[John J]

Ok
Whom is using roller bearing wheels on their rolling stock?

Which ones are you using? ( I don't want to know why your not using brand X) I Just want to know what brand works best for you.

Do you have a link to your supplier?

 

[Trains]

John J,

The only roller bearings I use are on my battery cars. I don't think it would make to much difference on rolling stock.
I think some power graphite on the axle ends helps. I lubed all the axles when I changed over to metal wheels and they roll
pretty good. Oh I use San - Val wheels they are a little stiff at first but they loosen up after some running.

 

[lownote]

I have ball bearing wheels on three Bachmann J&S coaches--for power pickup. The Bachmann cars came with those awful scrapers, copper tabs that rubbed on the flanges. I got three sets of of Gary Raymond bachmann sized wheels with power pickup, and put one axle on each truck. The cars run much much better--they were nearly useless, between the scraping noise and the drag, irritating to run. Now they are smooth and quiet. I'm very happy with the wheels, they cause me zero trouble. If they weren't so expensive, I'd maybe convert my aristo heavyweights to ball bearing wheels.

 

[Spule 4]

LGB on one of the postal cars, they are nice, but expensive now.

 

[Enginear]

I had to custom build a set of trucks for a dummy engine. I found it was easy to rigid mount the outside axles and let the middle ones loose for cornering and unlevel track riding in grooves. So the fixed outside axles are roller bearing and the dummy rolls better than any other car I own!!

Joe

 

[StanleyAmes]

I use Aristo Craft ball berrings in many of my Accucraft cars. I remove the brass bushing ans the ball beering just slips in.

Stan Ames

http://www.tttrains.com/largescale

 

[altterrain]

I have tried both Al Kramer's and the Aristos. Al's were not so good (put them on battery car). The Aristos are great. I have used them on my older AristoClassic C-16 tenders and USAT Overton cars for power pick up.

-Brian

 

[East Broad Top]

This will be of absolutely no direct help, but hopefully the mention will jog someone's memory...

There's a guy out here in Aurora Colorado who does ball-bearing installs for most large scale trucks. I have not used his services personally, but I've pulled cars equipped with his trucks. He's a unique combination of great price and great quality. Unfortunately he's lacking a memorable name, so I'm at a loss to pass that along. If there's anyone who remembers who this is, please post.

Later,

K

 

[Torby]

I have Aristo BB wheelsets in 3 of my sierra coaches. Very smooth.

 

[lownote]

Do the aristo BB wheels have a power pickup tab?

 

[altterrain]

Posted By lownote on 10/01/2008 6:28 AM
Do the aristo BB wheels have a power pickup tab?


Yes they do, Mike.

-Brian

 

[Treeman]

JJ: Stan had mentioned, when at Marty's that he thought the Aristo BB wheel sets were as good as the LGB's that are nearly impossible to get these days. They do have electrical pick up tabs that won't do you much good. I recently purchased some San Vals and noticed they had some side play in them.

 

[markoles]

I have LGB BB wheels and Aristo BB wheels. THe Aristo BB wheels need to have a load on them to work well. Luckily, they are used by the snow plow and I have a brick in the back for weight anyway. When it was new, it would roll on its own. Now that it has seen a few years in service during snow storms, it kind of seems like the wheels 'freeze' up in the off season. Not sure if the balls are rusting a bit or not. Maybe it is just my imagination.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

The guy in Aurora: http://www.gbtrain.com

I've met him at various shows, nice guy and knowledgable.

Regards, Greg

 

[Madman]

All of my rolling stock has ball bearing wheels.
Mostly LGB.
Although on a few pieces I have SanVal BB wheels.

 

[jimtyp]

I used regular wheels with Ball Bearings inserted into the side frames from Phil's Narrow Gauage: PNG

 

[W3NZL]

FWIW to anyone, The guy from colorado, GB trains, or whatever, I heard last spring that there were serious health
problems with either hinself or his wife... No idea whether that was true, or whether the situation has resolved
itself or not... He didn't come to the show at York this year, and that was the reason given me by Harry Hartman..
I use the LGB wheels when I need electrical P/U, and the GB bearings for heavy cars... Mark, using any of these
BB wheels in a wet environment is definately a no-no...
Paul R...

 

[pimanjc]

I have used the San Vals on several cars. On Aristo Streamliners, I had a problem with the truck side frames dragging on switches because the wheels have a smaller diameter than the OEM. They work fine on freight cars. Mostly, they are used on heavy cars like a battery car. Another approach I have used is to drill and insert Aristo truck BBs. It requires drilling out the journal with a 15/64 drill. The three auto carriers I ran at Marty's have had their trucks outfitted with the BBs. The third variation I use is Aristo factory BB trucks. As said above, the BB trucks are not as good as individually rotating wheels, but do create a significant improvement of non-BB trucks.

JimC.

 

[BarrysBigTrains]

JJ,

I'm not sure you have made the distinction obvious..........Roller Bearing (much more expensive than Ball bearing).


I have done this on one car many years ago, the roller bearings were mounted in the journals of metal trucks.


The roller bearings were $4.00 each (in 1992).

Barry - BBT

 

[Torby]

Oh. Pardon. Yes, I have ball bearings, not roller bearings in my coaches.