A while back I bought a couple P2K GP38-2’s. Over the weekend, I’ve started running them. There was a funny noise coming from both of them. I thought it needed lubrication so I started to disassemble one (kept the other one in case I had problems putting it back together [:)]).
To get to the gear boxes, I had to remove the couplers and shell. No big problem. Then I had to remove the weight. To do that, I had to remove the diode board so that I could get enough slack in the wires to get to the gear boxes. Applied one drop of oil to the bearing block at the end of the worm gear.
Then to put it back togerther, I had to route all the wires back in the grooves, re-install the diode board (while trying to keep all the wires in the correct palce [banghead]) and reattach the weight.
I test ran it without the shell and noticed a marke improvement. To make sure, I put the shell back on and it still sounded better. I ran the other one along with it and sure enough, there is a definite difference between the two, So I need to disassemble it again to finish lubricating the rest of the gearboxes.
New locomotives should not need lubrication unless the documentation specifically says you must, such as Bachmann Spectrum and Broadway Limited products, which are not lubricated at the factory.
Your P2K engines may just need to be broken in, unless they have been sitting on a dealer’s shelves for several years, where there’s a possibility that the factory lubrication has leaked out or solidified.
The only lubrication they should require would be a minute drop of light machine oil at each end of the axles where they enter the gearbox. The gears themselves are probably packed with white lithium grease at the factory, and it works its way upward onto the worm gears and their bearings.
.
When I disassembled it, I found a lot of oil on the shaft and universal joint area so I have a feeling they have been sitting for a while.
I used LaBelle #107 on the bronze bearing block on the end of the worm shaft and that seemed to help. I’m pretty sure I’m on the right track. I think it’s the metal to metal contact that needs the lubrication. I was just trying to find an easier way to get to the gear boxes. [:(]