Need Any Spare Grease? IMRC SD40-2W Part III

[Deleted]

I opened up the bottom of the gear boxes on my IMRC SD40-2W. I think the photos speak for themselves. I have forwarded the photos onto Intermountain. It will be interesting if I get any response.

[steveturner]

Totally unacceptable! Seriously quality and quality control really sliding in China. Got to wonder if MFGs are grasping to get production and are accepting sub standard MFG. Tottally sloppy work and i believe the practise will get worse! Steve

[atsfan]

I am having difficulty figuring out if you like the IM SD40-2W or not........................;-)

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2012 10:18:41 GMT -8 atsfan said:

I am having difficulty figuring out if you like the IM SD40-2W or not........................;-)

As I told Intermountain in my e-mail to the company this morning.....nice paint and details, but the grease and the mechanism are a debacle.

[Brakie]

Sheesh! All that grease must be bad for that locomotives cholesterol level..

Seriously that's totally inexcusable.

[sd80macs]

So what your saying is if you buy 1 Kato SD40-2W you can lube around 50 units with all the excess Grease? LOL That means I can do around 250 units, I still haven't gotten to tinkering with my 5 units as I plan to change the Ditch lights and fix some of the minor issues with the stripes and decaling. I will have to do the same as you and remove all the excess grease and lube though. I am not sure if I am going to go through the trouble of changing cabs to Railflyer ones as they units look ok but definitely have flaws and are not contest quality replicas. even with the flaws I am glad to see something closer then an Athearn BB unit with a new cab on it.

[antoniofp45]

Holy Moly! That's more grease than I used to squeeze in to my 1973 Firebird's tie-rod ends with a grease gun!

Jim, I think it's safe to say that you likely have gotten Intermountain's attention. Hopefully they've already communicated with their overseas manufacturer rep about this.

[diburning]

Nice and buttery!

[antoniofp45]

From what I've "heard", the IM F-units that were produced a few years ago and are still available don't usually have this problem. Does anyone here own an IM F-unit that can confirm this?

[mecu18b]

Im sure the entire civilized world knows about the excess grease by now. So the easy fix is to return it and get your money back. When the problem is fixed then get a new one. Many older modelers would pack the gears with lube or toothpaste to quiet or smooth out gears. If the unit is great except for a bit of grease coming out then I would take a tissue and wipe out anything oozing out and be done with it

[atsfan]

Oct 3, 2012 1:20:38 GMT -8 antoniofp45 said:

From what I've "heard", the IM F-units that were produced a few years ago and are still available don't usually have this problem. Does anyone here own an IM F-unit that can confirm this?

I have several IM F units and none have an excess grease problem.

This unit seems an anomaly. It is not that hard to clean up the mess if you own one.

[bnsf971]

I don't know if anybody else was in N scale in the mid 1990's, when Atlas releasd their GP7/9 made in China models. They didn't have grease so much as oil. I remember pulling them out of their boxes and having oil dripping off the body into a puddle in the box. They eventually got that mess sorted out, and for the last several years that I was involved in N, I never got an Atlas engine that was marinating.

[theengineshed]

Oct 3, 2012 7:55:48 GMT -8 atsfan said:

I have several IM F units and none have an excess grease problem.

This unit seems an anomaly. It is not that hard to clean up the mess if you own one.

Same here, four Fs, no grease issues.

It really just takes one enthusiastic member of the production line.

I have had to take q-tips to some Bachy European stuff to remove excess grease, although I have to admit I've never seen anything even close to what's pictured.

[el3637]

Oct 3, 2012 4:51:14 GMT -8 mecu18b said:

Im sure the entire civilized world knows about the excess grease by now. So the easy fix is to return it and get your money back. When the problem is fixed then get a new one. Many older modelers would pack the gears with lube or toothpaste to quiet or smooth out gears. If the unit is great except for a bit of grease coming out then I would take a tissue and wipe out anything oozing out and be done with it

Anybody that has ever had a Proto 2000 anything has had to deal with this, although this IM unit exceeds anything I've seen. Basically it's not a wipe job... you have to take the trucks apart, and scrub everything out with Dawn or a good strong detergent, and scrub some more - it's tenacious stuff. Then put it all back together, make sure it's good and add a dab of a good lube like LaBelle 106. I've probably done a hundred of them.

