Again, Rookie questions. So search wasn't necessarily my friend. This 11711 ABA F3 just came to my roster and in my opinion the gears look pretty dry. Search revealed a couple Lionel "you tube" videos of (1) a kid spreading a bead of grease on some gears; and (2) another by Mike Reagan saying (5 min in) that external gears should not be greased due to contamination from carpet fibers, tinsel, etc, etc.
1. What do you think I should do here? I have oiled the axels but done nothing else.
1a. How do I clean the rollers? Something slightly abrasive?
2. With the ABA pulling a 5 pack of aluminum cars, a CW80 will not run them. All lights and sound work, but will only buck and run a few inches then train stops and green light flashes. If I put the ZW-L on it will run nicely. I presume the CW80 is insufficient power?? Or, the set IS in need of lube somewhere to allow it to run more smoothly with less power.
3. Further, with the shell off, I see the vertical motors. How do I lube the gear underneath the motor. Do those screws allow the motor to be lifted or removed to do that. I presume there is a worm gear to the trucks? Will anything fly apart if I do that? Would prefer not to deal with wire removal or I'll screw something up for sure.
4. This is probably stupid, but how do I know this is actually set 11711 SF ABA? and the 5 aluminum cars? Short of something like "this is a 1991 reissue of an original 1953 issue..." stamped on the bottom, how do you tell the age of a set?
Thanks for the help as usual. TW