Should I oil the axles of HO SCALE freight cars or leave them alone . THANKS
The slippery engineering plastic along w/ the precision axle end points will spin freely w/o any lubrication. Actually adding any lube can cause it to gum and collect crud defeating the intended purpose. Replacing the wheelsets w/ metal ones and using the “Truck Tuner” if nec is all you would ever need. Rolling stock assembled properly and couplers set @ proper height should be all that you would ever have to do. May need wheel cleaning after many years of running.
First I make sure the truck rolls freely. Then I use a little Kadee Greas-em.
Enjoy
Paul
NO oil…
If you are using Kadee trucks for example… a cast frame and engineering plastic for the axle… they will go forever without lubrication.
When running standards on your cars… which should be done on an annual basis or more frequently if you operate regularly… among other tests, give the car a push on your work bench. It should roll freely and not lurch to a stop.
There is a little tool from micro mark that is a reamer for truck frames. It works really well in shaping the receiving hole in the journal box.
I occasionally will use powdered graphite as a lubricant on sticky couplers that don’t return to center and the very rare wheel set that won’t roll well.
On locomotives… I seldom lube them as there is usually enough unless they are old brass or have been on a self or in a box for a long time.
I service from time to time a Bachmann loco for local modelers. Bachmann uses some sort of Vaseline looking stuff and almost always too much. I find myself pulling out a lot when in a steamer cleaning the pick up wipers on the driver tires.
see ya
Bob
Get a truck tuner from Micro Mark. It acts like a reamer. It will make any wheel set spin freely. No need for oil. That would only pick up and hold dust, never a good thing.
Rich
Gidday, Oil NO!! For all the reasons already given.
I have a 3 foot length of track on a board which I use for checking coupler heights etc. I also have it marked for grades. If a car will start to roll on a 2% grade, that’s “good enough” for me. Like Bob, I have been known on rare occasion to apply a very small amount of "Woodland Scenics Hob-E-Lube, Dry White Lube on a particularly recalcitrant wheel set. As I am modelling on a budget, I only replace the plastic wheel sets with metal ones if I have too.
Cheers,the Bear.
Unless you have some old metal axle, metal sideframe trucks, no oil. Event hen, powedered graphite is usually a betetr option, as it won;t get flung all over the palce and drip down on the rails.
For plastic sideframes, the truck tuner tool from Micro Mark can make a big difference, especially if you have cars where 3 out of the 4 axles spins freely. Any sort of mass production injection molding process can leave bits of flash, and flash in the bearing area will make a wheelset roll like it has brakes on.A couple of spins with the tool is all it takes.
If you have replaced the wheels with others, be aware that this is not a one size fits all thing. The majority of brands are close to one another and can often use the exact same repalcement wheels, but some trucks are made to take a much shorter axle length and the same wheels that work in oen brand will be too tight and not roll well in a different brand. For tricky ones liek this, Reboxx has wheelsets in various axle lengths to fit pretty much any truck ever made.
–Randy
Thanks all I thought you should not use oil them .
I guess it would depend on what type of monster is being shipped in each fright car. I would think that monsters such as Frankenstein or the Werewolf would require some sort of reinforced box car paired with a stock car for food supplies. Dracula would probably demand more comfort in the form of some type of passenger car with blacked-out or plated-over windows and paired with a tank car full of his favorite blood type. A converted tank car would do for the Swamp Thing or the Creature From The Black Lagoon. Aside from normal car maintenance, I would think you’d have to add continuous clean-up and resupply of foodstuffs.
hornblower!
I resisted the urge to take the bait but your response was great! Fright cars indeed!! The OP will never misspell anything ever again on these forums!
Very funny!![(-D]
Dave
I think hornblower needs to update his library of monster flicks (nothing wrong with classics though)
It could have been worse.
He could have mis-titled the thread, “Mountaining Fright Cabs”.
Rich