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Proto 2000 Gummy Gears Locos and rolling stock
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Active Member 77 posts brooksgary Active Member 77 posts
brooksgary

I bought a new in box Proto 2000 FA2/FB2 set off of eBay.  Though the boxes had never been opened, I suspect that the units are several years old.  After removing the chassis from the box, I attempted to rotate the motor by pushing on the flywheels and noticed that the motor was very stiff, and that the front truck would shift back and forth when I changed directions on the flywheels.  I removed the cap that holds the worm gear to the truck and found that the bronze bearings were very stiff and gummy.  With the worm gear removed the wheels would turn freely.  What is the best product to remove the old gummy grease/oil before re-lubing the truck and bearings.  I have denatured alcohol and mineral spirits on hand.  Would either of those two work to clean the bearings without hurting the bearing or the plastic u-joint.  Thanks.

Gary.
Gary Brooks
The GNKFB
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Alexedwin Regular poster 427 posts
Alexedwin

Both those would work but I

Both those would work but I find Shellite is the best.

Alex

One day I might be modeling the Puffing Billy Railway, Victoria, Australia.

My location - Queensland, Australia.
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Nelsonb111563 Moderator 2,268 posts
Nelsonb111563

CRC 2-26!

Plastic compatible electronics lube for the motor bearings.  Will also work very well for the worm bearings.   Use sparingly.  Little goes a long way.

Nelson Beaudry,  Principle/CEO

Kennebec, Penobscot and Northern RR Co.
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Virginian and Lake Erie Super User 9,245 posts
Virginian and Lake Erie

I had similar issues with

I had similar issues with some atlas locos and cleaned them all with rubbing alcohol, with no ill effects. They have pulled a 167 car train with no issues so far and that was quite a while ago, they still run just fine.

Rob in Texas

MRH Blog / Prep for an Operating Session / Delving Into the Past / The Club Blog / Youtube / etmrc.org
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Larry of Z'ville Frequent poster 984 posts
Larry of Z'ville

A lot if good suggestions

I would use the denatured alcohol.  The goo, I mean grease, that was put in those trucks at the factory turns hard and brittle over time.  The oil in the bearings does a similar number.  Best to clean it all out and start with a better quality oil and grease.

 

So many trains, so little time,

Larry

check out my MRH blog: https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/42408

 or my web site at http://www.llxlocomotives.com
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ratled Frequent poster 926 posts
ratled

It's the peanut butter!

No really, they used lube that is like peanut butter.  here is a good overall video on the P2K issue and the fix

 

ratled

 

 

http://klamathline.blogspot.com/

 
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brooksgary Active Member 77 posts
brooksgary

Thanks for all the input.  I

Thanks for all the input.  I completely disassembled the trucks and removed the gears and wheel sets.  Since all of the wheel gears were cracked, I removed them and put the wheels, bearings and worm gears in a jar of denatured alcohol to set for a while.  I the mean time, I took the tower halves and plastic gears and soaked them in hot soapy water before taking a small stiff brush to them.  After rinsing I then set them aside to dry.  The worm gears and wheel set still required cleaning with a brush even after soaking in alcohol.  Some of the old grease was pretty hard.  After all the cleaning and drying, I relubed the assemblies with Labelle's oil and grease and reassembled all the parts.  It actually runs very good now, very smooth at a step 2 on the throttle.

Thanks again.

Gary.
Gary Brooks
The GNKFB
Bsb2.jpg 
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Russ Bellinis Prolific poster 3,335 posts
Russ Bellinis

What did you do about the cracked wheel gears?

Did you replace the cracked wheel gears?  Athearn parts will replace the gears if you haven't replaced them, yet.
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