 101 or 104 oils - They are not plastic compatible.
Jim Bernier
Maybe that’s why your steamers don’t last too long!![:O]
Just a dab of Labelle 108.
Disassemble. Dawn dishwashing fluid, tooth brush and warm water.(don’t drop any parts down the drain…[:-^])
Jim, thanks for adding that caution. I would never advocate leaving anything, not even an old paint brush, in WD-40, or any other solution, including water, for more than the time it would take to effect the intended cleaning operation. The item should immediately be wiped down and then rinsed in warm sudsy water, perhaps with sudsy ammonia in a light solution, and the blown dry, if practicable and not likely to have the object shatter, or to lose details, or to escape one’s grasp and to fly off. Air drying would be fine if the rinse in fresh water were done well and at the last.
We’re talking a few seconds, and over the lifetime of having a working model, say four or five such cleansing sessions, WD-40 is unlikely to have a deleterious effect.
-Crandell
First I take my locomotives completely apart except separating the motor from the frame.
I perfer to use a paper towel and and alcohol in a medium size plastic cap.I dip the gears,drive shafts,bushings in the Alcohol and clean with a tooth brush and dry with the paper towel.
I then reassemble the locomotives and lightly oil the gears,drive shafts,flywheel bushings etc.
Then I test run and replace back “in service”.
I usually just blow mine out with compressed air and then rinse them in water and blow them off again, re asemble and relube.
I’ve used aerosol tuner cleaner, and another cleaner that’s obsolete, to remove old lubricants. Just hold the unit to be cleaned over a trash can and spray the mechanism area, allowing the cleaner and gunk to drip into the can. If the cover plate is easily removable, take it off and wipe the plate and the bottom of the frame, then use fresh lubricant.
Guess maybe I’m at the extreme end … for more than 20 years, I’ve always washed mine out with lacquer thinners !!! The plastics those things are made of are impervious to the stuff anyway. Drop them in a can, wash out with an old 3/4" paint brush and blow dry with the compressor.
Mark.