I just installed the Kato Mikado traction tire modification and the results are amazing! With traction tires the Mike pulled 34 cars up 2% around a 22" radius helix without blinking! (6V @ 0.25A) Before, the best I got was 7-8 cars before slipping. This topic may have been covered before, but I'm very excited about it! The fully assembled replacement tire/wheel/axle/gear unit was ordered through my local hobby shop from Walthers for $7.98. Instructions for the replacement were downloaded from the Kato Website. Installation was very simple ... 2 screws and just a couple of minutes!
You got me sold!! I am putting in an order for mine!! Everyone I have talked to so far says the same thing!!
When the Mikados first came out I had to make my own set with a dremal and a file and a pair of Bachman tires. Now that set is "retired" and now I'm up to three Mikados all with tires. This didn't have to happen but Kato listened to modelers who did not know how to deal with traction tires and who said these things were bad when Kato's years of experience with the tires told Kato otherwise.
I picked up a set last Tuesday, although I haven't tested it with a large train yet. Sounds great!!! I had put about 22 lightweight cars behind it on a small oval of track, maybe a slight tilt to the table, and it would NOT pull it, yet my Spectrum Consolidation would. I'm glad they came out with that replacement axle.
Re Kato traction tires on N scale Mikados You guys want to have some fun playing with pulling power...here's what to do. I went to a train meet and knowing that they were going to have a no holds barred traction pull, I put an extra set of traction tires at the front of my Kato Mikado CNR 3724 and put it in the N section traction pull contest. The engine is currently displayed on the Kato site photo gallery. The Mikado pulled 630 grams off the floor the full length of the pull track. The best any other N scale engine could do was a Bachmann DD40-X that pulled 315 grams. None of the HO steamers could lift any more than half the 630 grams. Needless to say, traction tires have been banned from their future traction pulls. On a test pull on my layout that double traction tired Mikado would out pull the coupler holding capability of my MT couplers and the double tired Mikado would still run as smooth as an untired one. I really was impressed with the weight pulling ability of the MT N scale couplers. I put 51 MT box cars behind the the tender with 18 heavyweight passenger cars behind them and 9 smoothside passenger cars bringing up the rear. With the train up to speed at half throtle on a Control Master 20 power pack, the train broke apart at the smoothside passenger car section on the first 15" radius, 180 degree curve. Some interesting info was achieved from this playing around as I discovered that the truck mounted couplers on the heavyweights would hold more weight on the curves going forward than the body mounted couplers on the smoothsides. In retrospect, the truck mounted couplers would derail on curves when backing up this load and the bodymounted couplers didn't.
