I need some help. I am not that familiar w/ the Ives parts, as far as what is needed in the wheel end. On examining the wheel molds, I have only 1 Ives "O" mold. Trouble is, it is from what I can see, a duplicate of the Lionel "O" spoke wheel. It has the same number of spokes and a square gear lug. Is this a correct Ives wheel? Harry 
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Sounds correct. Does it have a lug for drive rods to be mounted?
Harry,
From the standpoint of someone who works with a lot of IVES on a daily basis, i will offer my humble opinion...
The later die-cast wheels MEW made imitate the nickel tired O gauge wheels IVES used from 1925-30. The catch is that these wheels rarely go bad. Personally I have never seen one go bad from fatigue. They chip and break but never suffer from the "pest." It is not to say it never happened, but I have handled hundreds of locos from that period and I never saw it.
To simplify a complicated subject, IVES used 3 major wheel types from 1900-30 in O gauge. The first group made from 1900 to about 1917 were all cast iron. Although there were about half a dozen different styles, they obviously do not go bad.
The second group was used sporadically from about 1918-24. They were made of die-cast with no tire and are almost always fatigued. They came in electric versions, and steam versions. The latter was identical, but had a side-rod boss (used for rear drive wheels only). These were also used as pilot wheels on early 3243 wide gauge locos.
The last type was the nickel tired wheel as previously mentioned.
It is my understanding that the MEW tooling was either badly worn, or obsolete in many cases. If that is the case with this tooling, it would probably not be profitable to repair for you. I just do not see the market.
If you want to make IVES wheels, you would probably be best investing the cash into tooling for the middle period wheels. They are only made by Trickel (sp?) and are only suitable for display. They would be fairly simple as they have no gear bosses. The drive gear was secured to the axle by swaging (sp?). Personally, I would stock about a dozen sets of these if they were available. The 25-30 wheels cannot be adapted to these locos as the axle hole is too large, and the gear mounting is different.
I hope this helps, and as it is 3am please forgive spelling errors and rambling. If I can be of any assistance please feel free to contact me. We have spoken several times before. Best, Dave.
Dave, Thanks for the info, it is very helpful. I will check w/ Lyn Becker on the middle type. Harry
wheels for the wide motor for Ives 3236,,
Riki,
The Ives wide gauge wheels are available, both narrow & wide motors. Harry
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