Kato GS-4 Traction Tire(s)

[peteski]

If this is true, wouldn't the correct solution just be to skip the snot and purchase and install the improved TT's from Kato?

That is what I recommended in the second post of this thread.  And skip the snot!

[JMaurer1]

Are the tires still available? I seem to remember wanting to get some myself and Kato was out (at the time).

[RBrodzinsky]

yes, they are in stock.  They are common with the FEF.

[Mark W]

Mike
Same thing happened to me
On both the gg1 and the gs4

If I recall
I just didn’t replace them

I know for a fact the g unit runs fine

I can’t 1000000% recall if the gs4 was ok

But I kinda recall it was

Probably not much help to ya here

Carry on

Eric

While the GS4 will turn wheels without the traction tire, you do NOT want to run it for any extended period of time without tires.  Lacking tires means that driver is a smaller diameter and will bounce up and down on the rails, and since the other three drivers are driven by the drive rods themselves, you'll be putting all kinds of weird stresses on the rod pins.  At best, you'll disrupt the driver quarter, at worst you'll throw a pin off into the abyss. 

@RBrodzinsky and I helped a guest operator on the Free-moN layout at the N Scale convention with this exact issue.

[Mike Madonna]

I used some dilute acrylic paint on the driver, then put the TT on. This was about 4 years ago, and have not had a problem since, and my GS4 gets run more than any of my other locos.

Did the above. Let dry 24 hours. Put loco on test rollers and checked for quartering, no issues. IF problem arises again, will use newer TTs and same thinned paint method. Again, thanks!