I panicked when my new Genesis Challenger today started acting up and when I looked at it found it had thrown both traction tires. They were riding on the siderods and not damaged that I could see. I was able to guide them back on their rear driver wheel grooves and it seems to work fine. I was running a 28 car freight including up a 2.4% grade. A few days ago it pulled 30 freights plus 5-7 passenger cars. Not sure how they got thrown.
Is it not unusual to have traction tires get thrown? I haven’t had it happen on my two BLI steamers. Maybe from accelerating fast with a large load. Or might there be another reason (misfit tires, stretched tires (with maybe an hour of running time) etc?? Any help much appreciated.
The force of the load, uneven throttle starting/ slowing and grades can cause this. My kids used to “throw” the tires off the “el cheapo” Bachman rocket ships all the time. If it continues, the rubber is stretched and they will need replacement. Used to use touch of rubber cement in the groove to gain some additional life out of them.
If they want to lie nice and flat in their grooves when you restore them to their proper position, it is probably that they are being bunched and twisted by forces during heavy towing, perhaps on curves. If it were my loco, newish, and the traction tires did seem to snap back into position with some severity, meaning I was probably asking too much from them, I would consider using a very light application of clear DAP Alex Plus with silicone. It goes on white, but dries clear. I would try to place a very thin smear of it, mostly on the bottom part of the groove, and press the tire into place. I would run the loco light after that (no cars) back and forth slowly to ensure the tire is properly seated. Then, let it sit over night. That extra interior adhesion would probably help to keep it in place, and give you the rest of the intended benefits and life expectancy of the traction tire.
There is a line of replacement traction tires from Calumet trains that are clear flexable plastic rather than rubber - they hold up much better and work just as well.
Thanks everyone. Guess I better find a teeny wrench set that will work on various steamer side rod bolts, plus try the better tires. I imagine if I acquire the items I won’t need them for awhile and if I don’t get them on hand, I’ll soon have more problems.