Hello all,
The some of the bolt heads that hold the weight/cover over the motor on my P2K E8/9s have locked up or rusted. They are impossible to unscrew. I think I had them off when purchased to oil the motor, and eventually (instructions say 50 hours) I’ll need to re-lube. Anybody else have this problem? Maybe I should put a drop of oil on each bolthead and let it soak? Would hate to drill the heads out.
Thanks for your valued input.
Try WD-40 and also make sure the screw driver is the correct size.
You shouldn’t have to remove it to grease the gears though.
Thanks Hamltnblue. In order to oil the motor bearings this cover must be removed. I guess I’ve got a few years before that happens.
I thought can motors were oil less bearings?
The P2K E8/9 has an open-ended motor and you can see the windings and brushes sticking out. The instructions say to oil the bearings.
Use most anything “but” WD40 as it makes steel “rust”. Get yourself some Slick50 or Liquid Wrench. Liquid wrench works best for most any threaded item that is frozen, then use the Slick50 when you reinstall the screws and you won’t have any trouble in the future.
I can’t begin to tell you the rusted items I have seen over the years from WD40, it works fine on door hinges or any non-steel item, but on steel it just makes a rusty mess.
Mark
WGAS
The screws for the weight in my P2K E7 are made of brass, and it was the same when I worked on an E8. They were extremely tight from the factory, but I managed to get them out by using the largest screwdriver I could fit in there. I may be wrong, but I’m guessing that tightening the brass screws too hard may warp the threads enough to lock them in place. If you use a big enough screwdriver with a big enough handle, you should be able to get them out.
If you need more leverage on the screws, you could clamp a vicegrip on the screwdriver and use it for extra leverage.
I haven’t done it with train related items, but it’s a trick I picked up when trying to get stuck screws out.