# initial report on ball bearing wheels



## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I decided recently to add double ball bearing wheels to my small fleet of aristo heavyweights. The cars are heavy, and long, so they make good candidates for ball bearing wheels. I was especially hoping to reduce the drag caused by fixed axles in curves, where one wheel rotates and the other doesn't. I have a nasty grade on my layout and it was a strain for an Aristo Pacific to haul four heavyweights up the grade. I needed electrical pickup, as the cars are lighted via track power. So--I got a mixed set of ball bearing wheels with power pickup, and without.

I tried two kinds at first--AML Ball bearing wheels with power pickup, and SanVal "Roll Ez" wheels. The AML wheels are the cheapest out there with power pickup, and they have worked very well for me in the past. The San Val wheels were new to me. I noticed that the san val's were gaged tight--I didn't measure, but noticed they were just under the minimum on aristo's track gage. I didn't try to fix them, I just decided to run and see what happens. The AML wheels were all within the range on the aristo gage. The San Val wheels are a tight fit in the truck as well--the heavyweight trucks have brass bushings for power pickup, and the San Val wheels have a stepped axle that gets wider. The step hits the bushing edge. They fit tightly with no "slop" left to right. Not sure how to fix that or if it needs fixing.

The train definitely rolls easier--The Pacific could now pull four cars up the grade at about half speed with no wheel slip, which amounts to a distinct impovement. I had some derailments, but I can't be sure why, as we've had some unusually cold weather and my track is all out of whack from frost heave. I'll save more testing till the weather warms a little and I can reset the track.


Power pickup: The AML wheels were not good. They tended to have very flaky power pickup. I think it's a case of quality creeping downward, as often seems to happen with Chinese-made products. I also noticed one wheel did not right, as if it had an out of sphere ball. It tended to "stick" in one place. On each car I swapped out one axle of the san val wheels and subsituted "proline" wheels with power pickup from Train-LI. These appear to be extremely well made, although they were at the maximum width on aristo's track gage. I did a little running today and power pickup was excellent.


My conclusion is that I won't mess with the AML wheels anymore. The price is good but power pickup is unreliable and quality seems to have deteriorated. On the other hand, the Pro=line wheels, while more expensive, are well made, out of stainless steel, and seem to work extremely well. i'll stick with them in the future


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

I did my six Aristo heavy weights using the Aristo BB. They work quite well and have provided good conductivity for the lighting. How ever I run these cars behind my LS so not to worried about the lights. May change to Battery some day for these cars even tho they are also used with my DCC system. Later RJD


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

Think as long as you two ball bearings they don't need to move back an forth. Just as long as there is not to much pressure on the truck sides.


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for sharing your BB findings!


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I should add I bought the AML wheels from RLD hobbies. I've been told I can return the ones that don't work right and exchange them for replacements from another batch. That's fair. But I'm not sure it's worth the trouble if the next ones have the same problem.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I'm interested in your results on the AML BB wheelsets... I assume you had more than one axle... did all the bearings exhibit the same problems? 

I assumed that the Train-Li stuff would be good, looks even better than the LGB ones, and of all the BB wheelsets I have the LGB are the best.. .guess I'll be ordering the Train-Li ones. 

Thanks, Greg


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Greg I ordered 6 sets. Only one of them seems to pick up power very reliably. I tried spraying some 2-26 at them, in case there was corrosion or over-lubing, but no difference. They would work best on curves, and cut out on straights. They also seemed to have a LOT of resistance, as the lights rarely seemed to come on bright enough


But just putting one axle of the train-li prol-line wheels made a huge difference--the lights are bright and they stay lit


I ordered the pro-line wheels from Train-li--Axel offers another brand which they clam is even better, but it's ten bucks more than the pro-line, which is ten bucks more than the AML.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks Mike. 

If the CRC 2-26 did not work, then corrosion or dirt was not the issue. I know that 2-26 will even remove mild rust. Most BB manufacturers say never to run current through them, so not surprised. 

When I converted various cars from carbon brushes, I tried several different brands of BB wheelsets, the LGB was always the best, produced the least "visible flicker" in lighting, for want of a better metric. 

In light duty, there may not be a big difference, but under greater loads, I really saw a difference, and noted how they all started out fine, but most quickly degraded. I have a set of Aristo's running a sweeper car that draws about one amp... and they are pretty much dead, have to run it around the layout a few times to get them to work. 

In some ways, carbon brushes are good, they sure can take current, they just have that awful drag! 

Regards, Greg


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

I may have to try some pro-line sets. May use them for a caboose project. As mentioned the brush type due work pretty good and I do not mind the drag as I run short trains of 10 to 15 cars and double head so it does not make much difference for me. later RJD


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Great Comparison Mike 

Thanks for posting 

Randy


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

"The San Val wheels are a tight fit in the truck as well--the heavyweight trucks have brass bushings for power pickup, and the San Val wheels have a stepped axle that gets wider. The step hits the bushing edge." LOWNOTE




With the Sanval BB wheels you need to countersink the axel hole in the truck, just alittle. This is fine for plastic trucks. I don't know if the trucks with the bronze bushing can have this treatment.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Question regarding these bearing sets. 

Are they oiled or grease filled? 

It would seem to me that any grease filled bearing small enough to work on these small wheels would end up with a high rolling resistance due to the grease. When I raced RC cars, we used the lightest oil possible in the bearings. Bearing life was shortened, but rolling resistance was cut to almost zero. Considering the low speed of the wheels on a G gauge car, I would think a very light oil would work fine. 

I assume they are shielded in leu of a sealed bearing which would cause even more rolling resistance. 

Randy


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

The ones I have seen are oiled. I never see these small ones greased. They all seem to have dust shields, but I believe the LGB dust shields were actually cardboard. I did not run into any problems though. 

Regards, Greg


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