Need help with a Kato powered Stewart RS-12

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I recently acquired a Stewart RS-12 with Kato drive and while it ran fairly well out of the box, the gears in the trucks were bone dry. I lubed them up and it runs smoother now, but the motor is making a waaah-waaah-waaah sound (think alien probe in Star Trek IV, but pitched higher) and there is a burning smell after some extended continuous running. Any thoughts on possible fixes or tweaks that may help? Or is this normal for older Kato drives?

Matt

2

Kato specifically recommends no lubrication…

Are you sure it is the motor making the smells & noise, and not the lubricated trucks?

Recommend: removing the lubricant with isopropyl alcohol, and hope that the gears, shafts and casing has not been overly damaged. Bowser probably has replacement trucks.

3

I’m 100% positive the motor is making the smells & noise.

This is the first I’ve heard of a manufacturer making that recommendation. I presume I’m looking for evidence of a chemical reaction should I go in to remove the lubricant? Maybe I’m just spoiled by the whisper quiet operation of the pair of modern Kato locomotives I have. My first reaction after hearing the louder operating noise was to lubricate the gears in the trucks to quiet the unit down and smooth out its operation, which happened so I’m kind of torn on taking the manufacturer’s recommendation on blind faith. Is there any photographic evidence of a drivetrain destroying itself because it was lubricated?

Not trying to be doubtful, but in my other hobby of DIY Audio manufacturer data is generally considered unreliable unless validated by independent testing.

Matt

Edit: OK, now I’m all kinds of confused. I found the paperwork for the loco and Stewart recommends lubrication. I did some digging and Kato’s recommendation looks like it is for their more recent models. I’m going to guess that this loco is almost as old as I am, if not older. I’ll call this an experiment then regarding the gearbox lubrication. If it works, I have a reliable layout regular. If the gears and etc. go south on me then I superdetail it as a display queen.