Do any of you happen to have an Autoworld XTraction (Aurora AFX clone) slotcar?

[Brian Austin]

Is there a trick to removing the rear wheels from the axle?

[afx]

You need a wheel/gear puller - makes it much easier.  It pushes the axle out of the wheel.

Edited February 17, 2022 by afx

[Brian Austin]

I was hoping not to need specialist equipment.

[Phirewriter]

As you stated you didn't want to get into special tools for your chassis, but... Most of the AW chassis, both T-jet and Magna Traction chassis suffer from a lot of slop in the axle holes. If you're pulling off the wheels you might want to address this as well. It makes a big difference in performance. There's a really nice axle peener available from Scale Engineering:

http://www.scaleengineering.com/Product Pages/TJetTools1.htm

Or you can apply a coating of oil or petroleum jelly to the axle and apply a small amount of super glue to the inside and outside of the chassis. If you don't want to go the wheel puller route a small needle nose pliers can be used to gently leverage the wheels off. Work slowly and don't use too much force. Unfortunately unlike the originals the AW axles can be bent rather easily, plus the newer chassis are a bit soft as well.

There's some very good low/no buck tuning tips if you search on Home Racing World and Slot Car Illustrated forums as well. Putting a little effort in these chassis will really wake them up.

[deuces wild]

On 2/17/2022 at 7:40 AM, afx said:

You need a wheel/gear puller - makes it much easier.  It pushes the axle out of the wheel.

This is what I use....

[Brian Austin]

Thanks guys, I did manage to remove the axle.  I used a tool that had a claw, and gently pried the wheel off.

In the end, I'm experimenting with the AutoWorld chassis for model railroad use, but I might just set one aside with my old Aurora and Tyco cars.  In digging out my old track, I wished Aurora had come up a stronger connection system.  Some of my sections have broken tabs.

I did come across some good websites discussing the history, maintenance and tuning of the AW chassis, and I"m on the lookout for the AW parts packs, in the hope I can use the brushes and such on my old cars.