# Results of ball-bearing tests



## W3NZL (Jan 2, 2008)

*I've always thought that ball-bearing equipped rolling stock would be a good idea, *
*but up **until the last year or 2 it was always w-a-a-a-a-y to expensive a proposition to *
*even **consider except for special pieces... And while I knew U'd have a train much *
*easier to **pull, **or U could pull more cars with the same power, I never knew how much 
better **it would be... I'd opined that a BB equipped train of 30 cars would be about the *
*same as **a 20 car train with well lubed plain bearings.. That turns out to be a little 
optimistic, but not far off... **I've always said that if I could do this $10 a **car, or less, I'd *
*give it a shot... *
*Well with **advent of the "bearings for a buc" deal, we decided to go for it... So for the *
*last several **months we've been equipping the "in use" fleet only with BBs, which is *
*about 85 cars... Yesterday I built my first all-BB equipped 20 car freight train and ran it *
*for awhile, **I have lab **grade metering built into my layout for measuring voltage and 
current at all times, so I know what it takes to pull this size train around this layout *
*with any given **engine, on the worst grade it would require about 35 watts of power **with 
the plain **bearings and about 25 watts with the BB equipped train... So somewhere in the 
25-30% **range looks to be what one can expect in the way of improvement... Whether its *
*worth the expense, ($8 a car), and trouble is up to U, I thought it'd be a good project to *
*keep me off the streets for awhile... hehe **Anybody **else run **any similar tests, and what 
kind of results did U get ??? *
*Paul R...*


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I upgraded all my heavweight coaches to BB wheels. I'd say that my results were about the same as your, but it's just a guess--I have a Pacific pulling 4 heavyweights up a VERY stiff grade, and I would say it could manage at about 30% lower speed than it could before


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

I Also installed the BB in all 6 heavy weight cars. Made a quite a difference. Main reason was I use these cars behind my LS Mike and have a 1 1/2% grade. It use to struggle to handle 4 cars around the layout now it handles all six. I will not do any other cars as I only handle between 15 to 20 cars and no big deal on that and saves money also. About like putting Kadee couplers on cars. Did that years ago in HO but now in G scale not as particular. Later RJD


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## wchasr (Jan 2, 2008)

My rule of thumb when servicing and sellign RC cars if someone asked was to atleast upgrade to Bronze oilite bushings at first beyond the plastic then upgrade to full ball bearings if adn when they wore out. It was easier on the drivetrains if you upgraded at least some. When I did a "build" of a kit if it did not already have bearings or they did not upgrade to bronze bushings than I would put them in as part of my charge to build the car or truck. Saved me lots of headaches & repairs in the long run. 

So for me an eventuality is to upgrade as many cars as I can as I can afford the bearings and the time. 

Chas


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## rocketrider (May 6, 2008)

I have had great results with ball bearings in about 1/2 of my freight cars and there is a noticeable improvement and I plan to continually upgrade cars. The biggest difference was on my custom built 85' flat cars. I have experienced the ability to run longrer trains and get longer run times from my batteries on the reverse loop line. I plan to add ball bearing to my Aristo smoothsides. 

There should be an improvement in start ups and pulling grades without wheel slip. 

I too used the long winter to upgrade and improve the rolling stock.


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

What BBs are folks using?


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## Larry Green (Jan 2, 2008)

Ridge Road Station has reduced the price of Aristocraft BB's to less than $10/tube of 10, half of what I once paid. They should have them in stock, as my back-order came recently. 

Larry


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## Larry Green (Jan 2, 2008)

That price should have been $10.80 per tube of 10, Aristo part #29411. 

Larry


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Those are the bearings I'm using. The price you got them for is good. I may have to check it out and buy a few tubes for future projects. Later RJD


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

For a steep grade, I would be concerned about the added downhill thrust of cars against the engine gears with free rolling stock. 

Adding the ball bearings is great, but perhaps you should keep the car count the same as if you did not have the ball bearings. Just a thought that came to mind. 

And ball bearings on the wheels (not the axles) will lessen the load through curves and switches.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I'm inclined to believe that ball bearings in the journals don't make much of a difference unless the cars are very heavy. But I think the ball bearing wheels, where both wheels turn independently, are more likely to have an effect, because you don't have one wheel dragging thought the turns. That's why I put them on the heavyweights--long truck, heavy car. I put ball bearings in a bunch of the sideframes of regular freight cars and did not notice a difference.


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## W3NZL (Jan 2, 2008)

*U won't neccesarily notice any difference, unless U were seeing how many cars a *
*given engine would pull with & without BBs, but the improvement was easily measured *
*in my case... 10 volts at 3.5 amps is what used to take to get a 20 car train up the grade *
*on my layout, now it takes about 2.5 amps to do the job... I agree that while BBs in the 
wheels **is the best of all worlds, its not really an affordable option for Ur everyday*
*rolling stock, great option when U need power P/Us though, got about 15 sound cars *
*& steamer tenders so equipped... Several years ago I ran some tests on differentialed 
wheelsets **with various types of wheels, its cheap and easy to do, costing only penneys 
per axle, **an it may be worthwhile on Ur run-of-the-mill BachUSAristo wheelsets... I found *
*that there was a little improvement with those wheels, but when performing the same *
*tests with some of the well designed and properly contoured aftermarket wheels, there 
wasn't **enough of an improvement to bother with... I still have the cars with the 
differentialed **axles, only now they have BBs in the journal boxes and they still only 
perform a tiny **bit better than than the non-differentialed BB axles... If Ur running factory 
wheels and **want **the last little bit of performance, go for it, its cheap and relatively easy 
to do, but **if Ur **running quality aftermarket wheels, forget it, won't get U much... BBs R not 
for **everybody either, if U run outdoors and leave cars on the layout for extended periods *
*of time, or store Ur cars in outdoor sheds, BBs may not be what U want, these bearing *
*R shielded, not sealed, they will rust if moisture gets to them... U can get SS ones too, *
*but the price !!! **I've replaced several **that have rusted for folks... **Been meaning to get by 
the local plastic supplier for several **years now and get some teflon rod and maybe some 
of the other super slick engineering **plastics **and machine a few sets of bushings and see  
**how **they work... Ah, one of these days... hehe*
*Paul R...*


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I have 3 sets of USA 5 car articulated container cars with containers. I bought 100 bearings for a buck and converted all the trucks to Aristo Freight trucks. I did this because it is easier to insert the bearings
in Aristo trucks. There was a substancial inprovemet in the way the cars rolled. The frist time I pulled the cars by hand I was surprised at the amout of drag. After I did the convertion I was very pleased with the results when I pulled them by hand. I plan on getting another set of the USA cars and convert them 

With the 100 bearings I got a set of Decals from the bearing manufacture. I plan on putting them on a couple of the conatiners. Maybe even a box car.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Don't think the down hill run will make much of an effect on G scale equipment. 1 to 1 yep now there could be trouble. Later RJD


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