ColinB Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Does anyone know what part number wheels I require to convert my A4/A3 ringfield based tender so that the uninsulated wheels are insulated. I found the parts to convert the tender to pickup off both sides of the track using replacement parts, but the way Hornby do it, the polarity of the chassis changes, so the solid wheels on the axles at the end of the driven wheels need to be insulated. I tried buying the later Railroad wheels, not realising that they are slightly bigger (obviously more to scale). Either that, or if anyone knows where I can get suitable insulater bushes to convert the uninsulated wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morairamike Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Sorry bit confused here. The wheels on a two rail ring field tender drive are insulated already other wise they would short the left and right rails all the time.The set of wheels that are driven have rubber traction tyres on them to give grip so that the loco can pull carriages. These are not insulators.Putting tyres on the other wheels will serve no purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Don't think he is referring to tyres but wants to insulate the wheel from the axle. Not really sure why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 I want to insulate the wheels from the axle because if you fit the later motor back and motor front plate you get pickups on both sets of wheels. Unfortunately, what was the insulated side with the drive wheels now becomes chassis live, as the pickup is connected straight to the chassis. The mototor bushes side has pickups to pickup power from what was the uninsulated wheels but now this is the insulated side as the pickup goes to the plastic backplate. If I leave the wheels as they are, the uninsulated wheels are connected to the other wheels via the chassis. So on later Hornby ringfields both sets of wheels are insulated. Does that explain it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Ok thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 A example of where a thousand diagrams would save a word or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 Without criticising Hornby too much, if they had insulated the pickup on the gears side then there would be no need for the insulated wheels. I can see why they did it this way, it is slightly easier and it means that you don't have any issues with oil on the axles causing issues with connections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 I added pickups to all the wheels on my ringfield powered locos before you could buy ready made pickups. I didn't change any of the wheels. Can't recall what I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 I did it on a few of my diesels, all I did was add an insulated Hornby Dublo pickup on the gears side, you don't need to insulate all the wheels. As I could get the parts to do it properly on the A3/A4 I decided to go that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Spare Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 If your A1/A3 and A4 models were made in the UK, Service Sheets 118, 131/A and 204 will give you the tender wheel/wheelset part/pack numbers, while sheets 217, 220, 256 and 259 deal with China-made locos, all depending upon which particular ones you are dealing with.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 @Going Spare Yes, did that first off, looked for latest ringfield type before they changed the chassis and motor. Unfortunately, the Service Sheet lists a set which incidently you cannot get anymore. The trouble is Service Sheets don't tell you the size, but there again neither do parts books for cars or motorbikes. Peters Spares sells individual wheels whose part numbers don't exist in the Service Sheets, as do a number of the spares they sell. Anyway by rigorous searching I think I have found the right ones and ordered a couple to see if they fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 Just in case anyone else wants to do this and the lack of any useful answers, I searched the whole of Peters Spares wheels. The correct ones are Hornby X1341, you only need to replace the non insulated wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Spare Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Service sheet 118 was one of those included in my original post: it shows X1341 as the semi-flanged insulated but undriven wheel on the tender drive but I am sorry if this was insufficient help. This wheel has an extremely shallow flange if used as a driven wheel.GS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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