Legacy PA traction tires

Roundhouse Bill posted:

I just got the New Haven Legacy PA diesels from Charles Ro.  They came with no extra traction tires and the powered unit has 4 wheels with them on.  I noticed that the unpowered A unit has wheels with the traction tires in place.  These are on the end of each truck.  I was thinking about taking the traction tires off for later use on the powered unit and mowing the axles with the now empty groves in the wheels to the center of the truck.  Has anybody thought of this and made the change?

Thanks  

I think the traction tires are available from Lionel. They are the same as the Texas Special which lists all the parts.

Mark, to me it seems that the Lionel tires rot or decompose from their reaction to oil and grime left on the track.  That would happen if you just leave them on the truck.

Thoughts?

I don't know about having the grooves without tires.  The grooves may snag on corners and cause issues.

I also think leaving the tires off of grooved wheels is going to cause you problems.  However, I ordered a bunch of the tires from S&W Parts Supply for a very cheap price (about $1.50 per pair). Part number is 6408163206.

S&W is "closed due to major fire" according to their website.

Brendan

I have replaced the traction tires on a number of my Flyonel locomotives with O rings for plumbing. These are neoprene and they provide decent traction and outlast the traction tires. I have had them on some locomotives for three years and more, I have yet to replace any of those. I find them at the big home improvement stores and look to match the diameters of the groove. Some are thin and may need two of the O rings to fill the groove. Just my 2 cnts worth.

Ray

I use MTH DE-0000018 diesel tires on those.