Thanks for the guidance Pat ! My initial lubing was just per the Lionel maint sheet. So I unscrewed the trucks from the motors . What I found was a very small amount of tan-colored lube that was the consistency of wet clay. Cleaned that out, relubed the motor’s “pinion” shaft & the plastic “ring gear” in the trucks. Wow, what a difference ! Both 6-18309’s now run like twins ! I better look at my other older Pulmor units now. Thks.
Rich in WV
Good deal,…..for future reference, and this thread can become a tool for those still running Pulmors, here’s the run down of what’s going on, and why. The pictures are from a Pulmor I’ve just pulled for servicing. Client would rather be safe than sorry, so we’re going all the way……this Pulmor is pretty much identical to those in that FM, except the very end shaft. There are two sets of bearings in this motor. Flanked by thrust washers against a pourus bronze ( oilite ) bearing. In the case of diesels, the upper most bearing, the one in the picture down in the well is the one that suffers the most neglect, and the one I see thrust failures on. Once the bearing & the thrust get scarred from lack of lube, or grit from ancient lube, the motor doesn’t die, but it’ll run crappy, usually crappier in one direction vs. the other, and this is where the complaint of poor performance comes in. …this Pulmor had its grease still fluid like, so that’s good, but there’s very little of it, and certainly would’ve started making noise after a couple seasons of running. On these I like to use heavy gear oil, and pack a tiny bit of grease to act as a retainer. This lets the oil hang around for a long long time. The upper most bearing is the one that suffers because over time, gravity pulls any grease and oils that are fluid down towards the lower bearing, through the cavity. If you’re running good, great, but get a drop of good oil on those bearings for a long happy life. Not no lightweight Labelle thin oil,….go to the garage and grab your motor oil,….5W-30, 10W-30, whatever …….something that’ll hang around for a good while…..
* don’t forget the bearing on the brush plate too!….most equipped with an oiling wick. A drop on the shaft itself, and an insurance drop on the wick is perfect.
Pat 
re: Lionel TM #6-18309; I’ve had a Reading TM 6-18309 (conv) for several years and it runs great. Recently Trainz had an almost new one for $128, I couldn’t resist ! As per forum protocols , I judiciously lubed the new unit before running it. My thought was to double-head the units.. However, when both were placed on the same track, unit #1 pulled away from unit #2 dramatically ! Realizing these are 30+yr old engines - how much runtime will unit #2 need - to be considered “broken-in” ?
