Everything on model trains, model railroads, model railways, locomotives, model train layouts, scenery, wiring, DCC and more. Enjoy the world's best hobby... model railroading!
Removal of Rubber Traction Wheel Rim
Rudy asks:
“Hi, if I remove the rubber traction wheel rim on my new HO Piko V60 DB Diesel, will doing that give ‘that’ axel, full electric contact on both wheels, as it crosses the frog, and prevent that slight hesitation? I’ve noticed that if I flip the engine around, it will cross the frog smoothly because the traction tire ‘now’ crosses the frog leaving the other wheel contacting the exposed rail. It’s a small shunting engine, and I only pull 2 or 3 cars with it, so I may not need the traction tire anyway. Any thoughts on this?“
SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION
I don’t know if this STILL holds true or not, but one of my older engines (from the 70’s) had traction tires. The wheel it was on was made slightly smaller to accommodate the traction tire. If I took the traction tires off, the model sat lower on the track than it normally would. This caused the flange to hit the frogs and joiners on the track.
Again, this was an older engine and this may no longer apply.. just my own past experience
Yeah, That one wheel does appear slightly smaller. I was also concerned about it becoming unbalanced. It’s a new purchase and I don’t want to ruin it…Thanks.
I would fit a frog juicer circuit to the layout that will eliminate any hesitation
Some of my Lima locos have a groove on the wheel where the traction tyre sits. If yours is this design it won’t run well over the point work if the traction tyre is removed.
OK, that was my concern, and it does have a slight depression…thanks all…
The traction tyres are there for a very good reason – to give the loco traction. Do NOT remove it, as the wheel would not be in the power pickup circuit anyway, so you’d just bugger the loco up.
However!
If you removed the wheels with the rubber tyres and replaced them with new “correct” wheels (keep insulated and live alignments) and added a power pick plus pack in some extra weight up then your loco would have less chance of stalling, have another couple of sets of wheels working and enough grunt to pull a reasonable sized train.
Ok, good to know…thanks..