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I purchased my son a new MTH Ives Dorfan for his first Christmas. After running it for maybe a half hour or so I have a few problems/ questions.

1. The passenger coaches do not roll as smooth as I would like. Fresh out of the box I added a drop of Labelle 108 to each axel at each wheel. It was still squeaking / grinding pretty bad, so I just added another drop to the other side of each wheel on each axel. I'm still getting a squeak, or I guess it's more of a grinding sound. Some wheels have a little washer on the axel, should I be adding oil between the wheel and washer? Maybe the grinding comes from where the wheel is touching the truck?  I don't want to over oil. Pic added below for reference.

 

2. One axel keeps popping out of the truck, it's almost like the axel needs to be a little longer to stay in place. Should I just order a new axel from MTH or is there another fix?

 

3. I'm having some scraping causing some paint to be scratched off on the tender where the bar connects the cars. I guess this is unavoidable because the bar appears to rest on the bottom of the tender. Is this just normal wear?

 

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Thanks in advance.

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Put a drop of oil on all moving parts, I'm not sure about Ives but I assume it's the same setup as Lionel where the wheels are hollow, so they need a drop of oil on both sides to be lubricated properly.

If the axle pops out just bend the truck in a tad so it doesn't do that anymore, it's just a sheet of tin.

I don't own any MTH repros, but from what I've seen/heard the quality of them isn't anything amazing. I've heard countless stories of them arriving with scratched or chipped paint, sometimes it's been touched up but is still noticeable. There is some slight wear on my original Lionel cars, but that's over the course of 70-90 years, not less than a month and still not as severe as what you show. I really doubt anyone will notice the paint loss though.

I had the rubbing issue on a newer Lionel set as well. I put a small piece of electrical tale cut small on the bottom side of the coupler. This minimizes the paint wear. The turtle wax cleaner wax also helps minimize scuffs, etc..

Oil all wheels and axles, and add small amount white grease the gear(s). MTH recommends this on all items right out of the box.

 

Good Luck,

 

JoeG

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