(Aluminum = Aluminium)
by
Daniel J. Dyke
Sometimes an aluminum wheel gets stuck on a slotcar. You can either leave it on that axle to eternity or you you can take radical measures to remove it. To prevent this, Al Penrose (bwaminispeed) suggests putting a small piece of solder inside the hole for the setscrew before putting the screw in, but many of us don't think that far ahead or we say it will never happen to us. I had a wheel that was stuck on an axle and wanted to put it on a longer axle for a different car. If it had been on a car requiring a narrower axle, I would have just cut the axle off because a stuck wheel is a wheel that is firmly attached to an axle.
I thought of using a gear puller to remove the wheel, but the gear pullers I had would not fit. Then I remembered that clunker wheel/gear puller from Northwest Shortline that was designed to remove train wheels. I dug around and finally found it. All that was necessary was to read the instructions (one of two times in my life), pulled the wheel, checked the inside of the hub for damage, and finally slid the wheel on the new axle and tightened it down. No muss, no fuss, it just worked.
Here is the description of the device:
"The Puller
- a rigid, precision tool for removing wheels, drivers, and gears from
axles and shafts. Designed for HO scale modeling, but handles some jobs
in larger and smaller scales as well. Capacities: axles/shafts from 1/16"
to 1/8"; drivers, wheels, and gears up to 1-5/8" O.D.; maximum press depth:
1". Allen wrench, 1/16" and 3/32" tip press screws, 'V' plate, and operating
suggestions all included."
