Pul - Mor tire? (PA 484 Santa Fe) UPDATE WITH PICS

Doug Peck at Portlines.com has replacement repro wheels. The rubber is part of the metal wheel and is bonded on and is not a replaceable item.

Regards,

Neil

Thanks Neil

So if I understand..........the "traction tire" as we know them to be is one component of the entire rubber piece?

And you have to pull the entire wheel and replace?

I wonder why AF did it this way?

Just another thought here .....thinking out loud......could I cut the "traction tire" part off and just glue another one on, leaving the rest of the rubber on the face of the wheel in tact?

Thanks again

Soo Line

Soo Line,

Sorry to tell you, but from my own experience, that particular pull-mor is vulcanized to the wheel, unlike some of the other type wheels that have a separate tire that can be replaced. Your only choice is to replace the wheel, which Doug should have. I also bought a wheel puller to facilitate the change. If you do change it, make sure you pay attention to which side the insulated wheel goes on.

UP332

There isn't any need to remove the non PM wheels, they can stay on the axles. The PM wheels are pretty easy to replace fortunately. An additional job is that you will need to remove the plastic insert which is the insulator, from the old wheel and use it on the new wheel.

It may also pay to get a few of these as well as sometimes they don't come out in a nice usable shape!

Neil

Thanks UP332 and Neil.

Parts on order.

When the wheels do arrive, what is the best way to install them on the axle?

Being rubber on the face, the method must be a little different?

Thanks

Soo Line

I just press them on with a vice, making sure that the chassis is square in the jaws so that they are on straight and don't come out with a wobble. The majority of the wheel is metal with a small amount of rubber mirroring the profile.

Neil

While waiting for AF parts including the vulcanized rubber wheels (at $22 a pair) I decided to try something.

I took off the most offending traction wheel on the front truck.

I peeled all the rubber off the wheel and face of the wheel which really was not that hard to do.

I sanded the wheel with light sandpaper and then emery cloth to finish.

Next, I choose the best fit rubber traction tire I could find and used epoxy to glue it on the wheel.

The four small marks on the wheel at 12 -3 -6 and 9 are little indentations with rubber in them (not sure why this was done).  I left these indentations with the rubber in them and put a little epoxy over top of them.

Next step was to clean everything up, re-install the plastic bushing and place the wheel back on the axle.

I allowed for horizontal leeway with the wheels but closed the gap a little on all the wheel sets.

Works like a charm.......even the wobble is now gone......straight and true.

Very nice to see.

This was not near as difficult as I feared it might be.  Quite easy actually.

So again I must wonder why was it necessary to vulcanize rubber to the wheel face?

Having replaced the wheels, this is good to know for the future. What tire did you use and where did you get it?

Thanks

Hello UP

I keep a baggie of traction tires on hand and just pick one when needed that best suits the job.  As you probably know they stretch well.

So to answer your question, I don't know which tire I used.  Probably one that would fit an MTH Gallopping Goose wheel.  It has small wheels.

I've included pics of the tire I used to help out.

By the way, my engine is going strong with the new mod and no issues.

Even if you epoxy a tire on you can still remove it with something like an xacto knife if you wish.

Soo Line

PS Canadian quarter and AA battery!