# ROLLER BEARING WHEELS



## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Ok
Whom is using roller bearing wheels on their rolling stock? 

Which ones are you using? ( I don't want to know why your not using brand X) I Just want to know what brand works best for you.

Do you have a link to your supplier?


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

John J,

The only roller bearings I use are on my battery cars. I don't think it would make to much difference on rolling stock.
I think some power graphite on the axle ends helps. I lubed all the axles when I changed over to metal wheels and they roll
pretty good. Oh I use San - Val wheels they are a little stiff at first but they loosen up after some running.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I have ball bearing wheels on three Bachmann J&S coaches--for power pickup. The Bachmann cars came with those awful scrapers, copper tabs that rubbed on the flanges. I got three sets of of Gary Raymond bachmann sized wheels with power pickup, and put one axle on each truck. The cars run much much better--they were nearly useless, between the scraping noise and the drag, irritating to run. Now they are smooth and quiet. I'm very happy with the wheels, they cause me zero trouble. If they weren't so expensive, I'd maybe convert my aristo heavyweights to ball bearing wheels.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

LGB on one of the postal cars, they are nice, but expensive now.


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## Enginear (Jul 29, 2008)

I had to custom build a set of trucks for a dummy engine. I found it was easy to rigid mount the outside axles and let the middle ones loose for cornering and unlevel track riding in grooves. So the fixed outside axles are roller bearing and the dummy rolls better than any other car I own!!
















Joe


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## StanleyAmes (Jan 3, 2008)

I use Aristo Craft ball berrings in many of my Accucraft cars. I remove the brass bushing ans the ball beering just slips in.

Stan Ames

http://www.tttrains.com/largescale


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

I have tried both Al Kramer's and the Aristos. Al's were not so good (put them on battery car). The Aristos are great. I have used them on my older AristoClassic C-16 tenders and USAT Overton cars for power pick up. 

-Brian


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

This will be of absolutely no direct help, but hopefully the mention will jog someone's memory... 

There's a guy out here in Aurora Colorado who does ball-bearing installs for most large scale trucks. I have not used his services personally, but I've pulled cars equipped with his trucks. He's a unique combination of great price and great quality. Unfortunately he's lacking a memorable name, so I'm at a loss to pass that along. If there's anyone who remembers who this is, please post. 

Later, 

K


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

I have Aristo BB wheelsets in 3 of my sierra coaches. Very smooth.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Do the aristo BB wheels have a power pickup tab?


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By lownote on 10/01/2008 6:28 AM
Do the aristo BB wheels have a power pickup tab?


Yes they do, Mike.

-Brian


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## Treeman (Jan 6, 2008)

JJ: Stan had mentioned, when at Marty's that he thought the Aristo BB wheel sets were as good as the LGB's that are nearly impossible to get these days. They do have electrical pick up tabs that won't do you much good. I recently purchased some San Vals and noticed they had some side play in them.


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

I have LGB BB wheels and Aristo BB wheels. THe Aristo BB wheels need to have a load on them to work well. Luckily, they are used by the snow plow and I have a brick in the back for weight anyway. When it was new, it would roll on its own. Now that it has seen a few years in service during snow storms, it kind of seems like the wheels 'freeze' up in the off season. Not sure if the balls are rusting a bit or not. Maybe it is just my imagination.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

The guy in Aurora: http://www.gbtrain.com 

I've met him at various shows, nice guy and knowledgable.

Regards, Greg


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

*All of my rolling stock has ball bearing wheels. 
Mostly LGB.*
* Although on a few pieces I have SanVal BB wheels.*


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

I used regular wheels with Ball Bearings inserted into the side frames from Phil's Narrow Gauage:  PNG


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## W3NZL (Jan 2, 2008)

FWIW to anyone, The guy from colorado, GB trains, or whatever, I heard last spring that there were serious health 
problems with either hinself or his wife... No idea whether that was true, or whether the situation has resolved 
itself or not... He didn't come to the show at York this year, and that was the reason given me by Harry Hartman..
I use the LGB wheels when I need electrical P/U, and the GB bearings for heavy cars... Mark, using any of these 
BB wheels in a wet environment is definately a no-no...
Paul R...


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## pimanjc (Jan 2, 2008)

I have used the San Vals on several cars. On Aristo Streamliners, I had a problem with the truck side frames dragging on switches because the wheels have a smaller diameter than the OEM. They work fine on freight cars. Mostly, they are used on heavy cars like a battery car. Another approach I have used is to drill and insert Aristo truck BBs. It requires drilling out the journal with a 15/64 drill. The three auto carriers I ran at Marty's have had their trucks outfitted with the BBs. The third variation I use is Aristo factory BB trucks. As said above, the BB trucks are not as good as individually rotating wheels, but do create a significant improvement of non-BB trucks.

JimC.


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## BarrysBigTrains (Sep 4, 2008)

JJ,

I'm not sure you have made the distinction obvious..........Roller Bearing (much more expensive than Ball bearing). 


I have done this on one car many years ago, the roller bearings were mounted in the journals of metal trucks.


The roller bearings were $4.00 each (in 1992).

Barry - BBT


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh. Pardon. Yes, I have ball bearings, not roller bearings in my coaches.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

I have all BB in my Aristo Heavy Wights ans sure made a difference. Can pull all Six with my LS and up 1% grade. Later RJD


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Any one got Part Numbers? Is sunval still selling on the net? Anyone got a link?


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

John,

Al is on e-bay all the time selling wheels, or try
http://www.san-val.com/


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

JJ.... I've used Aristo-Craft, San Val and LGB ballbearing wheelsets and have found that the Aristo Craft sets are by far the best for wear and longevity. They will handle the weight of a 10 pound battery car for long periods of time with little on no wear.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I have the Aristo and the LGB Stan, and to me, the bearings roll much smoother on the LGB. Did you have some problem with the LGB? I've heard of rusting problems. 

