Cleaning loco wheels without removing them from the chassis ?

[Combe Martin]

Does anyone have a tip on how to clean loco driving wheels without undoing the coupling rods/valve gear and removing them from the chassis.  All locos are DCC fitted.

[Mark Forrest]

Cotton wool bud dipped in IPA usually does the trick.  Clean what you can get at, place on track, rotate wheels 1/4 turn and repeat.

 

Avoid use of abrasives where possible.

 

Try to clean the pickups as well as the wheel tyres.

[F-UnitMad]

Sheet of kitchen towel folded so it's narrow to sit a wheelset on, hold across tracks, soak bit over rails in IPA, set loco speed to maximum, and hold in place, moving each wheelset over the towel in turn.

Alternative without the deliberate wheel slipping, is to buy a rolling road. Set loco up on that, maximum speed again, and apply cotton bud in IPA to each wheel in turn.

[davknigh]

A good way of cleaning and testing pickup performance at the same time.

https://www.kadee.com/236-speedi-loco-driver-cleaner-hon3-to-o-scale-dc-dcc

Brass bristles will not abrade the tyre treads.

 

HTH

 

David

[Combe Martin]

Does anyone sell it in the uk ? 

[Lemmy282]

PECO do a couple of wheel cleaning brushes, PL-40 or PL-42

[F-UnitMad]

11 minutes ago, Lemmy282 said:

PECO do a couple of wheel cleaning brushes, PL-40 or PL-42

I have one of those, but found it doesn't work too well on DCC, especially when locos have gradual acceleration settings in the CVs.

[Lemmy282]

 I think that is true of all DCC wheel cleaning. I have one of the old Trix wheel cleaners which sit on the rails and have the two rows of brass brushes, and even with all wheels picking up can still have issues with DCC acceleration. I think Gaugemaster make a similar model now.

[Combe Martin]

MMM, the last thing I want to do is change CV's before and after wheel cleaning ! 

[Dagworth]

I’ve only ever had problems when using the Trix/Gaugemaster brushes where the pick ups have been less than perfect in the first place. 
 

On locos with really dirty wheels then a slight wiggle backwards and forwards will usually make contact and a hand on the loco helps to keep the contact until the wheels have made a couple of rotations.

 

Andi

[Combe Martin]

Ah, well many thanks for that.

[GrumpyPenguin]

15 hours ago, Combe Martin said:

MMM, the last thing I want to do is change CV's before and after wheel cleaning ! 

Set F7 (or shunting speed) & that inhibits acceleration although you do only get half max speed.

[DCB]

On 15/03/2024 at 10:51, Combe Martin said:

Does anyone have a tip on how to clean loco driving wheels without undoing the coupling rods/valve gear and removing them from the chassis.  All locos are DCC fitted.

Are they dirty, in which case a cotton bud will work or is the tyre tread burnt where you really need a file or an abrasive like fine emery cloth.  If acceleration is an issue why not invert the loco in a cradle, and use  Peco or Hornby wheel cleaning brush and scraper, just use light pressure until it gets up to speed. I usually use one with a crocodile clip to fix to the chassis and a scraper for the insulated side which lets me rub the tread with rubbing down paper.  The burning comes from running on dirty track and not using a Relco, some of mine have the plating burned through.

[nswgr1855]

I have not cleaned my driving wheels for 40 years. I apply a small amout of Inox Mp3 on the track. It spreads around and cleans the wheels as you run your models. The dirt becomes conductive on the track and can be wiped off if to much builds up.