Does anyone know what wheels to use on a Aristocraft Pacific tender? Right now I am running it on battery power but looking to do both battery and track power, but it was noticed that when my engine was on club track that it was shorting the power. I traced the issue to the tender wheels as the axel on the wheels complete the circuit across two bushings. So power can be picked up by the drive wheels flow back to the tender board and since drive wheels and the tender wheel pickups are tied together the tender axels are completing the circuit. The tender wheels themselves are isolated from the shaft thus also preventing me from doing power pickup from there also. So obviously these are not the wheels that came with the tender but does anyone know where I can find replacement metal wheels, preferably with ball bearings where the wheels and axel pick up power but power is isolated from the other side?
The original Pacific wheels, gen 1, were cast wheels with a plastic center piece, similar to the wheel assembly on USA diesels, but without the gear on the plastic piece. To get most any other wheel to work, one set of bushing needs to be electrically disconnected from the tender. This is because most any wheel on the market now has a solid metal axle. Once that modification is done, then just about any wheel on the market should work for you. I know that the San Val ball bearing wheels were available through Al Kramer a while back, but I haven’t checked recently.
Joseph,
My pacific picks up power through the tender wheels using the bearings. There should be wires connecting the bearings and leading into the tender body.
One truck (rear) has a bigger center circular magnet that rotates near the hall-effect component to produce the chuff. If one truck has been rotated 180 degrees then the trucks will short the track power. Check the black bad white wires are on the same side of the trucks.
As I recall the solid axle tender wheels have only one wheel insulated from the axle. Maybe they are just in backwards?
On the old Pacifics, the wheels were insulated by that plastic axle center. So the wheel journals (bearings) would pick up power from both wheels on the axle. Replacing that split axle with a solid metal axle shorts things out. That’s why one side of the truck needs the wires disconnected.
Thanks all for the info I didn’t catch how they were picking up the power and now I see that. The wheels had been replaced so part of issue is I no longer have the proper insulation so I am planning to order new wheels from Gary Raymond as been looking for some ball bearing ones as well for the unit.
Joseph,
If you want a set of Aristo tender wheels with the solid axles I will send you a set for postage. The stock Aristo tender wheels are slightly larger in diameter than the normal 29111B or D wheels like used on their freight cars. You can find ballbearing wheel sets with power pickup but they are very pricey.
I have some Gary Raymond ball bearing wheels with pickups and like them a lot.
You mite have the right wheels, they mite have gotten moved around. Another thing, if it’s shorting, the tender wiring on the later versions where wired wrong in the tender and the pickup from the wheels went directly to the battery circuit !
FWIW; The trucks on my C-16 were wired the same way, at the bench and then one truck was reversed when mounted on the tender creating a short. Wire color isn’t to be trusted, trace everything.
John
if you have power pickup at each end of the axle, then you either need to get the original types with half axles, axle connected to wheel with plastic center.
OR
remove the power pickup from one end of the axle and use the newer wheelsets that have one wheel insulated and the other connected to the axle AND you need to be sure you have the polarity right, normally one truck has insulated wheels on one side and the other truck the other side, which means rewire the tender journal wires to suit what you have done.
Ball bearing wheelsets still have a “straight through” axle, and will cause the short you have AND need the pickup wires moved from the journals to the contacts near the wheels themselves.
It appears to me you have an old style tender with modern wheels.
Greg
I did get new wheels from Gary Raymond that have the proper isolation in them I just need to get track power wired up again. Thanks all.