01-18-2011, 12:25 PM
Reinhard, a common problem with the Athearn r-t-r trucks is flash on the gears, sometimes so small that it is almost invisible to the naked eye. I'm wondering if the same problem might also be common to Walthers. What I do with all of my blue box or r-t-r Athearn units is to clean out the gear box in the trucks, and put in a little squirt of toothpaste, and run the locomotive in with the toothpaste about 10-15 minutes in each direction. Before using the locomotive again, I take the trucks apart and clean out the gears and gear box with mild detergent and water and/or clean them with alcohol. Then put the trucks back together and lube with a little plastic compatible oil. I've found that the mechanisms run much smoother after that treatment of the trucks.