Lionel Hudson Upgrade for 6-18045

Tired? Probably just needs a good service that includes removing the old lubricant from the gearbox, new brushes, cleaning of the armature and such.

Page 13 of the manual discusses the regular maintenance:

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...ents/71-8045-250.pdf

Here is the parts diagram:

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...p;resultsPerPage=250

 I specifically called out the gearbox where parts 103 and 68 come together as dried out grease makes for very poor performance.

I was thinking about an ac/dc commander, or is a motor conversion possible? The engine struggles to pull a large consist.

I put a Timko can motor and an ERR Cruise Commander in mine several years ago. It turned a dog of a loco into a very nice runner.

I'd start with the service mentioned, that's pretty high on the list of ways to get a tired AC motor a new lease on life.  My only complaint with the Timko can motor upgrade is the Mabuchi 3xx motor is fairly small for the job.  I have a couple of the Lionel 6-18006 Reading T-1 4-8-4 locomotives with the can motor upgrade.  They do OK, but I suspect if they had traction tires I could cook the motor.  With no traction tires, the wheels slip before the motor gets overloaded, which is probably a good thing!  OTOH, it's nice to be able to have cruise control, so that part is a winner.

I also have one of the Commodores (18063) which runs sluggishly. In looking at the diagram in the manual referenced above, I see, like mine, the “lubricate with Lionel grease” points to three screws. As I truly am a techno-peasant, before I attempt any service, I have two really dumb questions:

1) I assume that removing the three screws and removing the plate they hold will expose the gears referenced in the parts diagram - is that correct???

2) how do I go about removing any dried up gunk I find???

Thanks.

I bought one a few years ago sealed along with the rare Black Version. For Both, I took it apart, removed all the old grease with fine mineral spirits. I then oiled all of the bearings and axles. Applied Red n Tacky #2 grease to the shaft area and worm gear. I reassembled the engine. I then had a syringe applicator I bought from amazon, Filled it with Red N Tacky, and applpied it to the underside where the screws are that say "grease". 

Ran the engine a few times to break it in, and it works wonders!!! It can only pull 6 of the scale heavyweights although 10 were made for this engine.

I know a few on here upgraded to the Timko Can Motor and was able to keep the original railsounds by using the existing wiring harness. I have the diagram somewhere on how to do it, but I might just leave both of mine in the original configuration.