After disassembly I found the thrust bushings were dry, labelle 106 grease fixed the problem, thanks for everyone's input.
I would not 'soak' those plastic gear towers in alcohol/WD40/etc. You take a chance of driving the natural petroleum out of the plastic and making it very brittle. I would just take them apart, clean them up with normal dish washing soap and rinse them. When putting them back together, use a plastic compatible grease on the 'worm' and a drop of plastic compatible oil on each of the worm 'pillow' bocks and the axle bearings. Also run the motor and make sure the bearings are not dry as well. Those P2K GP38-2 engines should be good runners.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
WSOR 3801Try lubing the motor bearings. I usually use Labelle 108, put the needle between the flywheel and the motor, and put a drop in. Run around a bit. Should help. I have some P1K C-liners that made some noise, and lubing the motor bearings helped.
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
Was it me, I'd take the trucks/drive towers apart, taking care not to loose any parts, and taking note of how it came apart so as to make it easier to get it back together. I'd use an old toothbrush and something or other to clean each part squeaky clean. Something or other could be hot soapy water, paint thinner, alcohol, WD-40, or EZ Off oven cleaner. Depends upon what you have and what you think the crud to be cleaned is. If it's paint overspray, hot soapy water is good to start, and EZ-Off only if needed. For old dried out grease or lube, paint thinner, alcohol or WD-40 ought to do the trick.
Once everything is good and dry, take a pipe cleaner and wipe off every tooth of every gear. That will pickup any bit of plastic flash still adhering to a gear. Inspect each part and remove any casting flash. Reassemble and lube the gears with grease. I have used automotive grease and Vaseline with good results over the years. People speak well of moly grease but I haven't used it yet. It needs grease to prevent the lube from dripping out over time.
Squealing suggests that something rotating is rubbing on something, say a flywheel rubbing on the shell. Check for quiet operation with the shell OFF. If the noise comes back after replacing the shell, then is gotta be something rubbing on the shell.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
These were GP 38-2's ,not sd38-2's . If the alcohol won't work what could I soak the trucks in, I'm thinking paint may have gotten inside or something when they were painted. I wasn't there to test locos BEFORE they were sent to painter,so I don't know if they squealed to start with,no one seems to know.
Randy, alcohol will not generally remove old grease. I would use the new LaBelle oil to clean the towers and replace that with fresh oil or grease as required.
73
Bruce in the Peg
The HO club I'm in bought 4 P2K sd38-2's, I was going to put recievers in them(Railcommand System) & tested them on dc to see how they ran. All 4 were squeelers & loud too I must say. I'm going to dissasemble each loco & was wondering if I could soak the trucks/geartowers in 91 % alcohol to clean them or is there something else better? These were brand new locos purchased some time back & have been painted in clubs colors,so returning them isn't an option. I've never heard a loco (in any scale sound like these) & thought after a good cleaning & some Labelle they would be ok. Any thoughts or experiences on these "porkers"? Thanx. Randy...