Does anyone know how to make home-made traction tires? I used to hate these things as I wanted every wheel on my engines to pickup power from the track with no obstructions. But now that I am converting to battery operations, I love them. I can remove the lead weights in the engines and still pull a reasonably long train. USA diesel prototypes already have them. My Aristo diesel prototypes do not. Aristo sells the tires, but is out of them now. I got to thinking; perhaps I can make my own. Looked for small but wide rubber bands but couldn’t find any. Bought some larger ones that were wide enough. Plan to cut these short and silicone glue them to the cleaned wheels. Any ideas from the community as to whether this will work, or is wise to do? Any suggestions?

Welcome to LSC ,Ted.
I don’t have any experience with LGB or traction tires.
I have heard of rubber bands being used for traction tires.
I’m sure someone will chime in with some answers to your questions.
Ralph

Ted Welcome. Have you tried or heard of Bullfrog Snot ? http://www.bullfrogsnot.com/catalog/Frog_Snot-1-1.html It might be worth a snot!! Sean

I like the idea of doing rubber bands, need to know where I can go to get the correct size or sizes. I am a bit concerned by the Bullfrog Snot. Seems to be a terribly small bottle for such a price. Looks like it would last a long time for N scale but would’t last long for my many G scale engines. Any experience with how much is needed per G scale engine, and/or how long it lasts (in engine use hours).

Traction tires are not rubber bands!
They are about ten times more resilient.
A rubber band would prolly last one lap around your layout.
But if you insist, see a feed and farm store, or a farm animal vet and get the bands used to de-horn goats and remove their balls. Takes a special spreading tool, like a split ring plier.
Maybe they will work.

John’s point about rubber bands is well taken.

In smaller scales, we used orthodontic appliance bands, available from virtually any dentist. Those bands are much more resilient and are made from long-wearing silicone rubber. They lasted much longer than common single-use rubber bands. They are available in numerous sizes, but I’m not certain if they would fit on LS wheels.

In F scale, I only use direct metal wheel on metal rail.

Happy RRing,

Jerry

You would need to groove the metal wheels to keep the tires in place, and also not increase the tread diameter.

Sounds like a lot of work… traction tires also can put high loads on a motor and drivetrain where slipping would protect same.

Regards, Greg

But Greg, I was thinking if I had rubber wheels on the Shay it would climb the side of a rock!

Yep! Probably go straight up! hahahahaha

Greg

LGB traction tires are readily available and I have engines over 5 years old with the original traction tires.

These are in stock by Train-Li, standard tire 10 for less than $10.

How do you replace them?

The side rods are held on with bolts, using a nut driver of the appropriate size, you loosen the bolt, remove the side rod, and put the tyre on the wheel. Then reassemble.

Awesome! Thanks. I will try that.

Have to venture with rings cut in the inner tube of bike?
It works very well

Sean McGillicuddy said:
Ted Welcome. Have you tried or heard of Bullfrog Snot ? http://www.bullfrogsnot.com/catalog/Frog_Snot-1-1.html It might be worth a snot!! Sean

My husband uses Bullfrog Snot on his O Scale trains. A bottle lasts a loooong time. It might be a good option if you have wheels that were not grooved to hold a traction tire in place. I’m not sure what the impact would be of changing the wheel radius slightly with it, may have to do one wheel on both sides?

If changing the wheel diameter, then all driving wheels need the same diameter or you would get stress on the gears.

I doubt that a layer of Bullfrog Snot would have any effect. If it would cause issues, then that layer of crud that seams to collect on one wheel on my Chloe would have also caused issues. I mean besides power pick up issues. The change in diameter of the wheel is so minor, since its only a thin coating of the snot.

David, I read what you wrote, but from what I hear, it’s very hard to get a thin, even coating.

Has anyone here actually used it, and if so, could you get a consistent, thin coating?

By far, what I have read is more negative than positive… clearly there must be some successful technique of application.

Greg

Snot application:

I would suggest you spin the driver at a fast rate and hold a wetted Q tip near the rim. Fast enough to throw off the excess.

I tried some of that on one of my Annies. It goes on with the consistency of semi thin paint. I only applied it to one set of the drivers as an experiment and just ran the engine slow while it was upside down.

I’m not even sure which one I put it on now. It eventually wears off and I never followed through with keeping it on. Whether it helped or not I didn’t notice.

I just applied a thin layer with a Q-tip.