Replace Rubberband Treads on 9V Train Motors

[Phoxtane]

Upon examination of my two venerable 9v train motors, I noticed the small rubber bands on each wheel have become stiff and seem to have lost their grip. It appears you can remove the bands easily enough; however, what should I replace them with to restore the motor's pulling power? I'm amenable to using non-Lego solutions as long as they look and perform as well as the original bands would have.

[zephyr1934]

You might want to try the o-ring solution for the older RC/PF train wheels (btw, I think the problem has been solved in more recent production). However, the o-rings are thicker than the PF lego bands, so they might lift the 9v motor too high and interfere with the contact. Also, the 9v wheels might be smaller, so taking a motor with you to the hardware store might not be a bad idea. It would take some experimentation.

[Luke_likes_Lego]

Sorry to revive an old thread.........but do many people do this (the o-ring solution linked above)?

How have you found the success/otherwise?

Thanks,

LLL

Edited February 6, 2013 by Luke_likes_Lego

[proraptor]

Id also like to know if traction is improved with these o rings installed

[Phoxtane]

I haven't actually tried replacing them yet, as my local LUG's displays are the only place I'm actually worried about the amount of cars my trains can pull. Gotta put on your best shoes - er, traction rings - for those!

The displays are the only place where my trains can actually stretch their legs on long straights, so I hardly ever get the chance to pull that many cars.

[hankdelsi]

i recently picked up the o rings, primarily for my pf trains. i'm still digging through this forum to find additional evidence of this concept's success for pf, not that i doubt it works, just not sure the fiddling is worth it if the improvement is minor. i couldn't get the o rings off with my fat fingers. now i have to find a suggested toothpick or something similar to remove the old ones. i definitely see slippage in my pf trains when adding a few extra cars. i had to replace most of the magnets first as those new ones didn't seem to hold together well with extra cars. Of course my 10 yr old figured out that you could use a 1x2 plate and connect the magnets. i must have missed that. i didn't even know the 9v's had the o rings as well. If i find that I can get the o rings off of both types easily without destroying them, I'll test and report back but don't hold your breath.

[zephyr1934]

The PF motor train wheels have gone through a succession of o-rings. The first ones were horrible and that's where the fan build solution came in. The o-rings that come now (well, I think my newest is 1 yr old) seem to be just fine and don't need to be swapped out. Though that is another possibility, perhaps the newest train wheel o-rings would work on the old 9v motors.

One advantage of the o-rings though is if you build a 3 axle truck for PF motors (not the train motor) you can use the thicker third-party o-rings to lift the center axle off the track just enough so that you don't have any problems in the curves or switches.

[Luke_likes_Lego]

Thanks zephyr1934.

Do you by chance know what eras/sets may have been affected by the 'horrible' ones?

Thanks ,

LLL

Edited February 9, 2013 by Luke_likes_Lego

[peterab]

Do you by chance know what eras/sets may have been affected by the 'horrible' ones?

The RC trains 7897 & 7898 were both affected, and any RC train motors, later than this it depends a bit on when they were produced. The current good traction tyres are clear when clean, and have a more rubbery texture, the older RC bad ones are black. There may be other ones between these, but since Australia gets LEGO mostly shipped in big lots at the start of product cycles, they probably didn't make it out here so I haven't seen any. Perhaps a European or USian can help.

Another solution to increase the locomotive traction is to increase its weight (used on real trains too). This provides an easy test to see if wheel slip is a problem, just add some small weights such as coins to the loco. If it pulls better then you know you have a problem, and the solutions are either better traction at the wheels, ie better tyres, or just add more weight, or both. The disadvantage of more weight in the loco is your motor has to move it as well as the carriages you want to pull.

[zephyr1934]

The RC trains 7897 & 7898 were both affected, and any RC train motors, later than this it depends a bit on when they were produced. The current good traction tyres are clear when clean, and have a more rubbery texture, the older RC bad ones are black. There may be other ones between these, but since Australia gets LEGO mostly shipped in big lots at the start of product cycles, they probably didn't make it out here so I haven't seen any. Perhaps a European or USian can help.

Another solution to increase the locomotive traction is to increase its weight (used on real trains too). This provides an easy test to see if wheel slip is a problem, just add some small weights such as coins to the loco. If it pulls better then you know you have a problem, and the solutions are either better traction at the wheels, ie better tyres, or just add more weight, or both. The disadvantage of more weight in the loco is your motor has to move it as well as the carriages you want to pull.

I have some wheels from the start of the PF era and they have loose gray bands. As peterab said, the clear (when new) bands are the "good" ones I was talking about.

Adding weight on the drivers will certainly help, but I'd suggest doing that after you get the traction at the wheels worked out. Some weight is good, too much weight could cause other problems (overloading the motor, etc.). If you have a light locomotive a roll of coins should be fine for the wieght.

My rule of thumb when building a train: don't hesitate to add plates to a powered locomotive, but try to use panels and other light bits when building the cars. A fairly solidly built locomotive (in the literal sense) is often heavy enough.

[icemorons]

On 10/24/2012 at 1:00 AM, zephyr1934 said:

You might want to try the o-ring solution for the older RC/PF train wheels (btw, I think the problem has been solved in more recent production). However, the o-rings are thicker than the PF lego bands, so they might lift the 9v motor too high and interfere with the contact. Also, the 9v wheels might be smaller, so taking a motor with you to the hardware store might not be a bad idea. It would take some experimentation.

It seems this link is no longer working.  Is it possible to get this updated, please?

[peterab]

14 hours ago, icemorons said:

It seems this link is no longer working.  Is it possible to get this updated, please?

Probably not as the link is to a blog post on the now defunct Railbricks site. I guess that is the price of resurrecting a 6 year old thread. Perhaps you should just ask your current question here if the thread doesn't help.

[Carefree_Dude]

I forget the exact size, but I just went to an auto store, showed them the rubber currently on the wheel, and asked for a similar size O ring. They provided me a small bag of them for a few bucks and they worked perfectly. 

[icemorons]

Thanks @Goldenmasamune and @peterab.   I was able to find at Lowe's that the Danco #35 was an acceptable size, although just a slight bit larger in cross-section than the original.  The increase in traction is amazing!   11/16ths outer diameter.  9/16ths inner diameter.  1/16th thickness.

Sorry for kicking the old topic, btw.  

Edited October 17, 2018 by icemorons
correction