Model Railroading > Lubricating gears on older Athearn locos

I have several Athearn locomotives that are 25-30 years old. I've never done any maintenance on them except for wheel cleaning. I assume at some point, probably long past, the gears need some lube. Have never been heavily used but I want to keep them going as long as possible.

Thanks.

Mike

I seem to recall just a drop of good ol' 3-in-1 is all they need.

PatternOfFailure Wrote:
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> I seem to recall just a drop of good ol' 3-in-1 is
> all they need.

3 in 1 oil is a petroleum product which is not plastic compatible. It will ruin the gears. Find a light weight plastic compatible oil or grease to avoid the need to replace those gears and maybe the gear boxes as well.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

Walthers catalog has Labelle #106 lubricating grease with teflon, plastic compatible grease available for 40+ years. Cost is #8.89. Walthers product # 430-106. You may also find a similar product at a good hardware store, like ACE, or Home Depot.

dnuck
Doug

Use grease for gears and oil for bearings.

I use Trix grease and idonotknowoil from my hobby shop.

Have fun

Erwin from Austria

I have always used ATF, as in automatic transmission fluid. I still have a quart of Dextron II from almost 20 years ago! I use a toothpick to place a single drop on each axle gear. I also put a drop in each side bearing. ATF is plastic compatible, adheres to plastic, and conducts electricity. And it is pretty inexpensive. I bet you could get some for free from a local car lube place! The biggest thing to be careful of... don't over lube! A couple drops for the whole locomotive is enough, and I have never re-lubed any of my locomotives, and a few are 20 plus years old and have pulled thousands of real miles on layouts and modules from Tennessee to the Pacific coast!

As a side, when I originally tune and Athearn locomotive, I "polish" or "lap" the gears. This amounts to checking for any burrs and removing them with a file, cleaning with dish soap and a toothbrush, re-assemble the truck, but add a drop or two of Pearl Drops tooth paste. I than put the chassis back together and run it around a circle of track for a couple hours, occasionally changing directions and flipping it end for end. This is done at toy train speeds, i.e. too fast, so the toothpaste won't gum up (if it does, a drop of water helps). Tear the truck back down, and clean again (you don't need soap this time, as the toothpaste is soap!). Use the ATF when re-assembled, and the gear train will run super smooth. As a test, don't connect the motor shafts just yet. Place the chassis on some track, and give it a push by hand. It will glide like a needle point axle-ed freight car! If you use DCC, this polishing will lower the amp draw on the decoder too! I've seen 4 and 5 unit consists tuned this way, draw less amps than a single Athearn unit straight out of the box.

Rick Bacon
Windsor, CO

Thanks to all of you. I really appreciate the different ideas.

Mike

The delrin gears don't need lube. It will only attract dirt. The only lubrication needed is the bronze bearings supporting the worm, and the bearings at the ends of the motor, next to the flywheel. Do NOT get lubricant on the commutator!

Use a plastic compatible oil. Labelle #106 is a favorite. I'm sure any shop that caters to the RC crowd will have a super-duty high tech hyper-synthetic oil at a stratospheric price you can use.