wheels and truck

[[email protected]]

I may be kicking a dead horse, but I'm trying to restore some old rail cars I bought on eBay.  (I'm beginning to see why they wanted to get rid of them.)  Anyway, I thought I saw somewhere that there is such a thing as tools for reshaping the axle sockets on the trucks and the ends of plastic axles.  Do any of you know whether there is such a thing, and where I can find them?  I know I could buy new wheels and trucks, but I like to tinker a little, if I can.  I think some of these old wheels would work if they had pointed axles instead of rounded.

I got to where I'm pretty good at changing the couplers and adjusting their height.  I'm still learning how to deal with unsprung turnouts.  Now I'm trying to learn how to deal with trucks and wheels.  I discovered they are causing some of my derailing and dragging.  And unwanted uncoupling.

[Jerrys HO]

This may help....
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,18567.0.html

It wakes that ole dead horse up everytime 

[Chatham]

I may be kicking a dead horse, but I'm trying to restore some old rail cars I bought on eBay.  (I'm beginning to see why they wanted to get rid of them.)  Anyway, I thought I saw somewhere that there is such a thing as tools for reshaping the axle sockets on the trucks and the ends of plastic axles.  Do any of you know whether there is such a thing, and where I can find them?  I know I could buy new wheels and trucks, but I like to tinker a little, if I can.  I think some of these old wheels would work if they had pointed axles instead of rounded.

I got to where I'm pretty good at changing the couplers and adjusting their height.  I'm still learning how to deal with unsprung turnouts.  Now I'm trying to learn how to deal with trucks and wheels.  I discovered they are causing some of my derailing and dragging.  And unwanted uncoupling.

Give Micro-Mark a try as they sell all manner of things related to weight, coupler height and a tool called a truck tuner that does a great job on the reshaping or polishing of the axle boxes on HO trucks. Works with metal or plastic.
http://www.micromark.com/more-model-railroad-items.html?page=3  should be the last one at the bottom of that page. But search for it otherwise.


Cheers,
Chatham

[GN.2-6-8-0]

What you need and are looking for is called a truck tuner,used to clean out and reshape the axle journeys.
The one from Micromark is best,Reboxx makes one also but it's just a tad bit short making it difficult to use continuous ( hard on the fingers)

[[email protected]]

Thanks, everybody.  Looks like a wealth of information here!

[[email protected]]

Okay, I found the truck tuner at Micro Mark, but isn't there also a tool for working on the axles?

[jward]

if your wheelsets have plastic wheels and axles, there is probably not much you can do with them. all plastic wheelsets usually have oversize wheel flanges that do not conform to nmra specs. they are cheaply made and may be out of guage as well. it is better to replace these. they are a well known source of derailments.

if your wheelsets  have plastic wheels on metal axles, they probably conform to nmra rp25 specs, and as such can be used as is. get yourself an nmra standards guage, and make sure all wheelsets are within proper specs. the metal axles have needlepoint ends, and should work well in the truck frames. if they don't, using the truck tuner tool will ream out the truck journals and allow the axles to sin freely.

as another poster touched upon, but didn't go into detail, your cars may be underweight as well. gluing a few pennies inside the car body, centered over each truck, can help them stay on the track better.

[jbrock27]

All great info and tips.

Ruf are the trucks you have on these cars held in by plastic pins?  Sometimes called "friction pins".  Or held in by screws?

[electrical whiz kid]

A word on how to handle plastic wheel sets:  Throw into the trash.
SGT C.

[union pacific 4014]

weather plastic wheel sets and put them it a junk yard sense or make them flat car loads
 

[jbrock27]

Agree Matty

[electrical whiz kid]

UP4014;
You want mine?
SGT C.

[[email protected]]

Indeed, most of my wheels and axles are plastic.  I'll get some new metal wheel sets.  I have more than one length of axles, so I'll have to do an inventory.  After I get that truck tuning tool, and all new wheels, a lot of my anxiety and frustration should be eliminated.

Now, as far as weight is concerned, I have lots of pennies.  Isn't there a guideline for weight?  Like one ounce per inch of car length or something?  I saw the formula somewhere, but I don't remember where.  Most of the cars I have weighted, are about 4-1/2 ounces, and they seem kind of heavy.  Maybe with the correct wheels they wouldn't need to be so heavy?  I think I've been using weight in a futile effort to keep the cars on the track, in ignorance of the Plastic Wheel Phenomenon.

Some of my trucks are held in by pins, and some by screws.  I don't particularly like the pins, but I don't know that they're causing any trouble.  At least they're easier to deal with than those little microscopic screws.  I saw where somebody said to fill the hole with glue, drill and thread a hole for a 2-56 screw, and use that to hold the truck on.  Does that sound like a good idea?  What glue would be hard enough to drill and tap?

[jbrock27]

Thanks for your reply Ruf.

Here is why I asked about the pins; it's much harder to make any height adjustments using the trucks when reusing the trucks with the plastic friction pins.  So if I am going to begin this kind of project, what I do is get replacement trucks and then match them up with replacement wheel sets like you are doing.  I also get 2-56 screws to secure the trucks.  To fill the bolster hole, I use 2 sizes of styrenne tubing.  After drilling the hole in the bolster big enough to accept the larger of the two, which is  3/16" I glue it in with model cement.  I make sure I glue it in far enough to accept the screw I am going to use.  Sometimes this requires me to remove then modify a little, the weight that comes with the car. After it dries, I trim off the extra tubing sticking out of the bolster.  I then use the glue to glue in the smaller diameter tubing, 1/8" inside the 3/16", using the same method. When dried, I trim the same way.  Some like to use solid 3/16" styrenne rod for this and then drill the hole, but I like that the hole is already there for me and centered.  I file both ends to be level with the original bolster hole, then use a 2-56 Kadee tap in a pin vise.  I do not tap the full length of the screw, just enough to get the screw going, this way the screw will also "bite" into the styrenne a bit, making it more secure.
I do this bc after using my Kadee 206 coupler height gauge, I have the option of raising the car height with a metal washer or Kadee fiber washer.  You can also set the trucks using the "3 point method" which keeps it rolling on the tracks better. You don't have that option with reusing the trucks with the friction pins.
For older cars, I like to use Accurail Bettendorf trucks; they work well with Kadee 520 wheel sets.  Sometimes I buy 100 ton trucks online.  For this method I suggest you don't buy Athearn trucks bc they are meant to fit into the little nub that sticks down from the bolster hole as opposed to flush, which is this method. Sometimes the truck tuner is needed sometimes not.  I just updated an old Life Life Industrial Gases car using this method and between that and given it some weathering, it looks pretty good .

Weight: NMRA posts the guidelines.  Basically, .5 oz for every inch of car + 1 oz.  I use pennies on box cars as well, gluing them with tacky glue.  I don't always meet the NMRA guideline but get as close as I can and that has been good enough for me; better than the starting weight of these less expensive cars.

I hope this helps.  Please keep us informed of your progress

[electrical whiz kid]

Hey Ruf;
Why not pick up a bag of bird shot-yeah, that's right-shot.  What I used with a lot of success is balloons (I used un-lubricated condoms) fill them to the weight you desire, knot them...  and glue them into place-word of caution; make sure the glue will not attack the balloon or...
One effect I got is loading these critters over the trucks-and I got a really nice solid "click" going over joints; and the best part-the loose-ness of the shot will seem to take up the "wiggle-wobble" some cars have.
SGT C.