Cleaning a new Atlas Geep 9

[Flatrat]

My GP that i bought last winter has run like a swiss watch. I've lubed it with conducta lube internally once and it has performed flawlessy. All of a sudden it's running 'herky-jerky'. I have cleaned the wheels, scrubbed the track, etc. everything that usually works.

Not working this time.

Any tips about cleaning this engine? It looks like it has two brass contacts under the body to the trucks. Should I clean under there somehow?

Appreciate any thoughts to restore this nice running engine to "smooth".

Scott

[MichaelWinicki]

Scott, I would tear apart the trucks and clean the axle ends & the brass axle cups.  The axle ends and cups tend to be filled with non-conductive grease/gunk. 

You didn't mention if it's DCC or not.  If it's DCC, you can check the contacts off the motor where they touch the circuit board.  Quite often those contacts do not always make good contact with the board.

[Catt]

Scott to go along with what Michael suggested while you have the trucks out for service polish the contact points on the pick up strips.When these get dirty (and they will) electrical pick up suffers.I would suggest using a real fine wet or dri sand paper to clean them or a brass/copper cleaner which might work even better.

[Flatrat]

Good ideas to try. Is there a "right" way to tear the trucks apart?

S

[MichaelWinicki]

Good ideas to try. Is there a "right" way to tear the trucks apart?

S

I don't know if it's the "right" way but what I do is...

1. Remove the shell.

2. Slight loosen the two screws that hold the two halves of the frame together.

3. Drop the trucks.

4. Insert the tip of my pocket-knife between the truck frame and the gear-case– and loosen (at each end of the truck).  The truck frame and gear case kind of snap-together and you're "unsnapping" them. 

Usually the axles stay right in the gear case and the brass cup/wipers fall onto the work surface.

I clean everything and put it all back together.  You kind of have to hold both brass cup/wipers to the sides of the axles (Using one hand) while you snap the truck frame back into place with the other hand.  Sometimes it can take a few attempts to snap the truck frame back into place and not shove the wiper up so the brass cup is no longer covering the end of the axle.

[fredmoehrle]

Micheal got it pretty good.
My method would be;
#4 Using a pointed tweezers, push the two retaining tabs on the bottom of the truck simultaneously to release the side frame/bottom plate.
This allows me to push down on the truck body with the tweezers while lifting the side frame piece up.

[ednadolski]

Scott, I would tear apart the trucks and clean the axle ends & the brass axle cups.  The axle ends and cups tend to be filled with non-conductive grease/gunk. 

What would be a good conductive grease/lube to put in there?

Ed

[MichaelWinicki]

What would be a good conductive grease/lube to put in there?

Ed

The challenge is that there is no such thing as a conductive grease as far as I know... Somebody can correct me on that if they have better information.

I don't put anything in there.  Too much hassle dealing with the mess/conductivity issues that using a grease presents.

I run my loco's a lot and have yet to find one of them that has "burned" a hole through the brass axle cup due to a lack of grease.   I've seen a couple images on the web where that has happened but I gotta think that it would take a immense amount of running time to accomplish.  I figure if I burn through a set of wipers, they're cheap enough to replace and easy enough to install.

[fredmoehrle]

What would be a good conductive grease/lube to put in there?

Ed

I wouldn't put anything in there.
All it will do is make it a gooey magnet for lint, floating hair, and tiny pieces of ballast.
The only one I've ever had "punch through" was when I was reassembling a truck and had a sudden, violent sneeze!
Had to re-gauge the wheels after that one too, and got a nasty poke in the thumb to boot!
Just folded the bronze back into a cone, and it's good to go.

[MichaelWinicki]

I wouldn't put anything in there.
All it will do is make it a gooey magnet for lint, floating hair, and tiny pieces of ballast.
The only one I've ever had "punch through" was when I was reassembling a truck and had a sudden, violent sneeze!
Had to re-gauge the wheels after that one too, and got a nasty poke in the thumb to boot!
Just folded the bronze back into a cone, and it's good to go.

Thanks for reminding me Fred...

After cleaning and putting everything back together, I check the wheelsets for proper gauge.  Sometimes in the act of cleaning I end up narrowing them.

[peteski]

Conductive grease or not, IMO the bearing cups need to be lubricated.  Yes, it will attract crap but not any more than the lube in the gears attracts crap. So, the trucks need to be serviced (cleaned) from time to time. No big deal - that is normal.

[wazzou]

Isn't there a product called Conductalube?

[Power Stroke]

Everything you need to maintain your locomotives is available on this page. Go ahead and use some snake oil or stuff that someone who knows someone who knows some one else said this is their stuff is the s%*t. The products from CAIG, specifically Deoxit are used by OEM automobile manufacturers to solve critical electonic problems. If their products are suitibale to solve oxidation and corrosion due to micro-arcing in SRS systems, they are more than suitible to clean and lube your locomotives. I mean, nothing like an airbag going off in your face at 150mph.
I use their products exclusively. What you do is up to you.
http://store.caig.com/

[peteski]

Isn't there a product called Conductalube?

Conducta-lube is not a conductive lubricant (despite what the name implies).  It improves and restores conductivity between metal parts by keeping them free of oxidation.



There are lubricants which are actually conductive.  They usually use high concentrations of powdered silver or carbon/graphite as the conductor of electricity.  Silver-based lubes are better than carbon-based ones but they are also quite expensive. But IMO, they are not really necessary for lubricating the N scale wheel bearing cups.

Here is one of the silver-based greases: http://www.newark.com/itw-chemtronics/cw7100/conductive-grease-syringe-6-5g/dp/00Z1500 and a carbon-based grease http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/greases-and-lubricants/conductive-greases/carbon-conductive-grease-846/ . Of course, there are many others out there - Google is your friend.  But watch out for the items with "conductive" sounding names (like Conducto-lube), which don't specifically state that they are conductive.

[u18b]

I find, Conduct-a-lube is great for cleaning commutators which can get pretty clogged up with gunk.
I loosens the gunks.

It has some kind of volatile agent in it.  I'm sure this is wrong but it would be like a mixture of oil and acetone.

When you place a drop on a commutator of a running loco-  the motor greatly speeds up for a moment or two and it looks like there is a little fire on the commutator.  But then everything settles down to normal.  And if you take a fine tip of paper towel, you can wipe off some of the loosened gunk.