I have some Kaydee wheel sets I’m installing in place of the plastic ones on some of my rolling stock and I see on the Kaydee package that they recommend using a little Grease’um (I think it’s a Labelle product) to get them running smoothly. The nearest hobby shop is roughly 100 miles away. Is there a readily available product that can be used in its place? Kaydee does not recommend oil.
JaRRell
I have Proto 2000 33" wheels that I’m replacing the cheap ones with, and I use graphite lube to make them run smoothly, and my LHS is 45 miles away, so I almost feel your pain. Hope this helps. -beegle55
I use graphite. I have a plastic jar with needle nose that makes it easy to put a little in the right place.
Enjoy
Paul
JaRRel, ATF will do nicely, although I can honestly say to you that I only ever lube my locos and tenders. I somehow feel that the rolling stock, if the inner races of the trucks are clean and the axle lengths are appropriate, should do without. This may very well be inexperience talking, so I acknowledge that I may have to eat my words.
Adding lube to rotating surfaces is generally a good idea, but I’m not so sure that we need to worry about it in our rolling stock bolsters. For one thing, dust of a number of kinds will find its way into them, and you will eventually have a major chore on your hands. What I do is get the reaming tool, rotate it a couple of times in each bolster to be sure there is no flashing left to bind the axles, and then swap in my metal wheel-sets. I have had very few problems to date. The only occasional maintenance is cleaning any plastic wheels that I have left.
There are commercially available plastic-compatible spray lubes in many hardware outlets. They come in the smallish tins with the thin red tube taped to the side. One has a yellow label, but I couldn’t find it in a hurry…I’ll keep looking and let you know ASAP.
-Crandell
“Greas-em” is a Kadee product. http://www.micro-trains.com/tools_acc.htm (Note, this is the Micro-Trains website product, but they’re related companies.)
It’s powdered graphite, so any powdered graphite available locally should do fine.
Regards
Ed
Like Crandell, I have never lubricated my metal wheels trucks. I would agree. Lubing the trucks might just lead to another potential problem of soiling the tracks and creating an even larger problem than you really want.
Tom
Hmmm… well, I must be doing something wrong. (So, what else is new!) Maybe I’ve got the wrong size wheel sets but they LOOK to be the same as the ones I’m replacing. Granted, I’ve only done one boxcar so far, but when I replaced the wheels they were very reluctant to turn freely, unlike the nice plastic ones that were original equipment. I think I’ll take them back off, find something to ream the right spot with and see if that helps.
Thanks for the suggestions and tips!
JaRRell
I’ve had no problems with graphite causing a mess except when my rolling stock sets off track and collects dust when it isn’t in use, but I just use a electronics pressurized duster for it! -beegle55
Your on the right track with your line of thought, But you want a special “Truck Tuner” tuner for that. It gives the journals the proper shape and contour to allow your wheelsets to roll freely. They are available from Micro Mark.
and I know what you mean by the nearest hobby shop being 100 miles away. And its pretty crappy at that. I have to travel out of state to get to a good one.
James
The rolling stock with metal wheels dont get lubed, maybe I should but they do so well on the track.
If you are able to communicate with the Hobby Shop by email or phone, they can order, set aside items for you if possible so that they will have it ready when you get down there to pick them up.
Thats what I have to do, but the lady that runs one of my LHS’s always forgets she’s holding it for me and sells it anyway!! LOL! -beegle55
I found the spray can, but it is a Canadian product (Fluid Film from www.nlsproducts.ca) I am sure your local sporting or hardware store has something similar. Also, don’t overlook good old spray silicone…Turtle Wax used to make it, but there are others. It is used to lubricate under the sliding treads on treadmills, and they are almost always plastic…you get the idea.
I’ve never lubed a wheel in my life. If you put any type of lubricant on a wheel it will eventually find its way on to your track. I don’t think this is a very good idea.
Jarrell,
Are they 33" wheels? (Just checking [:)] ) Also, who’s the manufacturer of the box cars?
For what it’s worth, I use Proto 2000 wheel sets for my wheel changes and have had good success with them. I do know that the axles of the Proto, Kadee, Intermountain, etc. are each slightly different in length from one another so it may be wise to try another wheel set brand to see if that doesn’t make a difference.
For the Proto 2000 wheels, I test each wheel set replacement by giving the wheel a quick spin and see how long it will rotate before it stops. (I used to do the exact same thing with my Hot Wheel cars to determine which one would be the fastest.) Below is my criteria for a good wheel replacement:
Ideal: 10 secs. or >
Acceptable: 3 to 10 secs. (The longer, the better)
Unacceptable: < 3 secs. (Suggestion: Try another wheel set)
And the funny thing is - for whatever the reason: What wheel set may not work well in one journal may still work just fine in another one.
