Large Scale Central

Any Drop-In replacement wheels for AMS ??

Problem Solving
#1

I have some older AMS rolling stock (Tank on flat) that behaves badly on my RR. I have checked the wheel gauge and it is OK. I believe the problem is semi-scale flanges and very little transition curve from the tread to the flange. I have replaced some with Aristo wheels, but this requires drilling out the bushing on the AMS truck and shortening the axle on the Aristo wheels. Before I do this irreversible mod to more cars, I thought I would look into drop in replacements.

I am not looking for finescale or even semi scale. I want wheels that will track well on less than perfect track. Bachman Spectrum (F Scale) and most recent AMS wheels do fine.

Before you suggest it; I know I could try getting wheels from AMS, but even their new wheels have less flange than I would like.

#2

The problem with the AMS wheels a few years ago was the fillet between the flange and the tire. About 3-4 years ago, AMS fixed the fillet and the wheelsets were working fine then. Frankly the AMS wheels with the smaller radius work better than the larger radii. The AMS wheels of many years ago had no fillet. That was the problem. I found that on some J&S coaches I bought a couple of years AFTER the first introduction of the AMS coaches in 2008-2009.

#3

Agreed Gary. That’s what i was trying to say above; just didn’t think of the word fillet. I must admit that I have no idea what production years most of my AMS cars are, but I bought most on close-out as new-old-stock and a few from an estate sale. It’s the tank-on-flat that has given me the most trouble. I believe that is one of the early AMS models.

There is also a mod to the truck side frames that I believe these cars have (most of mine do) to help keep them is alignment. I will look at that too.

So, are you saying I should try some newer AMS wheels? I could always swap truck from a box car that tracks well and see if that solves the issue.

#4

Gary Raymond used to have an assortment of wheels. I wonder if he made a drop in replacement for those cars.

#5

David Maynard said:

Gary Raymond used to have an assortment of wheels. I wonder if he made a drop in replacement for those cars.

That’s what I’m wondering too :slight_smile: Was hoping someone had been down this road and knew of an exact replacement. I could always get on the phone to Gary and others.

#6

if this posts twice, sorry.

Check out Phil’s Narrow Gauge. He does a bearing insert and wheel replacement for Accucraft.

#7

Gary lists wheels for AMS

http://www.audiomobiles.com/trains/pricelist.html

#8

I’ve used Gary Watkins (Sierra Valley Ent) wheels to replace all the AMS wheels on my hoppers. However, they are actually finer scale than the AMS wheels, so I doubt you’d love them!

#9

Pete Thornton said:

I’ve used Gary Watkins (Sierra Valley Ent) wheels to replace all the AMS wheels on my hoppers. However, they are actually finer scale than the AMS wheels, so I doubt you’d love them!

If I had great track work I’d love to run fine scale stuff, but my Aristo rail varies in gauge; especially in individually hand bend S curves (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)

#10

David Maynard said:

Gary lists wheels for AMS

http://www.audiomobiles.com/trains/pricelist.html

Thanks for that link. I wish he would put up pictures; hard to tell what his different options are from just a short text description (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)

#11

Yes, it is. But don’t all wheels look alike? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#12

David Maynard said:

Yes, it is. But don’t all wheels look alike? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Not really. He has wheels listed for $15/axle and others for $6/axle. I’d like to know the difference.

#13

Terry Burr said:

if this posts twice, sorry.

Check out Phil’s Narrow Gauge. He does a bearing insert and wheel replacement for Accucraft.

I WISH Phil was still doing this, but he retired from the hobby over two years ago. He has a few items still available on his website. But he is not doing the bearing retro-fit (unless something has changed?). My last retro-fit was done in 2013 by Phil, when I purchased some really nice “weathered” AMS cars (all freight) that Jonathan Bliese had done and was “thinning his herd”.

#14

Daktah John said:

Agreed Gary. That’s what i was trying to say above; just didn’t think of the word fillet. I must admit that I have no idea what production years most of my AMS cars are, but I bought most on close-out as new-old-stock and a few from an estate sale. It’s the tank-on-flat that has given me the most trouble. I believe that is one of the early AMS models.

There is also a mod to the truck side frames that I believe these cars have (most of mine do) to help keep them is alignment. I will look at that too.

So, are you saying I should try some newer AMS wheels? I could always swap truck from a box car that tracks well and see if that solves the issue.

Yes John, that’s what I’m saying. When Phil at PNG stopped doing the bearing retro-fit, I started using the ball-bearing AMS wheel sets. But this was a couple of years ago. I am mostly involved with 1/8th scale railroading now and have been for the past 3-1/2 years. Out of the 1/20.3 loop now.

#15

Daktah John said:

David Maynard said:

Yes, it is. But don’t all wheels look alike? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Not really. He has wheels listed for $15/axle and others for $6/axle. I’d like to know the difference.

I was kidding. It looks like the more expensive ones are ball bearing wheels with electrical pick up.

#16

OK - I put the Troublesome Tank on my bench and removed the trucks and wheels. My best guess is that these are the original AMS wheel shape. I had a set of probably the middle version in my spare box from a gondola I converted to Aristo wheels years ago. To me, they look like the same profile as the wheels on a box car that tracks well. I put them in the trucks, lubed things up and made sure the side frames were tight (they were pretty loose when I took them off) and put the trucks back on the car.

Track trials on my indoor 1/2 loop went well after I fixed some pretty serious bumps at a few joints where the rail head was not aligned. The car now tracks well facing point on Aristo Wide switches - I couldn’t get trough them at any speed before the fix. So I think I was successful and the advice to try the latest AMS wheels seems to have been sound. I’ll check the Accucraft website to see if they are currently offering Fn3 wheels, and if they are pick up a few sets. I have two more Troublesome Tanks to fix (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)

Thanks to all who responded (except Maynard)

#17

(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)

#18

John

While not exactly drop in, if you remove the brass inserts in the sideframes, you can insert ball bearings and use the normal 1/8" axles.

have done this with a large number of our Accucraft cars.

Stan