Adding rubber tires to Lionel power truck wheels

Why?   Real RRs just add another engine when one is not enough.    If steam, why not double head, if diesel, simply add another unit.     That would be more realistic I think.

There is a product or used to be called "bullfrog snot" that supposedly was made to do that.   I have not seen ads for it for a few years.    You might try some searches.

Not quite the response I was looking for.  I am aware that others have modified the drive wheels to add rubber tires.  I'm looking for some information for DIY or referrals ?

In the post war period, the problem was not the pulling power of the engines but rather the trucks on the cars.  If you would like to pull a string of post was car as you can with modern era cars change out the trucks.

OR, test the pulling power of some of the better post war engines to see how they compare to their modern cousins.  The magazines generally do a pull test on all the new engines they review.  Perhaps it is worth a short article.

@Windy City posted:

Any suggestions on improving traction on Lionel engines from 1950 - 2000?  How to add rubber tires?

Give Frank Timko a call. He can cut the grooves and install the tires.

Bullfrog snot was painted on.   It did not require modifications to the wheels.  

I just did an internet search on "Bullfrog snot" and they have a website and installation instructions and all sorts of stuff and they sell it direct. 

disclaimer, I have never used it.    I just add engines, but I have seen ads for it.

@romiller49 posted:

Give Frank Timko a call. He can cut the grooves and install the tires.

Thanks Rod.  Have you done this on your engines?

Traction tires become a maintenance hassle and they reduce electrical pickup. Bullfrog snot wears off. Much better idea is to add weight to locos. And as already mentioned, replace high-drag postwar wheelsets with the later fast-angle wheels that roll much more freely.

IMO, Bullfrog Snot is crap!  Frank Timko can groove drive wheels to install traction tires.  Of course, the other option that has already been stated is to add powered units,

Windycity, I cut my own using a flat file the thickness of the groove width. I pulled a wheel, placed the axle with one wheel all the way into my drill press and pressed the file against the wheel until the proper depth was reached. I pulled and replaced that wheel with the other one and repeated the process.
you can also buy the trucks with tires from Lionel. I say that based on my conversions on the blue/yellow Lionel Sante Fe #6-18117 F3. I got smart and bought the tired trucks to replace the ones on my ACL #6-11903.
Timko, many posters here have praised Timko on can motor conversions along with adding tires to the wheels.

I’ve got diesel wheels that have grooves cut in them. Send me a note and I’ll ship you some. 👍🏻

Here is a graph showing the effects of Engine Weight in ounces verses Pull Weight in ounces for three Lionel engines, the 2321 Train Master w/o traction tires or Magne-Trackion, the 211 FA with Traction Tires and the 217 FA with Magne-Traction.

This data shows that the heavier the locomotive is the more it can pull.

It would be more informative if the author had tested some lighter more common Lionel engines than the monster Train Master.

This info is from CTT Oct 2004 issue, Testing 9 types of Track article.  I Summarized it in OGR topic:   https://ogrforum.com/...pes-of-track-article

I need to add more of the articles information to that topic and will update with more pictures of the graphs.  I have enjoyed this article and wish more similar tests would be performed with several common Lionel post war engines, the ones without traction tires.

Charlie

I think you should not have summarized it quite so much.

All I see is...

Oh, and your link to the original OGR page is also bad.

Thanks John.

I fixed the link, I had not copied the whole link,  but the pictures appear fine on my post on my computer but the thumb size pictures at the bottom was not there.  I reloaded them and they appear now.

Charlie

Charlie, they showed up after your edit.