Micro-Mark HO Truck Tuner

[Terry Toenges]

Will the Micro-Mark HO Truck Tuner work with On30 trucks? I'm guessing it will but want to make sure. I lost the one I used to have and I'm ordering another one. I just never thought about whether the On30 axles were the same size as HO axles. I guess they would be. I have never seen any On30 truck tuners anywhere so I guess I'm answering my own question.

[the Bach-man]

Hi, Terry!
Merry Christmas!
Yes, it works, but go easy on metal truck frames.
Best,
the Bach-man

[Terry Toenges]

Thanks for that and Merry Christmas to you. Some of my cars, mostly HO but a couple On30 also, aren't rolling very well. It the ones I've been using for the Christmas layouts. When they just sit still on a 4% grade and don't roll down, I know it's time for a little maintenance. I just wanted to give them a light twitch. I'll clean up the axle ends and use that and I should be in good shape.

[Len]

For metal truck frames, I've found that cleaning the dust out of the journals and giving them a shot of powdered graphite is all that is usually required. The truck tuner is really intended for cleaning flash out of the journals on plastic trucks. And on some older trucks, getting the journals at the proper angle for most metal wheel set axles.

Len

[Terry Toenges]

Len - The HO cars are the Bachmann old timers with plastic axles, wheels, and frames. I really should buy metal wheel sets for them. I'll have to see if I can find powdered graphite somewhere down here.

[Fred Klein]

Terry - You should be able to find powdered graphite at one of the big box home centers. I did a quick search and both the orange box and the blue box websites listed it. Also, in case you happen to be so lucky as to have a hobby store close by, Kadee also used to sell a tube of powdered graphite for their HO couplers (and probably still do). BTW, I enjoyed the YouTube videos of your Christmas trains. Hope this helps.

[Terry Toenges]

Thanks Fred and Len. I'll have more videos once I get this year's done.
I'm 60-70 miles away from St. Louis. There are two hobby places down here in Farmington about 8 miles away. A little hobby shop that has mostly radio control car stuff and a few Bachmann train sets, some black roadbed track, and a few freight cars for sale. The other place is Hobby Lobby and they have a small section of one aisle for train stuff. Just like the hobby store with a few Bachmann sets and black track. That's why all my buying is on line. There is also a Lowe's and Menard's in Farmington so I should be able to get it there.

[Len]

You should be able to find powdered graphite at any hardware or auto parts store. They usually sell it as a lube for locks. If it's not with the usual oils and WD-40, check around the key cutting area.

Len