I actually stopped at Model Power on Long Island and they said, they send them out.... How hard could it be?
The answer is "Yes". A number of model rails here at TrainBoard have attempted this task. You might want to do a search and see what you can find. Hopefully, they will jump in here. Originally, (if I have my facts straight) Model Power delivered this locomotive model with or without traction tires. They may have provided a spare driver with the desired traction tires. Sorry, I just don't remember if it is the model you indicated. Should the part be available you most likely will be able to order it from Walthers. Hope this helps.
Very hard I ruined the first I tried. I now just remove the wheel from the axel and replace it with the traction tired driver bigsix
The first and second runs did not have traction tires. The most recent run of Pacifics have the traction tired drivers already installed. Adding Tires: If you are comfortable working on steam, then it is not an easy task but it is doable. If you are not comfortable working on steam loco's, then this is a job you are not ready for. The problem is the pickup wipers are attached to the gear plate of the loco. The gear plate of the loco needs to be removed to swap drivers. There is no slack in the wiring to remove the gear plate. To get the slack you must remove the tender, boiler, and motor from the boiler. You pretty much have to disassemble the whole locomotive. Then since the axles are not keyed to the drivers or the gear, you have to fine tune quartering after reassembly in some cases. Also, removing and replacing the crank pins is required. There are a few on here that have taken a short cut with good luck by just pulling the drivers off the axles and replacing them with the drivers removed from the TT axle set. Again regauging and quarting must be adjusted but you don't have to get into the wiring. The only issue with this is it loosens up the driver on the axle and the loco may be prone to slipping on the axle and knocking itself out of quarter. BTW, I have added tires to 2 Mikados and 3 Pacifics, so yes it can be done. After the tires, the locos will pull stumps out of the ground. I have a one Pacific that is in the process of a scratch built boiler that has only one TT (don't ask how I melted the other driver) and it will pull 30 cars with just one tire.
We have several threads going back about three years or more on this. The MP Mikado is in the same catagory. 1. The original engines are now selling for $49.00. The reason is that they won't pull up a grade without tires and slip on turns. MP will NOT install them. I have been to Farmingdale several times and they tried to install them for me and they gave me a new engine after they failed. 2. If you can, bite the bullet and get the engines from the latest run with factory installed traction tires. They pull great and make the Pacific and Mikado valuable additions to your steam fleet. 3. The disassembly is much more complicated when compared to others and only the most skilled modelers can do it. It requires and almost complete disassembly of the engine. Even when done, you will need to modify the brakes.
If you have absolutely no mechanical ability you are SOL except for buying one with them already installed. Otherwise there are instructions out there on how to do it. it take a little skill and a lot of patience but can be done succesfully. Here is a thread you should read. There are actually instructions on the process. http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=93181&highlight=Model+Power+traction+tire
I just pulled one wheel off and replaced it with a TT'd wheel. Make sure you trim some of the break shoe off or it will rub. I have done only one side since I can't get two to run straight at all, the loco still wobbles a bit but not as bad as with two TT's on it. It still pulls like a horse with only one TT on the loco.
I think MP stopped selling traction tires for the older runs because of the installation difficulty for themselves, and modelers who tried it. Almost a liability issue for MP. The original procedure was a little hairy even for me, and I've been pulling apart steam locos for over 30 years. The simpler procedure described by skipgear (in oldrk's post above) is a bit easier--but where do you get the TT'd drivers these days? I just double-head them. . . and pretend the train is longer.
I see the TTs listed on nscale.com for about $6. I do like the looks of my MP pacific and since I started in O and added N this year I was excited to see a metal bodied engine. It was my first ebay n scale purchase and shame on me for not doing more research first. I will most likely order the tires(they came as a set of 2 wheels connected to some gears) In other walks I've found marking gears to help with alignment, but those gears were a bit larger. Nothing ventured, nothing broken... no, thats not it... Thanks for the suggestions folks and thanks for the instructions link
http://www.nscalesupply.com/MOD/MOD-Locomotive4-6-2Pacific.html I remember when you couldn't find them for a while then Nscalesupply listed them as "back in stock"
Memo to me..... Links help others! I am not just here to learn, but to share! Looks like others beat me to posting the link. Thank you.
Almost makes sense to snatch up a few old MPs and some tts. 50 -60% success, will be ahead of the game.
I have installed TTs on several MP engines, and it is worth the trouble. I went from slipping with 3-4 cars to pulling so many I got tired of adding cars. Seriously, the Pacifics walked away with over a dozen weighted passenger cars with the TTs installed. Not noted in the original MP instructions are that you must remove the brake shoe hanger and reposition it as the clearance to too tight.
I have done three. The first took me hours since I didnt have instructions. Once I had the instructions I posted in a previous link it went much smoother. Also the TT works on the MP 4-4-0. Its well worth the effort.
