Cleaning a new Atlas Geep 9

[peteski]

All this banter about oil/grease/etc does not seem to be helping the original poster with his problem.......

New trucks are not that pricey, I would consider starting there....maybe new wipers too....

I think there was plenty of useful information presented here which was helpful in solving the problem. 
What I have found is that the wheel threads of certain models seems to attract "dirt" much more agressively than wheel threads of other models. There could be many reasons for this but the bottom line is that if a freshly cleaned loco starts acting up again, I would give the wheels a really good cleaning before doing anything else.

Flatrat says that the engine is totally dead now. Well then, some basic troubleshooting has to be performed again.  DKS' post already covered that very well.  Flatrat did not reply to tell us whether he performed the loco tear-down and troubleshooting of the latest problem.

[Bob Horn]

Scott sent me his loco, arrived at 1:30 pm today. In 45 min it was back in the box and on its way back to him. I first pulled the shell and ran with a 9V battery, runs like a clock. Looked at the wheels, very dirty. Cleaned with a little QD followed with Goo-Gone and then 91% alcohol. Ran for some time, no more problems. It would not run at all when it got here. Wheel treads are now clean and bright. All is well. Bob.

[MichaelWinicki]

Good job Bob!

Scott's going to need to check the wheel treads on all of his locomotives...  And do a thorough cleaning of his track.

[peteski]

Scott sent me his loco, arrived at 1:30 pm today. In 45 min it was back in the box and on its way back to him. I first pulled the shell and ran with a 9V battery, runs like a clock. Looked at the wheels, very dirty. Cleaned with a little QD followed with Goo-Gone and then 91% alcohol. Ran for some time, no more problems. It would not run at all when it got here. Wheel treads are now clean and bright. All is well. Bob.

LOL! I just happened to mention that remedy, in the post right above yours.   

[bill pearce]

I ahte to start a fight with DKS, but here goes. A friend was running trains on his layout one evening. He shut things down and seft the room. His son went down and ran some himself, and on departure did not shut down anything but the overhead lights.  He was running a three or four unit lash-up lf Kato SD 40's, which bumped into a stop and ran all night. He discovered this  the next morning. About 10 hours of running totally trashed the trucks, and he ordered replacement from Kato. He gave me the old ones to strip for parts. Not only did the wheels rub a circle in the rail completely through the head, it also rubbed deep grooves in the wheels, and the pointed axle tips put holes in the top of the axle cups. That's the equivalent of a day on a ntrak display, no? so maybe just a drop of oil would be good.

[havingfuntoo]

This post points out how we often miss the obvious and investigate the hard stuff looking for problems that do not exist.

Any wet lubricant, or even dry one for that matter placed on the axel ends is a temporary situation once the loco gets running that will, especially if it is a wet lubricant, leads to problems with the collection of rubbish around those bearing surfaces.  My experimentation in this area leaves me with a clear conclusion that the best outcome is obtained by avoiding any lubricants in this area. 

[DKS]

I ahte to start a fight with DKS, but here goes. A friend was running trains on his layout one evening. He shut things down and seft the room. His son went down and ran some himself, and on departure did not shut down anything but the overhead lights.  He was running a three or four unit lash-up lf Kato SD 40's, which bumped into a stop and ran all night. He discovered this  the next morning. About 10 hours of running totally trashed the trucks, and he ordered replacement from Kato. He gave me the old ones to strip for parts. Not only did the wheels rub a circle in the rail completely through the head, it also rubbed deep grooves in the wheels, and the pointed axle tips put holes in the top of the axle cups. That's the equivalent of a day on a ntrak display, no? so maybe just a drop of oil would be good.

Running a loco around the layout, and running it against a hard stop, are two totally different circumstances. The forces and stresses are not even close between the two. Apples and cucumbers.

[robert3985]

Running a loco around the layout, and running it against a hard stop, are two totally different circumstances. The forces and stresses are not even close between the two. Apples and cucumbers.

+1

[u18b]

Great job Bob.

I would have removed the inner bearing blocks too.  Hahaha.

[Bob Horn]

I mentioned that to him but it really ran smooth. I have done one of mine and another did not work out as expected. Bob.

[Flatrat]

Thanks to all for their advice and while my thread got a little hijacked with debates of Conducta lube it was ALL useful information. I want to especially thank Bob Horn for his generous offer to tweak my loco and also give a shout out to Ron Bearden who offered at the same time. There really ARE a lot of nice people out there in the world you know? These gentlemen prove that.
As another poster correctly mentioned, which was exactly what happened to me through inexperience, I did a shoddy job on the obvious of cleaning the wheels and then went right to tearing down the engine to try and fix an otherwise easy problem. Inexperience. Guilty. Talked to Bob on the phone this afternoon and he offered his experience on how to properly/simply clean the wheels and I bet I'll probably never have a problem with this engine again.
Again, special thanks to Bob Horn and all the other posters for their advice!!

Scott

[Bob Horn]

Thanks Scott. Bob.

[GaryHinshaw]

What I have found is that the wheel threads of certain models seems to attract "dirt" much more agressively than wheel threads of other models.

I too have noticed this and wonder why.  To give a specific example: most or all of the metal wheels that have been shipping with the recent Exactrail models I have (e.g. the waffle-side boxes) have become absolutely filthy.  As a control sample, I have several cars in the same test train with FVM or BLMA wheels that are still very shiny, even though they have seen nearly identical service on the same track.  Does anyone understand the metallurgy at work here?  Even the plastic-wheels in this train are pretty clean, so it's not purely an electrostatic/conductivity issue.

I plan to replace these wheels, so this is just a matter of idle curiosity.

-gfh

P.S. Thread drift alert - but it is somewhat topical, as it turns out.

[robert3985]

I too have noticed this and wonder why.  To give a specific example: most or all of the metal wheels that have been shipping with the recent Exactrail models I have (e.g. the waffle-side boxes) have become absolutely filthy.  As a control sample, I have several cars in the same test train with FVM or BLMA wheels that are still very shiny, even though they have seen nearly identical service on the same track.  Does anyone understand the metallurgy at work here?  Even the plastic-wheels in this train are pretty clean, so it's not purely an electrostatic/conductivity issue.

I plan to replace these wheels, so this is just a matter of idle curiosity.

-gfh

P.S. Thread drift alert - but it is somewhat topical, as it turns out.

Just off the top-O'-my-head, I would venture a guess that the difference is the angle of the tire.  My guess is that the tire on the Exactrail wheel contacts more of the railhead than the others, leading to more surface area being exposed to sticky, oily goop coating the tops of the rails, as opposed the the other wheels mainly contacting the railheads near the insides of them.

But, that's just a guess.  I don't have any Exactrail models, but I do have MT low-pros (old and new styles), FVM and BLMA metal wheelsets and some Atlas metal wheelsets.  I don't notice a difference between each of their grit-collecting propensities.

[GaryHinshaw]

Here's an illustration:



Two ER boxcars: on the left is a set of stock ER wheels, on the right I have replaced them with BLMA wheels (and trucks).  On the far left, the buildup of gunk is so extreme that it extends beyond the edge of the wheel tread.  There is also a bunch of gunk caked along the flange on the other wheel.  The BLMA wheels are essentially clean, and both have seen virtually identical service.  (And since I still don't have a continuous loop, each car spends about half of the time leading and half trailing.   ).  I'm not trying to rag on ER, I'm just curious.

-gfh