Metal wheels? where to get them?

[Ibtimothy]

I got my first HO train set for christmas and I love it, but one question, the wheels of the rolling stock are plastic. do metal wheels make a difference? If they do where can I get them, and are they hard to put on? this is the one i got

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[ABC]

Metal wheel sets allow the rolling stock to be more free rolling. They can be purchased at most local hobby shops or from online retailers or ebay. Intermountain makes good metal wheelsets as do several other companies. They are pretty easy to exchange also.

[jward]

while metal wheels run cleaner and are preferred by many ( myself included) the best investment you could make is to ensure ALL of your wheelsets, whether plastic or metal, conform to NMRA rp25 specs. many of the older cars, especially those marketed in train sets, had wheels that do not conform to rp25. these tend to derail more frequently than rp25s do.

non rp25 wheels usually have larger wheel flanges than rp25s do, and often the flanges have a sharp edge to them compare d with the rounded coutour of an rp25 flange.

my priority is to replace the non rp25 wheels before the cars hit the layout. i upgrade to metal wheels as time and money allow, but keep the old plastic rp25 wheels for use in converting any cars i may buy that aren't rp25 equipped.

one other thing you may want to buy a truck tuner. this tool reams out the truck journals so that even plastic wheels roll more freely. since there are slight differences in axle length between different makes of wheelsets, the tuner will ensure that whatever wheelset you install will roll freely.....

[ajghear]

The metal wheel sets definitely improve the 'roll' of the freight cars (as jward mentioned, they also don't attract the dirt as easily as plastic).  I use the Proto 2000 wheel sets-get 'em from Walthers when they are on sale.  Their are many quality wheel makers out there though.  Get yourself a NMRA standards gage for rp25 and I recommend trying to stay with one wheel set manufacturer, once you've decided.

[rich1998]

My way  of doing this. I see what kind of slop there is with the old wheel set. I do not like trucks that have a lot of axle slop. Some wheel sets look like pizza cutters.
I measure with a dial caliper. I look for a proper length from Reboxx or NWSL or whatever other company shows their wheel set axle lengths.
If kind of sloppy, I order ones that are a little longer. I also have the Micro Mark truck tuner. Reboxx sells a truck tuner also. Sometimes a wheel set axle will be a little to long and I use the truck tuner in the plastic truck. Be careful with that. Some truck journals do not have much thickness.
Looks like a lot of work but I am a retired machine mechanic so I have a pretty good idea of what mechanical stuff should operate like.

lex