Lubrication - Athearn Blue Box Engines

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

With a previous post topic - it turned out that I have Athearn Blue Box engines that suffer from not having had lubrication for the 25 years after being put in the blue boxes at Athearn.

I’ve been able to get them ‘running’ by gently forcing the wheels. But they should probably get ‘lube jobs.’

May I ask what would be the key places - without any major disassembly if possible - and what lube products - hopefully generic descriptions as I am in Finland and particular brands will probably not be available. Thanks!

2

Hi,

I believe a lot of us old time MRs got started in HO with Athearn, and with good reason. They were relatively inexpensive, excellent runners, and durable as you could want. While Athearn did make a couple of steamers, I assume you have diesels.

First thing to do is pull the shells off. Typically there are 4-6 tabs that snap in, and removal is a gentle widening of the bottom of the shells on each end, pulling the chassis out gently.

Many folks use light oil, heavy oil, and grease to lube locos. The main criteria is they should be plastic compatible. Buying them is a good investment, for they will last for many many years.

The motors are typically centered between two driveshafts. Put a drop of light oil where the shaft enters the motor, and where it is supported along the rest of its length. Then, put a heavy oil and/or grease into the gear assembly for each of the two sets of trucks (structure that holds the wheels on each end w/axles & gears). Don’t overdo it.

Then, with the loco upside down or on its side, run two wires from your powerpack (I assume these are all DC) to the wheels and free run the motor/gears to work in the lube.

At this time you will likely see that the wheel treads are dirty. A good way to clean them is to take a straight piece of track with powerpack wires hooked to it. Take a paper towel and fold it to about 3 inch width and soak with rubbing alcohol. lay it on one end of the track.

Put the loco on the track so one end is on the paper towel and the other on bare rails. Hold the loco by that end and turn on the power. The truck sitting on the alcohol soaked paper towel will immediately turn and shed its grime onto the towel. Then, reverse the loco and do the other side.

But you are not done… If the locos have been sitting, so has the track, and using a bright boy or finger in an alcohol soaked

3

I’m a eazy job modeler.

All I do is remove the shell and add a small drop of Labelle oil to the drive shafts,motor bushings and then I simply put a drop of oil on the open gears and give it a test run back and forth so, the drop of oil on the gears will work its way on to the other gears.

I clean wheels by placing a paper towel on the test track add some 92% Alcohol to the towel and run the engine back and forth over the towel,then I shift the towel add more Alcohol and repeat.Finni.

BTW. You can clean fight car wheels by using this method.

4

The motor bearings, one on each end of the motor, want a single drop of light oil. Never oil a motor commutator, the arcing turns lubricant into sticky black goo. The axles run in metal bearings and each one of them wants a little oil. I use 3 in 1 oil, sold everywhere here in the US. Any light clear oil sold for electric motors or sewing machines will work fine. I have never had my plastic attacked by any kind of lubricant.

The trucks come with a gear tower attached that reaches up to the motor driven worms. The tower is a two piece plastic casting, held together by a clip on the bottom of the truck. The insides of the gear tower are filled with gears and grease at the factory. After 25 years, that grease hardens and the friction can be so bad as to prevent the motor from turning. The fix is to pop the clip off the bottom of the truck (an Xacto knife works well for this) and take it apart. Clean all the old hardened grease out with a toothbrush and some solvent, alcohol, or mineral spirits. While you have things apart, inspect each gear for flash and damaged teeth. Remove any flash and fix up damaged teeth as best you can with a small file. Wipe each tooth of each gear with a pipecleaner. This will remove tiny bits of invisible black plastic flash stuck to the gear teeth that make the locomotive run noisily. Relube lightly with grease. The gears are all nylon which is pretty slippery just by itself, the grease isn’t crucial, so go easy on it. I use white molybdenum grease they sell at auto parts stores over here.

The shell comes off Athearns if you get your finger nails under the bottom edge and gently pry the sides apart enough to slip off over the mounting lugs cast into the chassis. Inspect the couplers to make sure the shell will come off without fouling them. On a few models it may be necessary to remove the couplers to take the shell off.

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You folks are really great with your advice!!! Thanks so much! And I hope these detailed answers help others.

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Do not oil the bronze axle journals. Those square blocks are oil impreganated bronze and do not need lubrication. Those bronze blocks are a mechanical electrical contact point, and most oils are a much better insulator than a conductor. Also, oil on the axles will leach out onto the wheel over time which creates an ideal environment for dust and dirt accumulation.

Same goes for the plastic gears - do not use oil. Use a small amount of grease that won’t break down. Oil can leach good distances over time and get to places you don’t want it. Besides, delrin gears don’t need lubrication. Factories pack grease in there to take up slop in the gear train which causes noise - not to keep them running free.

Mark.

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I am sure you can find motor oil. The cSt value of 0-20w synthetic motor oil is the same as the hobby lubricants and is plastic compatiable.

For grease look for a synthetic white grease such as Super lube.

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Mark,I been oiling Athearn gears since the early 60s with no side effects…

The clue is a small drop of oil on one gear and let it work onto the other gears and not drowning the gears in oil.