Intamin Smoothness

MF might pose a special problem, especially given that Goliath is tearing it wheels to hell and it's only February! [Well... March, but it started in February]

Steel coaster wheels consist of a pair of center bearings, a metal hub (on Magnum the road wheel hub is a 12" cast aluminum hub, if I remember correctly) with a grease fitting to allow for bearing lubrication, and a 5/8" plastic tire around the perimeter of the wheel. To be completely overhauled, the wheel bearings are pressed out, cleaned, inspected, and either reinstalled or replaced; and the plastic tire is removed and reinstalled.

The problem on Magnum is that the wheels come up off of the track, then slam back into it with tremendous force. This has a tendency to leave bits of the tire attached to the rail, and to beat the crap out of the tire. The tire then ultimately fails, usually by developing flat spots or by actually shredding bits of the tire. Once maintenance arrives, a wheel can be swapped out in less than twenty minutes.

How long a wheel lasts is dependent on where on the train the wheel is located. Some particular wheels take more of a beating than others, so the wheels are not all replaced at the same time. The ride starts the season with all 'new' wheels on it, but the wheels are replaced on an as-needed basis. Some of them actually have a chance to wear out before the tire fails.

--Dave Althoff, Jr. *** This post was edited by RideMan on 3/3/00. ***

Alex, Alex, Alex all I know about you is what I read here on the board. I know how Magnum works, runs and how it is supposed to feel. Bad wheels on Magnum are a very common occurance. First on the price, if I am not mistaken a brand new road wheel costs around $500. Lets see here three trains, 6 cars make up each train and 4 road wheels per car that puts us at 72 road wheels for the ride, 72 upstop wheels for the ride and 144 guide wheels if I did my math right. I "think" that the guide wheels and road wheels are somewhere in the $75-$150 range. So for the three Magnum trains that puts us in $60,000 range for the wheels and bearings for the Magnum trains.

When a wheel goes bad it is a lot cheaper for them to just have the wheels sent out and fixed than buying new ones. Now when they get a bad wheel which happens often they would send them to a place three blocks from my house to get repaired. The building that they do it in was bought out and the company that did the wheels had to move and I still have not found out where they are located. I've seen trucks from the park pull in and out of there all of the time with giant boxes of wheels.

From my experiences with road wheels is that they are replaced more in the months of May, September, and October, Upstop wheels are replaced often during those months as well. There have been days where they have replaced two or three different wheels in the same day. When I ride I can tell if there is a bad wheel on a car or not. One time I was sitting in 2-1 left side. When the train was about to be dispatched from the station one of the girls said "ohh Dan, you are sitting above a bad wheel and we are going down after this train." The second that the trains starting moving I could feel and hear the bad wheel. To make it worse they cut the trims becasue the train going through the ciruit after ours would be empty so the trims had to be open. I will never foget that ride becuase it was??? ???????? ???? ? ???? ???? ??? ?? ??????? ???? ? ??? ??? ??? ???? ? ??? ???????? ????????? ???? ??? ??? ????? ??? ????? ??? ? ????? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ???????????? ?? ? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ?????? ??? ???????? ?? ? ??????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ???? ???? ?? ???? ??? ???? ??? ????? ????? ???????????? ????????????????????????????? ?? ?????? ?? ????????? ??? ???? ?????? ? ? ????? ???? ??????? ??????? ????????? ???? ????????????????????????????????????????? ???????? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ? ??????????????????????????????

To Dan- Would you be able post all of this information and more on your site? I find all this information regarding wheel-wear very interesting, along with other common maintenance problems. Being the CP information junkie that i am, i like to know everything and more that makes a coaster tick. Anyone else...?

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"To ALCOHOL- the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."
--Homer J. Simpson

Dan thats a big lie about your ride on the Magnum. Frist thing they cant see the wheels from the top of the loading station. Second if they did see the wheels they would not send out the train with a bunch of guest on. Thrid why would they send a train right after yours?

Well obviously they are going to send an empty train after Dan’s. Do they want people stranded on the brakes while they are replacing a wheel?

You have a lot of nerve telling Dan that he is lying about his ride on Magnum. Granted I wasn’t there, but I have come to trust everything that Dan posts on this site. When you have ridden Magnum as many times as Dan, you get to know a thing or two about how the ride operates.

I don’t know why you post comments with such certainty because you obviously know nothing about it. You talk about Dan lying and you are the one posting comments that it will cost “$10,000 a month for wheels and bearings for all the coaster in Cedra point”

THINK BEFORE YOU POST!

MAN, TAKE THEIR WORD FOR IT!!!

Hey and like I said, if you really want to challenge their explanations, post it over at the Employee Thread and ask some of the ride operators. But you don't have to because you can just take Jeff and Dan's word for it.

I'm speechless. I honestly can't believe this conversation is taking place. How does one question a guy who has run the most trafficked CP fan site for two years, a guy who has more than a thousand laps on Magnum (and is dating one of its crew members) and a guy with formal ride inspector training who is also a student of ride engineering and maintenance.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
"And he says 'I'm goin' crazy up there at the lake...'"

I thought you had to be 13 to join CP Place. From what I've seen, Alex can't be that old yet! How stupid do you have to be to go against the word of these people? Haven't you read any of the other posts? These guys know what they're talking about! If you don't believe me, go over to RideMan's web site and take a look at his info on roller coaster trains!

Hey BITCh you dont know anything about him all you know is he could be onr of the owners of cedar fair. So why dont you all shout the hell up!!
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E-mail used to register: rccp_1999@yahoo.com
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Time of post: 3/3/00, 9:51:33 PM (ET)

*** This post was edited by Jeff on 3/3/00. ***

Hey now this is getting very ugly. For one thing you don't insult someone for being ignorant and cussing is NOT part of this site. PLEASE someone shut down this thread!

Wow, after I pick my jaw up off my keyboad I am going to close this thread. Alex if you don't belive me or anyone else thats fine. I know what I know through experience, after being in the park over 150 times in the last three years and close to 1100 rides on Magnum, and dating a crew member, and seeing the operation manuals on the ride that she had I think I might know a thing or two.

THIS THREAD IS CLOSED!

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daniel j. haverlock
'99 Magnum Count: 801
www.rollercoaster.nu/dan