Help. Loose Drive Wheel.

I have heard of people using JB Weld for this. The problem is that if you use JB and you don't get the wheel perfectly quartered and square to the axle, you've got a wheel that's epoxied in place out of quarter and/or wobbling. I've bought Standard Gauge engines that people have repaired the wheels with JB and I've wound up replacing the wheels and axles. Instead of using JB, a lot of guys knurl the axle and press the wheel back in place, and if the wheel isn't too far gone it works. You can do a crude knurling job with a pliers - the serrations on the pliers will make marks like splines on the axle. It is difficult to reinstall the wheel and get it properly quartered and square to the axle without a press and proper wheel cups, but I've seen it done. You also need to be sure the axle isn't bent. 

A better solution would be to replace the axle and both wheels. That would be a job for a professional, but in the long run it would most likely be worth it. A lot of the metal Pride Lines used for castings wasn't the best quality, and you might repair that wheel and it just breaks a week later. A professional job would mean it was properly quartered on a press with the correct aligning tool (wheel cups). I have a Pride Lines Hiawatha and I wound up putting a Lionel Classics motor (made by MTH) in it, and replacing most other moving parts with Lionel and MTH repro parts. 

If it is wobbly I would be hesitant to JB it on. It may be a little over the top, but a small machine shop could over bore the hole and press in a bushing and then re-bore it to the interference fit. I you were to JB it on there, I would cradle it upside down and run it very slowly until the JB sets up so you can watch it and make sure it is square and true while it is trying.

TimDude's suggestion about machining a bushing is the best solution to the problem. I had a loco that had a wheel where the axle hole was originally bored off center, causing the loco to 'hop' down the track. The axle hole was re-bored concentric to the tread and a bushing pressed in and bored undersize for the axle. The wheel was pressed on the axle, and the loco ran better than new.

Larry

Tim's solution for re-boring would be the top-of-the-line way to go, it would ensure that the loco could continue in service for generations to come.

However, if machining is not in the picture for you for whatever reason, more homegrown methods can suffice to get it running for you.

The JB weld will work, but as suggested it may work too well.  Once that stuff sets, there will be no moving the wheel, so be 100% sure it's positioned on the axle right before you walk off and let it set up.

Another solution I have used for wheels that are slipping on the axle is a little less permanent.  I put a few drops of thread locker on the axle, rotate the wheel into place, and let it set.  There are different kinds of thread lock; permanent and only semi-permanent, you can choose. It comes in tiny tubes from hardware or auto supply stores. I use the semi-permanent, it holds plenty strong enough for our trains, and if you need to, you can get it to come apart if you really work at it.

Whether it would work in your case depends on the wobble you describe.  The thread lock only works on surfaces that are touching, it does not fill gaps the way the JB does.

I have done several slipping drive wheels with the thread locker and they are still running on the layout a couple years later.

david