It's a pain but I wouldn't return a loco just for a grease job - unless so much of it has leaked out in the packaging to really damage the paint job.

Also if you buy trucks from the Atlas part department they arrive nice and clean and dry. Although I end up taking those apart too to turn them into Bannatrucks.

Andy

[mecu18b]

[[/quote]

Anybody that has ever had a Proto 2000 anything has had to deal with this, although this IM unit exceeds anything I've seen. Basically it's not a wipe job... you have to take the trucks apart, and scrub everything out with Dawn or a good strong detergent, and scrub some more - it's tenacious stuff. Then put it all back together, make sure it's good and add a dab of a good lube like LaBelle 106. I've probably done a hundred of them.

It's a pain but I wouldn't return a loco just for a grease job - unless so much of it has leaked out in the packaging to really damage the paint job.

.

Andy[/quote]

Andy,
Why?? Oil leaking and lube oozing out are two different issues. I too have done hundreds of units over the last 40 years. NOT ONCE have I had to wash the gears like you state. Wipe the gear box covers yes, but never had to take it all apart. Seems like much ado about nothing.
Ted

[Deleted]

Oct 4, 2012 5:10:53 GMT -8 mecu18b said:

NOT ONCE have I had to wash the gears..... Wipe the gear box covers yes, but never had to take it all apart. Seems like much ado about nothing.
Ted

I think Andy was talking about the old brown box and some blue box Proto units used a grease that was the color of peanut butter, that hardened to the concrete, locking up the mechanism. The only solution is to totally disassemble the gear boxes and the get the "peanut butter" out.

[Deleted]

I received a reply from Intermountain about the grease and 40-2W.

Here is the reply:

James,

I apologize for the issue with your locomotive.

We are aware of this issue and are actively working to address it in our production facility. Your example seems to be one of the worst I have seen and I must convey my sincere apologies that it did not get caught and corrected in our inspection process. I hope that you will not give up on future InterMountain products as we will continue to improve and make the best models we can build.

Thank you for your support of InterMountain Railway Company products.

-Cheers

Richard Frazier
InterMountain Railway Company

[el3637]

author=mecu18b board=hoforum thread=574 post=7007 time=1349356253]
Why?? Oil leaking and lube oozing out are two different issues.

A lot of the thick lube has a thinner oily component that bleeds out. It's common for models that are wrapped in plastic to transmit this ooze up onto the paint job, especially of the model has been unwrapped and re-wrapped. I had a dealer do this to a Genesis PRR F unit... he wanted to test run everything before it left the store, so he had unwrapped and re-wrapped and there was oil all over the paint job. It didn't eat the paint, but it was quite a chore to remove without doing further damage.

I too have done hundreds of units over the last 40 years. NOT ONCE have I had to wash the gears like you state. Wipe the gear box covers yes, but never had to take it all apart. Seems like much ado about nothing.

If you don't mind wiping those gearbox covers frequently, and risk getting goo on anything they come into contact with. I just prefer to start with something cleaner, at least if I'm building a Superfleet loco. I have plenty of B-fleeters that I haven't taken the trucks apart on, and I won't if they continue to perform... but most of the older P2K locos I've had to completely take apart and clean up. The peanut butter lube seems almost immune to detergent like Dawn. It has to be scrubbed off with a toothbrush, one gear at a time, and the Dawn will help float it away but won't dislodge it. I've even soaked the gears in lighter fluid, and it doesn't dissolve the peanut butter. The stuff reminds me of dental pressure paste. That's the stuff they use for clearance checking in your mouth and they always apply it liberally. It's non-toxic, but nothing short of a paper towel and elbow grease will get it off your teeth. You could probably slosh 200 proof moonshine around in there and the stuff would still be stuck on your teeth.

Andy

[atsfan]

Oct 4, 2012 8:34:47 GMT -8 @australianterrier said:

I received a reply from Intermountain about the grease and 40-2W.

Here is the reply:

James,

I apologize for the issue with your locomotive.

We are aware of this issue and are actively working to address it in our production facility. Your example seems to be one of the worst I have seen and I must convey my sincere apologies that it did not get caught and corrected in our inspection process. I hope that you will not give up on future InterMountain products as we will continue to improve and make the best models we can build.

Thank you for your support of InterMountain Railway Company products.

-Cheers

Richard Frazier
InterMountain Railway Company

Not bad.