Traction tire again

MTH should sell a tire assortment for people that have large collections like they do on the parts assortment.

90 % of the time, traction tires are forced off in a curve. The fact that the wheel on the outside of the curve is fighting with the wheel on the inside of the curve, to cover more ground, will put allot of stress on the tire as it tries to adjust for distance. Early model posi-rears in vehicles use to make the vehicle hop around a curve. Eventually manufacturers came out with limited slip posi-rear axles to eliminate wheel hop. Wheel tapper helps somewhat on our rolling stock, but it doesn't look like there is enough taper in steam drive wheels, to help compensate for a curve. Is there's any at all? I remember early Lionel rolling stock wheels rotated independently from each other, on the axle, making for allot less resistance for a train in a curve. Thank God for our modern day cruise control to compensate for the drag of the solid axles we have on rolling stock today. Warning: If you see a traction tire has pulled off, stop it immediately. I lost a PS-2 board, in a steamer, when a tire locked up the drive wheels and shot the current draw way up. My take on 3 drops of glue. DON'T DO IT! Eventually the rubber comes off between the glued portions and you end up spending allot of time removing that glue. Been there, done that.

My first attempt is just to replace the tire. Make certain the groove in the wheel is clean and dry. This works almost all of the time. It is the best method.

But, every now and then an exception comes along that just won't do what is expected. I had one locomotive, a Custom Trains FM (Samhongsa, preMTH) that kept throwing tires. My solution for this locomotive was to use rubber cement in the tire groove, install the tire pressing it fully into the groove then wipe off the excess. The rubber cement is not hard to remove but I believe it acts as both an adhesive and a cushion to dampen the torque of the wheel on the tire when starting up.

I'd avoid Crazy Glue or any other type of glue that could harden in the wheel grooves.

Its not just MTH tires I have the issue with.

These are tires from 3rd Rail that were sealed in a baggy, and I put them on this Lionel SD70AcE, Aug 3, 2016. I know these dates because I serviced the engine for a photo/video shoot. That's one week before the MTH tires I posted above on my Dash 8's and 9's.

So these 3rd Rail tires are also 10 months old (not quite 10 months exactly) with maybe an hour run time for the video and the rest of the time sitting on a shelf. I just took it down to take a look at the tires today. They don't have flat spots but the cracks and missing chunks are just as bad.

Same result as the MTH tires after sitting on the shelf for 10 months. It's just a fact of life here and that's why I buy tires from GRJ in BULK.

Rapid Transit Holmes posted:

It's not often that I can offer advice, I usually come to the Forum for advice.  However, when it comes to traction tires on diesels I've found the prototype solution - if the unit is an MTH Premier, replace the wheelsets involved with solid wheels.  I've also found that I could replace the wheelsets on my Lionel ALCo S-2.  It would be very nice if the same option was available for steam...

I have to agree with RTH.  I just posted on another thread about the wisdom of toy train designers decision to use traction tires.  How many post-war locos have had their all metal wheels replaced ?   Need I say more ?

but magnetraction does not give you nearly the pulling power of tires 

Agreed.

That may be true, but at what cost to the gears and motor itself ?

Ive never had an issue with motors or gears pulling long heavy trains.....just traction tires due to our warm dry air. My Cab Forward has many many hours on it with 40-60 car trains....havent even changed tires on that one...yet!

LOS,

If you Google dry rot and get past the wood and into rubber, you find mention of living organisms, like bacteria, attacking the material. Have you heard of anything like that in your region?

I no longer store my engines on track due to flat spots.  Instead, I store them on a shelf so they're resting on the flanges.

Other than having to replace the tires on a RK 2-8-0 due to being worn out, the only other tires I've had to replace were the ones on old Williams brass steamers from the 90s I bought off Ebay.

Track radius, cleaning solvents, and speed probably have more to do with tire failure than weather conditions.

I worry about replacing tires on the Williams engines.  When I replace them with what I think or have been told was the correct tire to use they seem to be too small and have to be stretched a lot to get over the wheel.

What do you guys consider to be an acceptable amount of stretch?

 I'm keeping a database of my engines and equivalent manufacturers tire part numbers (based on wheel diameter) so I can readily know what to get.  I'm going to try replacing any that need be with MTH P/Ns.

I feel your pain! Even with larger radius curved track, I think the inner tires fight the outer tires negotiating the curve. Since I always run in the same direction on my mainline, I find myself throwing tires on the inner wheels way more frequently. My tires stretch and throw a lot more than break. I am using O-72 curves.

Rich 

From the recent posts I would have to stick with my opinion about traction tires.  As for gaining pulling power, what about adding weight to a loco ?   I'm talking about the factory adding the weight.  

I Have a 4-6-2 williams  cab # 1401 with 39mm wheels  with a 2.0 mm width, what tires can I use does MTH or lionel have a tire for this size. Looked on williamsBachmann web sitet can not find tires to fit, any suggestions?