Thanks, Greg


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 10/11/2008 9:53 AM
I have the Aristo and the LGB Stan, and to me, the bearings roll much smoother on the LGB. Did you have some problem with the LGB? I've heard of rusting problems. 

Thanks, Greg


I left a car outdoors with LGB ball bearing wheels, a few years ago, and the bearings *did* partially sieze. However with alittle help from my thumb, they became unsiezed in short order. They do roll far superior to the Sanval wheels. Although Sanval's are not supposed to rust. I'm not sure what type of steel LGB uses, or used, but if they are plain steel and Sanvals are possibly stainless, it could be the reason for the rust/no rust theory. When razor blades used to be plain carbon steel, the edge that was on them when they were new, was sharper than the edge on a new stainless steel blade. Don't you see the correlation here?


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 10/11/2008 9:53 AM
I have the Aristo and the LGB Stan, and to me, the bearings roll much smoother on the LGB. Did you have some problem with the LGB? I've heard of rusting problems. 

Thanks, Greg

The LGB wheelsets worked well but I have much better performance with the Aristo's. I've had both "sieze" slightly after some heavy rain but a shot of WD-40 fixed the problem.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Not to belabor the point (which is pretty much moot since you can't get the LGB stuff) but electrical performance, or rolling resistance (or both) is better? 

Really curious about your experience... I have had good luck with the Aristo's but they seem to have a bit more roughness in the rolling, and I have had a very few with some wobble. 

I've heard the LGB rust problem from a number of people. 

Regards, Greg


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## ohioriverrailway (Jan 2, 2008)

Found this place on line 
http://www.vxb.com/ballbearings.html?OVRAW=roller%20bearings%20robots&OVKEY=roller%20bearing&OVMTC=advanced&OVADID=743090512&OVKWID=4574897512 
it it's any help to anyone. 

Can anyone tell me the diameter of the Bachmann and Aristo axles?


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## Treeman (Jan 6, 2008)

John: The Aristo number is ART 29123B


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Treeman on 10/14/2008 8:53 PM
John: The Aristo number is ART 29123B 





Thanks Mike.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Rick... Bachmann axles are 1/8 inch... With a caliper they measure out to .118 I expcect that Aristo's will measure the same.


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

One caveat: I purchased some BB wheel sets (no power pick-up) off of ebay. These are the ones that are stainless steel and have been advertised as being able to color with a permanent marker in minutes. They are marketed under the title Roll-EZ and _they will not fit as a replacement in the AMS 1:20.3 J&S Coaches!! _When I tried to replace the wheel sets that came with the cars with the Roll-EZ BB ones I found out they are too wide! They work fine with plastic trucks but won't work with the brass trucks of the AMS models.


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

I had only found Jay-bee FRR LGB compatible sleeve bearing wheel sets and I was able to place these on my toytrain tenders and a passenger car. 

These work great for me and allow additional power pickups for my 2 axle engines. 

I hope this vendor is doing well, I may want some more.


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## Trains West (Oct 4, 2008)

even though they are not ball bearing I like jay-bee independent wheels ........

and insome whays I like the larger contact area on his then the pinpoint contact of a ball bearing when running more then just miliamps thru them ......... 

I am always afraid I am going to fry one of those little tiny balls or weld it to the cage ....

but I will also let you know he is getting older and it takes us months to get and order from him for the store ..... once was close to a year ...

so I would plain ahead ....


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By ohioriverrailway on 10/14/2008 11:53 AM
Found this place on line 
http://www.vxb.com/ballbearings.html?OVRAW=roller%20bearings%20robots&OVKEY=roller%20bearing&OVMTC=advanced&OVADID=743090512&OVKWID=4574897512 
it it's any help to anyone. 

Can anyone tell me the diameter of the Bachmann and Aristo axle



I wonder Rick if we are not thinking the same thing. 

I was thinking of finding a roller bearing of some sort to match the diamater of the axel and drilling out the wheel to fit the bearing. It is was cheap enough I could then convert everything to roller bearings. Then ond could take avantage of all the wheel sales and convert them 

That is a interesting Website. Thanks for the link.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Steve Stockham on 10/15/2008 11:24 AM
One caveat: I purchased some BB wheel sets (no power pick-up) off of ebay. These are the ones that are stainless steel and have been advertised as being able to color with a permanent marker in minutes. They are marketed under the title Roll-EZ and _they will not fit as a replacement in the AMS 1:20.3 J&S Coaches!! _When I tried to replace the wheel sets that came with the cars with the Roll-EZ BB ones I found out they are too wide! They work fine with plastic trucks but won't work with the brass trucks of the AMS models.

Too wide? By how much? Could you trim a little off each end and touch up the shafts with a grinder?


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## ohioriverrailway (Jan 2, 2008)

John, 
That was one thought, although I'm leaning to just putting axle bearings into the sideframes and letting it go at that. But maybe some experimenting is in order, since a 10-pack can be fairly inexpensive. I'm only planning on doing the battery car and the snow sweeper at this point in time.


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## Dick Friedman (Aug 19, 2008)

I use San-Val metal wheels on all my cars. I got some of his ball bearing wheelsets a couple of years ago, and began converting my J&S Bachmann cars over to them. The reason was that as my passenger train got longer, it also got harder and harder for my locos to pull them. I also found that the Bachmann trucks have the correct holders for LGB power pickups to light the trains without all those metal pieces. Runs very nice now. 

I did notice that the ball bearing sets seemed to have some slop in them. You can feel it when you spin the wheels, but I don't think it makes much difference when running them on trains.


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