My version of the Aristocraft Alco FA-1 has the fully sprung trucks, however the springs have weakened with age and the the front truck is totaly bottomed out with the weight of the unit, the rear truck isnt far behind in bottoming out. Has anybody come up with a heavier spring or are replacements available to restore the sprung motion. I like the sprung trucks, really helps with my rough branchline style track work. Mike
Nicholas Smith lists them as in stock.
http://www.nicholassmithtrains.com/store/product/756/SPRINGS-DIESEL-TRUCK/
Mike,
Have you tried stretching out the springs a bit? You have to be careful to stretch them evenly or they could twist off-center, but I find it’s quite effective.
I will try stretching them since that method is free! My concern besides the bottomed out front truck was the rear would bottom out once I change over to onboard battery since I plan to put the battery between the faux prime mover and the rear switch panel of the locomotive. I wonder how long she would run with a 7.2vt, 5000mah RC car battery? I know a stainz will run 7 hours on one of those with the smoke running. I tend to not use the smoke as the effect is fake looking to me. Mike
With a 7.2V, 5200 mAH battery, you will probably grow old before it runs down. The only problem is, at 7.2 V, the Aristo FA will barely crawl on level ground, and that is just by itself. Add a few cars or a grade, and it won’t get out of the starting gate. Best to go with at least a 14.4 Volt battery.
I think I will go with the Tenergy 6600mah battery and charger thru Silver State Trains. It will give me the 14.8vt so the engine will have some power and good duration between chargings. I will put my Locolinc reciever in as well when I convert over. Mike
Mike Do you have a pic of the springs. I have some that I believe is what you want. You can have them…
Just is 3/4 view of the diesel on my layout. Mike
Hi Mike,
I have a bag of ART 29114 springs that are for diesel trucks. These springs are black. I also have some other springs that I think are also for diesel trucks and they are a brass color, but I don’t have a part number for them.
In the package, they are doubled up on each other and the thought of doubling them up in the trucks may be a possibility to increase their ability to increase their support capabilities. I also have a bag of ART 29113 springs, the label says passenger car springs, these look similar in size and are also black. Let me know if you would like some of any of these springs.
I have some new type FA trucks, I’ll look at them to see if the springs can be doubled and get back to you.
Hi again Mike,
I just looked at the new type FA power trucks that I have and the springs are just decorative and don’t support anything. You must have the old style trucks on your FA that have the shiny chrome looking wheels and power pickup wires in the brass bushings.
I’ll send you some springs, but undecided about selling any of my new FA power bricks/trucks.
Another easy way to tell the differences is do the axles extend into the sideframes, or do they end flush with the wheels.
If they extend into the sideframes, the springs do indeed support the loco’s weight. My guess is Mike has these early ones, because the springs would not collapse normally unless they had weight on them.
A little more info here: http://www.elmassian.com/trains/motive-power-mods-aamp-tips/aristo-motive-power/original-style-diesel-trucks
Greg
The brass truck springs in Mikes FA-1 were used in the early models, which also had chrome horns. Part of the toy train (LGB) era.
When A-C began painting the horns to match paint, they added the black truck springs.
The black springs are stronger than the very soft brass springs. So they would fix the sagging truck problem that Mike’s FA-1 has.
Yes mine is an early version with the bearings/power pickups in the journel boxes. As long as the original trucks run well, I will keep them as I prefer the sprung version over unsprung. I restretched the springs and that fixed it for now, but newer springs are probably the best solution. Mike
Just as an aside, although it doesn’t make much difference on the FA1’s, the sprung trucks like you have perform better on my U25B’s than do the “modern” trucks that basically aren’t sprung any more as has been mentioned above on this thread. Anyway, as a result of this, I have some spare “sprung” trucks that I am saving just for my U25B’s if I need them in the future.
Ed
I agree also, my experience the sprung trucks track better, otherwise long wheelbase locos like the RDC have to have more flexibility between the truck and the body.
Greg
The thing I have seen, and maybe its just me, it probably is, is the sprung Aristo power trucks were way over-gauge. The non sprung ones were close, just a tad over gauge. I regauged the sprung trucks I have, and if and when my RS3 becomes a problem, I will try and gauge them. But so far that RS3 has been trouble free, even if the wheels are a tad far apart.
In my years of repairing model trains of all scales, I have seen gauge problems from inexpensive engines by Athearn to expensive brass imports where one would think attention to detail and the price paid would have eliminated that problem.