Lubricants

Been using the following on Lionel gears for a n umber of years: Red "N" Tacky #2 produced by Lucas Oil Products, Inc. and mine was purchased at a NAPA store.

It is somewhat "sticky" and does not easily "liquify" as it has good temperature stability. It is a multi-purpose EP grease useful on cars, trucks and wheel bearings. Comes in a 14 oz. tube.

Ask the Xerox repairman the next time he comes around. I finally used up a tube one gave me, a nice lightweight but temperature stable grease, that he'd opened as part of the service - he said "your outfit got charged for it, if you want it it's yours".

Hello, and thanks for the info. In addition to the Lucas red lithium product my online research revealed the following greases as suitable for model railroading purposes:

• Labelle 106 (with Teflon)

• Synco/Loctite SuperLube multipurpose (silicone type also available)

• Lubriplate

If anyone has any comment on the above products or other recommendations they would certainly be welcome. (In my case my AF diesel worm drive is all metal so plastic compatibility is not an issue.) Sincerely,

John Wood (Code 5550) e-mail: snipped-for-privacy@itd.nrl.navy.mil Naval Research Laboratory

Red "N" Tacky #2 gets my vote, too. I use this for all applications where "lubricant" is called for, and Mobil 1 0W-20 or 5W-30 (yup - the whole quart is only $4.09 at WalMart and will last you more than a lifetime on your hobby bench) in a LaBelle-type oiler where "oil" is called for. These modern lubricants have vastly improved the operation of all my Prewar & newer equipment.

I have yet to find a "non" plastic compatible lubricant. Sometimes for kicks I even ask for it at NAPA or Advance, and they don't have any. There are lots of solvents, though, that will eat away plastics. There are even some food-compatible lubricants!

Rob

trainfan1 spake thus:

You have yet to find one because it probably doesn't exist. This oft-repeated myth--"be sure to only use plastic-compatible lubricants"--is probably a throwback to the bad old days when someone made gearboxes out of early plastics that were softened by some solvents in oil. Nowadays, with acetal and similar plastics used almost universally, there's no need to be careful in this regard. Oil or grease is not going to dissolve your trucks or gearboxes.

David is right about the plastic compatible lubricant myth. The engineering plastic that is used now days is impervious to just about anything. In the early 1980's I lubricated some Athearn gear boxes with STP (the stuff that makes a screw driver so slippery you can't hold it between your fingers). It worked just fine and after sitting around about 20 years the gears were in like new condition -- I don't think STP would be considered plastic compatible. The only problem I ever had was the Athearn axle gears cracking. I was told it was from the lubricant so I tried some of the "friendly" stuff -- cracking problem didn't go away. The cracking is most likely from the too tight fit of the wheel axle into the axle gear and the continued shrinking of the plastic with time. Also, how do they store most lubricants these days? In plastic containers!

Jim Bright

My point exactly!

Rob