I have seen and read a lot of posts in different forums on the successful use of Bull Frog Snot to increase traction on engines, and it sounds like a marvellous product. In fact I have a jar of it now. I have yet to use it, but I was wondering if it really is as good and everyone says it is. A couple of questions came to mind when I've read the reviews on BFS. Do you apply this right over existing traction wheels or over other wheels without traction? I have a couple of old MTL F7's and I was wondering if BFS will work on them and give them far greater traction? Finally, do you apply BFS to only one wheel set per truck or one set on each truck? I'm also a little apprehensive about applying this to the wheels. Just how much does one put on? Is it possible to put too much on and if so, what does one do to remove the excess?
Garth added BFS to his SD40, and thugh it was worth while. Iirc, he added the BFS to the blind wheels.
newtoscale I would not add BFS to an F7 as they are already top of the line in pulling power. You also have the problem that BFS is an insulator so adding to pickup wheels will not help your engine and will probably make it run poorly. It is easy to peel off and fairly easy to put on using the method shown in the video. On the SD40-2 the center driver is blind and so is a perfect candidate for BFS. I use a toothpick to apply the BFS and I built it up in two layers allowing it to set up between each layer about an hour. Since the blind driver is slightly smaller than the other wheels you have to put on enough to reach the track to get traction. Once you have added enough, I found that it added nicely to the engines ability to pull cars. So one engine before could pull about 22 MTL cars after BFS it could pull 33 cars. so about a 50% improvement. I have also added BFS to the drivers of the Japanese D51 Mikado. They have tender pickup in addition to the drivers of the engine and so I added it to driver no. 3. It does improve there performance and pulling power by about 40% and since there are 16 wheels picking up power there is no problem with adding BFS. I have been reluctant to add it to any engines which have only 8 wheel pickup as I think it would cause problems for the power pickup. On the F7 if you have installed the Wheel wiper upgrade from Tetter-totter then you will defeat it if you add BFS as the wipers run where you are putting the BFS. The BFS peels off easily enough but if you get it all over the place then you have to take the truck apart to clean it all off. You have to have the wheels turning to apply it properly and I use a small tooth pick and a dental pick and it takes a very light touch to get it on smoothly. Probably need a magnifier lens to do a proper job and to see if you screw it up. You want it on the wheel tread only and no where else. Don't keep the lid off the BFS jar longer than necessary to do the job. I have not seen any improvement on n-scale engines when putting BFS over existing traction tires. But I have used it to replace traction tires that have worn out or stretched out of shape. I have not used on Z-scale over traction tires.
Bullfrog Snot OK. I understand what is being said here, but I am a bit confused by the video. It shows Snot being applied to the wheels on one side of the truck. Is this a normal procedure or personal preference? I though that it would be applied to a wheel on each side of the truck. Also Garth, I need some clarification on the F7's. If I understand what you're saying, I should not apply it to their wheels as the traction is already good enough. My F7's will only pull 9 assorted freight cars with or without the B unit on a level surface. They can barely pull themselves up a grade. They just spin. It's disappointing but that's the way it is. I was hoping that the Snot would give them better traction to at least pull the same 9 cars up the grade. From the video, I can't tell which direction the wheels are turning. Does it matter?
You must have some other problem with your F7s. They are far the best pullers. The non motorized B units are big drags, and they should be modified to roll freely. Most likely the locomotives have only one set of trucks powered, the other has spinning planetary gear or some other "disconnect". Also, check your track work for flatness.
newtoscale It appears to me that you have a Marklin F units and I know nothing about Marklin. The F units I am familiar with are the MTL ones and they pull more than 30cars up a s 2% grade. In the video he could have an engine that picks up on one one side of each truck so then he applied the BFS to the wheels that do not pick up power. I have applied BFS, to the engines I have used it on, to both wheels on the same axle. My experience with Z in the past with traction tires on only one wheel of a four wheel truck was not favourable due to the torque created with the engine towing a heavy load and it tended to derail if there any, even if small, variations in the track. I also found that traction tires need to be closer to the middle of the engines mass to get good performance rather than at either end where it could try to do wheelies. It does not matter which way the wheels are turning they just have to be turning at a moderate rate not fast or slow. I apply the tooth pick or dental pick to the wheel while it is rotating away from me. This causes the pick to rise over the material as it winds itself onto the wheel. Doing it the other way will jam the product onto the pick and create a mess. In the video the wheel is rising nearest you and dropping as it goes away from you.
traction with bull frog snot To Z-Tek, the F7's I have are all MTL, but the older ones with the core engine. To Garth, I only run AZL and MTL equipment. If I understand this correctly, I should appoly the Snot to two wheels (one axle) only on the engine. Now this will work for MTL GP9's and 35's two right?
MTL F7s are practically the same, regardless of age. The minor changes they made during the history of this locomotive are not affecting the pulling power. I'm sure, your locomotives are in very poor mechanical condition, or the trackwork is the way out of flat, or both. BFS without fixing the core problems will help only to accelerate your locomotives' early demise.
If they are MTL engines then there is a problem as they should pull better than 9 cars. I just hooked 32 up to one of mine and it was up and down the 1.5% grades on my layout without a hiccup. So either you have problems with the track work, the cars, or the engine, or a combination of factors because what you claim is not usually the case for this engine. The engine has some power pickup problems which can be improved with the addition of the wheel wipers from Teeter Totter but I have not added BFS to them as the F7's are as good as any of the SD40-2 with BFS added to the center driver on each truck. With three of the F7's I can pull a 100 car train. The F7's take more power than the newer stuff about 8volts on my layout but they run well and consistently out perform any other single engine.
Look very carefully at the bottom side of the MTL F7 truck. There are 2 brass screws that hold the plastic truck frame to the metal internals. Both the bottom of the track frame and especially the screw heads are VERY close to the top of the rail. Make sure that these are not dragging on the rail as this would also tend to lift that truck off the track (and create drag). With the loco running near the edge of your layout, get down to the rail level and try and look 'under' the truck to see if it clears the rail. A normally running F7 will try and climb over your finger if you put it on the track in front of it ! .
I am no expert on MTL F7s but I have a couple that I have converted to DCC plus a couple still running on DC. I do not have wheel wipers installed - too lazy I guess. I do have a few pick up problems once in a while but a little fiddling usually solves the problem. I must say they are great pullers. I have encountered some wheel slippage from time to time. I have usually solved this by turning the locomotive upside down and removing the side trucks by removing the two screws on the bottom of the gear tower. Sometimes you have to very gently pry them up with a flat blade screwdriver. I usually find all sorts of crud - bust balls, hair, etc. I carefully remove the wheels and clean everything with 70% isopropyl alcohol. I have on occasion found that one wheel is loose on the axel. A VERY small amount of CA solves that problem. I reassemble everything and usually all is well again. On occasion I have had to adjust the screws that hold the chassis halves together. Sometimes as little as 1/16of a turn will make a world of difference.
