Making Lionel aluminum passenger car wheels roll freely

I bought a set of 1950s Lionel Santa Fe aluminum passenger cars. They are all in near mint condition and came with the original boxes. But compared to my modern Lionel passenger cars, they don’t roll nearly as freely. Is this normal or do I need to disassemble the trucks and clean and oil? I tried oiling the axles in place and noticed a small improvement, but they still don’t roll all that freely. I am assuming this will require greater drawbar effort to pull these cars in their present state than my modern passenger cars. Advice on how to perform a more advanced cleaning would be appreciated.