Insulators Needed for MTH Dual Pickup Rollers

What's the specific locomotive that these go on?

Hi John, here you are bailing me out again . I'm at work and have the manual in pdf but can't find the model number. But the engine is an SW1 Railking with PS3 and I'm sure the pickups and insulators are the same as the ones on the 2013 catalog model 30-20148-1. The first time I encountered these rollers was on an F3 starter set diesel I got on ebay and that has to be a pretty old model. I swapped them onto a PS2 Switcher I have with great results. I also have an Alco RS3 with PS3 and parts are the same. Hope that helps.

I couldn't find them either.  I'd suggest you call Midge in MTH parts and describe what you need, she's great at finding parts.

How about a piece of plastic with a hole in it?  If the shim has a shoulder on it to protect the screw from the side of the hole, just wrap some electrical tape around that part of the screw. Just so you have enough threads to hold the pickup when installed.  Just a thought. 

Many thanks for the effort John. Wow, that's amazing that these things are so hard to find. If you put a pair of them on any diesel you'll get smooth performance at any speed on any part of the layout. I would think that they would be standard issue on all the latest MTH diesel engines. Thanks again. Will provide an update if my quest is ever successful.

Scott

Well, the new locomotives are not on the MTH website yet, so you have to do it the hard way.  I hope they're going to get more up to date soon, it would make it much easier to find parts.

Dave has a good idea, if you really want a matching part, you could also Dremel one out of a chunk pf plastic.

I could order one "in the blind" by describing it to them on the parts order site, but for a couple of these, shipping would be more than the part, then I'd have to ship it to you.  A local MTH shop can order them, there is a process, but it may take awhile to get them if they're not stocked at MTH.

Hi Guys,

I happen to have many parts for MTH trains, here's three different insulator's for MTH

rollers. Let me know if any of these work. I have 4 of each. Maybe you can make them work.

Thanks,

Alex

Alex, sorry for the hijack, see my thread on the rod screw I'm looking for, maybe you have one of those?  Turns out it's an MTH screw.

All,

Dave's recommendation is a good one. As it turns out the standard single roller insulator is nearly identical to the dual pickup part but about 1/16 inch too short in one direction. So the right kind of dremel cut or other minor mod would make these work. I have become obsessed at this point, however, with finding the actual parts.

Alex,

Thanks. I am at work now. When I get home I'll post a photo of what I'm looking for. Basically, it looks like a black shoebox that's open at the bottom where the rollers stick out to contact the center rail. The ones you show look like the ones I have for steam engines which are just a simple pad.

John,

After I post the photo I would be willing to go with the blind order you describe. With what I'm currently spending to support my o gauge addiction, the overall cost would be peanuts

John and Alex,

From an MTH .pdf with parts list, item #30 is BD-0000039 for a single roller pickup. The part I'm looking for looks almost identical but is just a little bigger in the length direction.

S

Hi Scott, I see what you're looking for. I wish I had them, but I don't. If you should need the insulator's I have, just let me know, I'll send them to you.

John, sorry I don't have the side rod bolt.

Thanks,

Alex

Thanks for looking Alex.

John,

Here's a little more data. The rollers and insulators the first time I found them were from the engine that is part of the 30-4197-0 starter set from 2008. The picture below is from the engine manual and shows the rollers. Can't really see the insulators.

Thanks

Check this thread, I did a lot of research and swapping with MTH diesels rollers. They are not all the same and they seem to still use different rollers in the newer models.

Scott the part you need is listed as BD0000094. see the last entry from me at the bottom of the thread. There is also a picture of the part.

I would think that the switchers use the same part as the geeps, but Midge will lead you to what you need.

Dan 

Thread title is: MTH geep pickup rollers and uncoupler magnets

https://ogrforum.com/t...81#15649413418695781

Wow. Thanks Dan. Talk about a needle in haystack. Amazingly, if you Google BD-0000039, you get a lot of .pdf's with MTH parts lists. For a BD-0000094 entry, nuthin. It seems as if MTH stopped doing or giving access to the parts list files. Looks like I finally get to call Midge.

Very gratefully, S

so will this up-grade work with most any product that uses pick-rollers?

You can put dual rollers on a lot of stuff, but sometimes the positioning of the rollers is such that one will hit the truck frame and short.  You have to look at them as a case-by-case study.

I have six different MTH diesels for 031 and 027 curves. All will readily accept the dual rollers with the 0000094 insulator. Makes a Big difference in slow speed performance with the PS 2s and 3s during switching operations.  Would also like to put them on steam engines but like John says they either won't fit or will ground on the body and short.

For steamers, my usual trick is to put at least one roller on the tender (if it doesn't already have them) and connect the power together with the locomotive.  I use a 3A PTC in series with the line to protect the wiring in the case of a derailment.  Even my little Porter TMCC conversion runs flawlessly through all the switches with a roller on the tender as well as the locomotive.

thanks, that's is what I was hoping.

anyone else sell the pick-ups?  mth has them for 10 bucks each plus sipping.

Scott, you could take sheet or strip styrene and tube stock to make your own boxes. I have a pair of the dummy doodlebug truck pick ups and for my project they're swing arc is too long for my application, but for yours I'd bet a pair of boxes can be made up easily enough if you can't find them directly online thru MTH. 

I converted several diesels with single rollers to double rollers.  For the insulating boxes I cut off the end of the original insulator boxes.  I have had no insulation problems with them since the double roller will not hit the gear box even when fully depressed.

Stuart

Bob and Stuart,

Thanks for the input. After a lot of consideration on how to perform a "precision" modification to the existing insulator boxes I pretty much did what Stuart described and it works very nicely. My only concern is that the unsupported roller bracket close to the open end pf the box will cause the roller mount screw to work loose over time but sounds like Stuart has had no problems with his engines.

I would love to buy some of the 094 insulator blocks but they sure as heck aren't easy to find. Will try calling MTH directly one day when I have time.

Scott