What have you done to improve the ‘roll-ability’ of American Flyer trucks?
Tom Stoltz
in Maine
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
The Ace or whoever brass eyelets really help & also help electric pickup on tenders ect.
Bob G. P S Also found some brass rivets that are correct ID & OD but have to be shortened
This applies to postwar knuckle coupler trucks with sintered iron truck sides.
When using the eyelets, I have found a lot of axles that were bent, or not running true. In addition, it looks like the axles were cut to length with a "chopper" such that there is an extra edge or lip on one side of the end of the axle. Chucking the axle in a drill and running a file on the side/end of the axle removed the lip and made the axle run better in the truck journal.
Time consuming, but worth it. We all have lots of time these days anyway. 
@Bob Guckian posted:The Ace or whoever brass eyelets really help & also help electric pickup on tenders ect.
Bob G. P S Also found some brass rivets that are correct ID & OD but have to be shortened
Years ago, I bought a pile of the brass eyelets from Doug Peck. I tried them using a link coupler truck, had to enlarge the bearing holes in the truck, IIRC. Anyway, I didn’t see a whole lot of difference in its rolling. At the time I had made an incline to roll the cars down for comparison and there really wasn’t any difference. Next I replaced the Flyer wheelsets with the SHS metal wheel replacement sets. This didn’t make a difference either, even with the brass eyelets so my experiments ended there. Maybe I was expecting too much?
I was wondering if anyone had tried pointed axles of nylon bearings. I have seen Delrin bearings for Lionel, do they use those for their Flyer line? Has Flyonel started using pointy axles yet? Tichy Train Group has some H0 nylon bearings that might work with pointy axles.
I know metal wheels are supposed pickup less crud than plastic wheels so changing to them would be a plus even if they didn’t help roll-ability. Just curious to learn what other people have tried.
Tom Stoltz
in snowy Maine
The brass eyelets are supposed to be used on the knuckle coupler trucks with sintered iron side frames. The link coupler trucks with stamped steel side frames do not need the eyelets.
Thanks Chuck, it is interesting to see what Ed is doing. I like the pointy axles. I guess they improve roll-ability because there is less bearing surface riding on the bearing itself. For that reason, I can see why Roy is saying the eyelets aren’t for the link trucks because the bearing surface is the edge of the sheet metal. I suppose pointy axles won’t help link truck either.
But, no one has tried any of the Delrin or nylon bearings?
Tom Stoltz
power back on in Maine
I sell a axle/bushing kit that has tapered axles and bushings both for the knuckle and link couplers. Take a look at my web site as I also have a video that shows before and after and it really improves the rolling power of the cars. www.goldinhands.com/american_flyer_wheel_bushing.htm
@Ed posted:I sell a axle/bushing kit that has tapered axles and bushings both for the knuckle and link couplers. Take a look at my web site as I also have a video that shows before and after and it really improves the rolling power of the cars. www.goldinhands.com/american_flyer_wheel_bushing.htm
The improved roll-ability is amazing – great demo video, thanks Ed.
I wonder if the eyelet is necessary with a link coupler truck? And I'm still curious about nylon bearings.
Tom Stoltz
in Maine
Well Folks, I can now report that the Tichy nylon truck bearings (#3059) mounted in a 4 mm eyelet, is the answer for rollability. I used a link coupler truck which I drilled out for the eyelet, the eyelet needs to be reamed with a #43 drill so the Tichy bearing fits. All of this narrows the space between the sideframes so a SHS pointy axle wheelset fits perfectly. And it rolls like a SHS truck. Pointy axle wheelsets are still available from Am Models.
If you are interested in a slight improvement using SHS wheelsets without the bearing, 5 mm eyelets work.
Tom Stoltz
in Maine
@Tom Stoltz posted:Well Folks, I can now report that the Tichy nylon truck bearings (#3059) mounted in a 4 mm eyelet, is the answer for rollability. I used a link coupler truck which I drilled out for the eyelet, the eyelet needs to be reamed with a #43 drill so the Tichy bearing fits. All of this narrows the space between the sideframes so a SHS pointy axle wheelset fits perfectly. And it rolls like a SHS truck. Pointy axle wheelsets are still available from Am Models.
If you are interested in a slight improvement using SHS wheelsets without the bearing, 5 mm eyelets work.
Tom Stoltz
in Maine
I realized I didn’t post any pictures. Some more details: I use 5mm eyelets in knuckle trucks and 4mm in link truck. I no longer ream the eyelet with a #43 drill bit and still manage to seat the Tichy bearings. I use a CA glue to secure the eyelets in thee trucks. The difference in rollability between just using a brass eyelet and an eyelet with the bearing added is like day and night. With the nylon bearings added, the cars roll like new SHS cars.
A note about the knuckle truck car; I converted one end to a link coupler which you can see in the picture.
Tom Stoltz
in Maine
