# Aristo stainless wheels



## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Way back in the Fall I ordered a set of replacement stainless steel wheels from aristo for my RS-3. You end up getting all new trucks, instead of just wheels. Greg Elmassian's site has a detailed explanation of this, and of the fact that the flanges are _*much much*_ smaller on the new wheels.

I finally got the new trucks installed and had derailments all over the place--places where everything else rolls easily, with no problem. I can only assume it's the very small flanges on the new aristo wheels. I'm not ure I can imprve the track work enough to make them run, so I'll try but suspect I'll end up swapping he old trucks back in

They look great, but just be warned that you'll have a lot of trouble if your track isn't perfectly set up


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

Is why I don't understand why so many complain about the large flanges on most G scale equipment, it makes them much more operable on most all layouts.

Could you imagine how things would be if they actually made the flanges to scale like some are always begging for, you'd have awesome shelf queens/paper weights







,
but worthless outdoor toys.

Ron


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By BodsRailRoad on 18 Jun 2011 04:33 PM 
Is why I don't understand why so many complain about the large flanges on most G scale equipment, it makes them much more operable on most all layouts.

Could you imagine how things would be if they actually made the flanges to scale like some are always begging for, you'd have awesome shelf queens/paper weights







,
but worthless outdoor toys.

Ron


Hi Ron,

I have thought the same for many years.

Jerry


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

The small flanges do look a lot better, but the effort involved to run them would be pretty great. I swapped the old trucks back in and it ran perfectly. Maybe someday I'll rebuild it so the trackwork is more consistent. But I suspect you'd haver to have near perfect track to run these. 

It's annoying that aristo would ship them this way


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

You might want to read my page on a review of these new wheels, many people have not seen them yet, nor do they realize the radical changes: (I got mine in February)


*http://www.elmassian.com/trains-mai...ck-changes*

Greg


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## Trains West (Oct 4, 2008)

greg the price has changed since you did your page 

the 29138 is $76.00 

the 29139 is $55.00 


so you now pay for the truck


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I knew that would not last! 

Funny, several of us questioned the incredibly low price, when it was confirmed, we bought a number of them. 

Scott, I assume the ones you can get now are the same dimensions as I stated? Can you confirm? 

Regards, Greg


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Greg I had read hour page and referenced it in my first post. The set I got were the same dimensions as the ones you described on your page.

It's just extremely odd that aristo would do this. It confirms again my sense that in large scale, the major manufacturers are often more importers than manufacturers, and they often seem to sell what they get rather than what would work well.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Guys 

This post seems to be about replacement wheels, but are these not the wheels being installed on new product being sold? 

All those newly released RS-3s I see advertised, are they going to be nothing more than derailments in the makings?


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

These wheels were sold as replacement wheels for aristo two and three axles diesels. But what you get isnt just the wheels, it's entirely new trucks--as Greg details on his page, this is because the new wheels aren't compatible with the old axles. 

I believe the new RS-3s ship with the old style wheels. Aristo said the SS wheels were being offered as an upgrade. 

I just put the wheels on aristos track gage--three of the axles are WAY under the minimum back to back spacing on aristo's own gauge. That might be another reason for the massive derailments. Obviosly, I should have chcked that before putting them on 

But why would they sell a product like this?


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Mike, I know you understood and read my page, the link was for others unaware of the situation, sorry that the juxtaposition implied that the response was to you. 

Did you try the new wheels on old motor blocks, or is the undergauge reading from the new wheels on the new blocks supplied? 

Regards, Greg


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

The undergage reading is with the new wheels on the new blocks--I haven't tried to take the wheels off. If I has access to a lathe I could turn them down, maybe, and grind off some of the back of the flange, but otherwise they seem pretty useless. I've been thinking for a while about making a Northern, and I have some old Pacific wheels...


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

The 12 bricks I have were actually in gauge better than the stock ones, but I use the target value of back to back from the NMRA. 

Another problem is the taper, if the taper of the wheels/axles were the same as the prime mover blocks then you could mix and match axles to maybe get things better. 

I think you know what Nick and I are going to try... 

Greg


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