Greasing Mth Steam Engine

Lucas red and tacky u will not regret it.  it's a great product.   remember  use sparingly 

Dieseler, If your going to introduce  new grease to the gear box, be sure to clean all the old grease out as best that you can. When standard grease is mixed with synthetic, the combination becomes acidic. There is no way for us to know what type of grease was originally used in China or from a previous owner. Once you pick a grease, stick with it and make a note of it with a small sticker under the train or in the box it came in. There is a great little (search) "3 oz. mini grease gun" sold on the bay for $8.65 with free shipping.  You can fill it with your favorite grease. The needle point tip works great for getting the grease through the screw hole on accessible gear boxes. 

Dave i do see that grease gun you mentioned, can one just pack grease in that tube that unscrews or does it need a cartridge to go inside. Reason i ask i have large tub of red n tacky that i use on my pre and postwar lionel trains.

I did take boiler off of my 30-1162-1 Prr K-4  then accessed the gear box removed old grease and put in the red n tacky . Put back together and ran for 45 minutes with sound on then off to hear it running silent which was nice and quiet.

Next up i will eventually look at the Northern Pacific 4-8-4  30-1563-1 that has rear and front grease screws , the instructions show how to access the gearbox as well once boiler is removed.

You unscrew the top and hand fill it with your favorite grease. After filling there is a hole in the bottom where you can push a plunger with a pencil or screw driver to pack the grease and get the air pockets out. I found my first purchase of these in a Stihl chainsaw dealership. There used for greasing chainsaw bars that have a roller sprocket built into the tip of the bar. A small hole is located near the sprocket's bearing to inject the grease.

Thanks Jeremy and Dave for your help. The grease gun looks like an easy way to lube via the grease screw holes.