What maintenance do I need

[steve.i456]

Before I start and you ask, this is for N scale. :thumb:


I am in the process of finally building my layout. It's been probably four years since I last ran my locos. What maintenance tips does this members a large recommend? Do I need to oil them or add grafite or what ever?

Here is why I ask. I have 5 Kato cw44-9's (digitrax dcc) and two Kato sd-45's (non dcc). On a test track, my sd-45's ran fine. Two of the cw44's ran stiff, but loosen up after a few minutes. Two others were non responsive, ie I was not able to get them to program and run.as the other two did. Should I try these two with an old transformer to see if they do run at all? I did not try the other loco, but will tonight if I get time. All of these units ran the last time I had a layout and have been store in their original boxes inside of a large tackle box.

Thanks in advance.

 

[seanm]

I would say most of them should really be OK and not need much attention depending on how they were cared fore before you put them away. If they were not over oiled or dirty when stored they should be fine. What I have seen over the years is that if I have an engine that gets over lubed for some reason, and I leave it sit for a couple of years it is far worse off then one I have never oiled. I have had to tear down trucks and clean out gunk on those that had too much of a good thing.... Those without did fine. A good can of compresed air to blow the diust out is all I would do. I usually pull off the shell, and blow off the trucks and gears...set her down on the track and see how she does. If there is no bad noises and she moves OK, that is it! If on the other hand things are noisy or jumpy then it is time to tear down the trucks, look for gunk in the worm gears etc.

Mostly less is better... Oh, and watch out for PET HAIR! That is a real problem around my place. Cat hair gets into all sorts of places. Need good magnification and time to clean it out of an n-scale loco.

 

[steve.i456]

Thanks, I will try the canned air method. We did have three cats then, so hopefully that will do the trick. I don't think it's anything too harsh, as two run fine (third one to be determined)

Tearing them apart and cleaning the gears is something my older eyes aren't looking forward to, but thats why they make magnifing glasses for.

Thanks.