Hi, I am just fitting new Walthers replacement wheelsets* into a Life-Like FA1 / FB1 set (issued Sept 2000) which was new and still in it's factory shrink wrap. It has some split gears but the original grease is still nice and greasy, so rather than dismantle and de-grease it to re-lube with Hob-E-Lube HL656 Moly Grease I would prefer to just lube the new cogs with a grease compatible with the existing Life-Like grease. Can anyone advise on what I should use, please? The axle bearings are not at issue, I am using Hob-E-Lube HL662 Premium Lite Oil for those.
* "Walthers 920-584408 assembled replacement axles with gear and bearing blocks for original Life-Like Trains early PROTO 2000 BL, FA, GP7/9/18/20/30/60 & PROTO 1000 F3,RS2,RSC2 diesels produced before 2005."
Grateful for any advice,
Thanks,
Bill.
Any of the hobby greases work fine. Labella is a popular grease both Teflon and nontephlon. Versions. I use a geld oil lub.
shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
"White" lithium grease is widely available, and almost certain to be vastly less costly than the volume found in the tiny plastic tubes sold in the hobby retail world. Check hardware stores.
Hello All,
White Lithium grease is petroleum based and can cause the degradation of plastic and rubber parts- -exactly what you are trying to lubricate- -and preserve.
Another commonly available grease is Molybnum grease. It is not suitable for applications that are prone to moisture, so don't run your locos in the rain!
I am unaware of an "Apples-To-Apples" solution for the OEM grease, but if this were my project I would clean and lightly re-grease with the Hob-E-Lube HL656 Moly Grease you have on hand.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
I would recommend cleaning the gears and axles when you swap them out. You've already done most of the work anyway. Then start with fresh grease.
I use Labelle grease. Regreasing a locomotive isn't something someone does often. That little tube of grease I bought almost 20 years ago is still mostly full and still works fine.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I use LaBelle #102 oil for lubricating both the gears and bearings, but a few weeks ago, I got an e-mail from another model railroader (whom I didn't know), asking if I could check-out some brass locos with various problems.
I agreed to take a look, and what came to the forefront was what the owner considered to be flawed: the details on the locomotives were either not symetrical, or incorrectly applied, causing gaps between parts that should be connected. I was able to correct pretty-well all of the flaws, but then went on to test the locos running qualities, which turned-out to be nil.
None of them would run at all, and a quick check on the wiring and the motors showed them to be properly done.
I mentioned the issue to the owner, and was told that he believed that the original owner may have put grease in the gearboxes.I manage to dismantle two of them, and found that both were packed with green automotive grease, which had become rock solid.It took some work to get them cleaned-up, then re-assembled them, with an application of LaBelle #102 oil. Both locos ran quite nicely, so I moved on to the third one.
The set-up was somewhat unusual, as the gearbox could be opened, but neither the brass gears, nor the gearbox could be removed, unless I wanted to de-solder it. I placed the loco on a piece of aluminum that I had bent to create a roughly-done bowl, then spent several days applying brushloads of lacquer thinner and MEK into the gearbox, and finally got it cleared out.Like the first two, this third loco also ran very nicely with an appliction of the same LaBelle 102.
I'd suggest that if you're planning to use grease as the lubricant, make sure that you're using the proper stuff.
Wayne
Unless you stumble on some old Life Like internal docs, you may never know what type of grease it was. But I am sure they used something safe for Delrin, which is a POM, (Polyoxymethylene, Polycerate) type plastic.
Your Moly product has a higher load rating than the Lithium grease counterpart sold by Woodland Scenic. This is evident when comparing the CST values for both their greases - Moly @ 112 vs Lithium @ 20.
Is higher better? Depends, is a HO Delrin gear box subjected to high shock loads or is it better to have s slippery lubricant present. I vote the latter.
Actually, I am surprised they even provide this number as Labelle does not give any data.
After a couple of tiny tubes of Labelle, I decided to do some research and settled on a product from Super Lube.
As shown, https://www.super-lube.com/Content/Images/uploaded/documents/Compatability%20Charts/Super%20Lube%20Multi-Purpose%20Synthetic%20Grease%20with%20Syncolon%20(PTFE).pdf
most plastics notably Delrin were given an “excellent” rating and has the PTFE additive Labelle uses.
A “good” rating was given to Polycarbonate and Polystyrene, no real surprise there. The CST value is 69 so a nice compromise.
Harbor Freight and Amazon have it, PN 21030 for a tube. I have added this product to Life Like P2K and Atlas gear boxes with preexisting factory grease with no issues.
If it were me, as the boxes are full of clean grease, I would put a few drops of oil on the axle gear and install them and let the grease in the top of the box migrate to the bottom when it runs.
Jim
I grease my locomotive's gears with labelle 106.
-bmtrainmaster
I've found at least two different greases used by Life-Like in their days before Walthers. One was the famous "peanut butter" paste which did seem to dry out and become caked. This stuff reminded me of a similar product back then known as Lubriplate. Later they seemed to use something that was a translucent color of honey. IT seemed to not be compatible with certain alloys (zinc, maybe) found in the sintered bronze bearings. This stuff would form a solid lacquer almost like petrified amber:
Proto_gear-3 by Edmund, on Flickr
The worm shaft shown is solidly fused to the bearing inserts. As Dr. Wayne noted this stuff had to be chemically flushed out and replaced.
The above example is from a new-old-stock Life-Like FA-2 that was still in the factory celophane when I picked it up a few years back.
Proto_gear-5 by Edmund, on Flickr
I've never found any reason to look further than the Labelle 106 PTFE grease for locomotive gear lube. I wouldn't recommend anything with molybdenum in it as the carrier can migrate away and the resulting paste is quite stiff. I do use a DRY moly lube on things like coupler draft gear, truck bolsters and inside the truck cavity where the axle point runs. Perfect for that.
Proto_gear-4 by Edmund, on Flickr
Years ago I worked with some Dow-Corning moly lubes that were suggested for some pumps and gear boxes I was rebuilding. It didn't take long for the moly to turn to an almost black, dry, crusty residue.
I'm sure there are lots of magic-miracle lubes out there such as the nano oil I hear about. Again, I've never found any reason to experiment with anything other than the line provided by Labelle, however the Superlube product above looks promising.
Good Luck, Ed
Labelle products are affordable and well-proven. Other products can harm gears and other components. Dave (HOn30critter) might chime in to tell about his horror story with nano oils.
Simon