How to prevent severe roller wear?

What type of track?

Use a little Dielectric greese between the roller and it's axle.

Tubular O-27,  O-42 curves.

Are the rollers posibly sticking momentaraly and then moving causing the flat to circle the roller.

I lubricate all my roller's axles with Labelle 107.  It's unlikely that all the rollers on all my motive power are sticking.

Prrhorshecurve I think you mean conductive grease. Here is the definition of dielectric grease. Dielectric grease is electrically insulating and does not break down when high voltage is applied. It is often applied to electrical connectors, particularly those containing rubber gaskets, as a means of lubricating and sealing rubber portions of the connector without arcing.

Ron

Roller wear like that shows up from time to time. Lionel Super O track used to carry most of the blame but then it started showing up on every other type of track too. But it still only happened to a few people across all brands of trains. All rollers seemed the same. No specific product fault could be identified. Bottom line is, you have to run your train A LOT to create that kind of roller wear.

Well I run my trains a lot.  Hours at a time, every other day or more.  Those rollers are on my Reading caboose, so even when I alternate motive power, that caboose stays on, so it has seen a LOT of hours.

I believe it's recommended to very lightly oil the roller shafts. If a layout had a variety of curve radii and trains did not circle predominately in one direction, roller and wheel wear would be more evenly distributed.

 

I wonder if dirt, wear and sparking could cause micro-welding on the roller shaft and outer surface, which would create additional roller drag. Rail roughness could also aggravate roller wear.

 

The Super-O center rails were copper, a softer metal than the usual steel rollers.

I don't think di-electric grease is what you want to use if you are trying to improve conduction.

 

An electrically conductive grease like No-Ox-Id is what you want.

I've used Neolube to lubricate between rollers and their axles.

Gentlemen,

   Lubrication is a good idea, however its the metal in the new Chinese made trains that is really causing the problem, USA specs for metal and over seas Specs are different, the metal made in the USA is a much higher quality than the softer foreign made metal, so the new rollers & trucks made in China are actually softer than the old Lionel USA made roller & trucks.  Metal standards vary as to country.  Try doing a Rockwell Hardness Test on each different countries metals, and see the difference in the actual metals.  There are reasons that there are no more life time Warranties on

our trains, this is one of them.   Do to the differences in metals specs, always purchase brake routers for your car that are made in the USA. 

PCRR/Dave

 

The original  USA made 2660 Lionel Tin Plate Crane Car with a life time of wear on her trucks.  Routers not required.