So, Jarrell, try another wheel set, or turn it around to see if that doesn’t make any difference…or try it in another truck altogether. I do think the wheel reamer suggestion has merit and may be worth a consideration for you.
Hope that’s a help. Keep us posted…
Tom
I would be a very happy guy if I only had 100 miles to the hobby shop. I live in Sweden and must order from the US… That’s what I call a long way 
I sort of go along with no Lube with Meatl Axles (most are saying metal wheels). I have up grade a lot of my cheaper Rolling Stock with either Atlas or Proto 2000 wheels. I used Lubriplate # 105 grease. (Use it for 1:1 car engines for break in)
I have found that it sort of jellys up and make the tuned trucks with some miles on them pull harder. On the later cars I have up grade I use no lube.
But here is the question? I have bought a around 15 used Athearns used rolling stock off E-stupid for a great prices. Pulled there axles and they where corved with rust. I don’t know if they are 3 years old or 15 years old or more being new to this hobby. Cleand the tips with 150 grit paper and tuned the trucks and roll fine again. But if I do not lube, how do I keep them and the new ones I have bought from rusting?
Figuers I step back from late 60 Mopars because I tried of fighting rust and here I go again.
Cuda Ken
Greas’em is/was marketed by Kadee back before the brothers got tired of looking at each other and went their separate ways - I haven’t seen it in years and never used it anyway beyond one tube I got as part of some N-Scale “package” of some sort. The reason Kadee recommends the use of Greas-em is because they are trying to get you to buy … Greas-em!!! It is basically graphite and you can probably get that at an artists supply house; they may even have it at an auto supply store.
I’m not sure just how big - or small - a burg you live in there, jacon12, that puts you 100 miles from a hobby shop. One thing I have used is a thing called tuner lubricant or tuner cleaner - I live in a very healthy sized community and we have numerous electronic supply houses which is where this stuff is usually sold. The next time you get to a major metropolitan area consider buying yourself a can. They might even have it at Radio Shack although they don’t seem to carry anything I ever need. It comes in a (pressurized) spray can with a neoprene tube a la WD40. Since you are lubricating get the kind with the (plastic compatible) residue - you can also use this on your drive train (worm/ worm gear/spur gears, etc) - it is very inexpensive and you’ll probably wind up throwing a bunch of it away because the pressure in the can will dissipate before you will use all of lit. (Note: tuner cleaner also comes as a non-residue substance; THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT TO USE TO CLEAN THE COMMUNTATORS ON YOUR MOTORS.
Nothing which I have advised here has any value whatsoever and I am sure you will shortly hear from numerous forum members informing you of that fact.
I have been replacing all my plastic wheels with Kadee #520 metal wheels. The first six cars I did I used powdered graphite to lube the axle. Even though I used just a small amount, it found it’s way to the tracks and made a big mess. I thought my NCE DCC system was going crazy, what was hapening was the graphite was making the track filthy and the signal wasn’t getting through. I had to clean the track and all the wheels on all my cars and locos before it returned to normal.
The axles on the Kadee wheels are durlin (plastic). If you don’t have a “Truck Turner” buy one. Micro Mark sells them for about $12.
Now when I change wheelsets I use the truck turner to clean out the truck journal first. It also opens up the journal so the axle fits properly. You will think the axles are on bearings and there is no need for any lubrication. It’s one of the best investments I’ve made.
Bill
Kadee metal wheelsets have an ‘engineering’ plastic axle(non-magnetic). It appears to be quite soft and I have had wheel sets get less free rolling over time. Inspection of the end of the axle with a magnifying glass shows that they really get chewed up(especially in the metal Kadee sideframes). P2K wheel sets are basically the same construction, but the plastic axles seem to be a much harder plastic. In the typical plastic sideframe, I would suggest using a Reboxx or Micro Mark ‘truck tuner’ tool.
By the way, you can get a tube of powdered graphine that is about 2-3 times larger for something like a $1.98 at most auto stores…
Jim
I can understand what it is like to have your LHS 100 miles away. When I was up at school in Bozeman, Montana, we did have a Hobbytown USA at the little mall but Jim’s Junction was the closest Model Train Store and he was in Billings which took almost 2 hours to get to. Most of the stuff that I would buy would be online from other stores catolog but once in a while it was worth the drive just to talk to a fellow train guys and ask his advice on equipment.