I purchased a restored Prewar American Flyer Hiawatha locomotive several years ago. It runs well but can be a little unstable because its missing the wheels that go directly in front of the driving wheels (just has the 2 wheel truck in the front). I know on the later ones they were replaced with 4 wheel trucks at the front. Does anyone know if either of those parts are available from anywhere? I saw a locomotive on ebay that looked like it had a replacement 4 wheel front truck.
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Does your motor still have the bracket for those wheels? If not, the bracket is not available and your only option is the 4 wheel truck. Model Engineering Works used to reproduce that truck, but I don't see it on Henning's website. You could contact Harry Henning and see if they could put one together for you.
I have had 2 of them , neither had the 4 wheel front truck or the lager one mounted on the frame , and I never had a problem with stability
Not sure about the early version, but the later version with the 4 articulating wheels, they don't really support the locomotive. They are kind of just along for the ride.
Thanks for the info everyone! Unfortunately the bracket is gone for those wheels. I think part of my issue with stability was an area of my MTH track with the plastic roadbed that was slightly warped and at certain speeds due to the angle it would come off. I've since straightened it and haven't had any issues.
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