Hi,

I have been inspired by seeing someone commenting that they had replaced all their old 12v type wheels with the newer 9v ones for less friction.

I would like to do the same. I am fairly new to tracking this stuff down but I can see this:

The complete wheel - comprising of the housing (bearing element - 2878), the wheels (57878) and the small metal shaft (89815???) - which I can buy from the lego website. Is that correct. I cant tell if the shaft is the metal one or not.

Can someone please help me?

Thanks

Tarby

The shaft is metal yes, and in the current sets they come in separate pieces and you have to assemble the wheels, axle and housing yourself whereas in the older sets it was one piece out of the box. You could however also try oiling the old wheels by taking out the wheel and pin and putting some (non-aggressive) lubricant in the hole before putting them back.

I'll probably be trying that because changing the type of wheels significantly changes the look of the trains.

- Sok.

Please keep me posted on this as I experience the same problem: 3 sets of 1 big or 2 small coaches per motor block 7865 seems to be the maximum :-(

I'll probably be trying that because changing the type of wheels significantly changes the look of the trains.

I think the 12V trains look just as good with 9V wheels. The difference is that they run better with 9V wheels.

For example, my 7745 (unfortunately the picture is not very clear)

http://www.math.fsu.edu/~hoeij/t/c/gedc0628.jpg

has 9V wheels. Even though it is twice the normal length, the burden on the motor is about the same as it is for a regular-sized 7745 with 12V wheels.

I also make some cuts to the wheelsets (as described in Railbricks #2 if I remember correctly)

http://www.math.fsu.edu/~hoeij/t/c/wheelset.jpg

because when the wheelsets get older, the wheels start to rub against the wheelholder, and a little cut can make them run as new again.

Thanks all.

I will see what happens with the 'oiling' - i'll do some tests this weekend.

Tarby