Bought two 50ft. Combination Door Boxcars. First time ever buying Athearn RTR. They don’t look bad.
I removed the stock plastic wheels from the trucks and installed the P2K "33 wheels, just like my Athearn Blue Box and MDC frieght cars. To my surprise [:0], the P2K axles don’t roll freely and the fit is very stiff! Upon checking closely, it turns out that the profile of the plastic wheels’ needle points are different. [sigh]
A number of you here have Athearn RTR cars. Which “metal wheelsets” do you replace your plastic wheelsets with? I would like to have every freight car in my fleet with metal wheels.[;)][:D][8D][8)]
Go buy a reaming tool for trucks. It cleans out the pocket and allows the wheelsets to roll better.
I have had nothing but issues with P2K wheel sets in other than P2K models. I am a huge Intermountain fan when it comes to upgrading…be it BBs, MDC, Walthers, etc…The points are finer, which I believe helps. I haven’t had a prob with IMs at all and haven’t had to ream a truck that I put IMs in. Most of the P2Ks I’ve had to ream the the trucks to roll freely.
MY experience and opinion…standard disclaimers apply.
The only Athearn RTR item I ever purchased, a Coca-Cola flatcar with a trailer on it, had blunt-pointed axles instead of needle pointed, so check that aspect. If the Athearn wheels didn’t have pointed axles, you will need to replace the entire truck to convert to metal wheels. If the Athearn wheels had pointed axles, they are probably not a standard length that can easily be changed, so again, I would change the entire truck. In my opinion, Athearn has gone down hill since they changed to ready-to-run instead of kits as far as their quality control is concerned, and they are not worth the price if you have to change the entire truck to get them to roll well.
Have several Athearn RTR cars that I switched over to P2K wheels. Dont recall having any rolling problems on mine. Have expirienced occasional problems with Walthers RTR cars. Solved by pulling the truck end open a bit with my fingers. You might try spreading the trucks a tad, not to much or the wheels will fall out. If this happens, simply squeeze them in a bit.
The little reaming tool mentioned is supposed to work wonders too, never used one though.
Recent Athearn HO RTR trucks with pointed axels are narrower at .80 inches vs. 1.10 inches of the P2K wheelsets.
Your choices for replacement are order correct length from NWLS, Reboxx or whoever else offers options in axel length or buy replacement trucks.
I replaced the trucks since that was faster for me and it was only one.
This maybe a transitory issue. My latest Athearn RTR is the REA 50’ Express Reefer and it came with metal wheelsets.
Antonio–you must have gotten an early run Athearn RTR, all of the ones I have have metal wheelsets and they roll just fine. Since it’s only the one car, I’d just go ahead and invest in a pair of P2K trucks for the little devil. Although Dan has a good idea about the reaming tool, they’re handy in case you run into a problem with the P2K wheels not fitting another truck–though I’ve yet to run into that, and I’ve replaced almost all of my cars with P2K’s, except the Intermountains. I like the rolling quality of the P2K wheels, if anything, they’ve increased the number of cars my locos can pull by quite a few. It’s gotten so now that I always keep about three or four packs of the wheelsets around, just in case I can’t stay away from a new car kit.
Tom [:D]
Sounds lIke ATHEARN got NEM* axles on these cars, Shades of IHC.
NEM, a European standard, and not NMRA .
You can use A ‘REAMER’ To enlarge the journals, and buy wheels of your choice, or spend $10 and get some precision JayBee wheel with NEM axles. (Walthers has). I prefer the latter as I anticipate more not less of this, and good rolling is near and dear to my heart. I keep a 12 pak in stock…
<> Invaluable! Once you have one you’ll wonder how you got on without it.
Mine’s called “The Tool That Makes 'Em Really Roll”. Highly recommended. I had to buy mine across the 'Net as they’re not readily available this side of the Pond.
<> Good old Kadees work fine in Athearn cars. All my ‘Blue Box’ cars run on Kadee wheelsets with no trouble at all.
Being transitory in this hobby I thought I was going nuts when Antonio stated that there wer plastic wheelsets on the Athearn RTR Cars. I just bought a few last week and was pretty sure I had metal wheelsets. I’m glad to see that my ming is not going as fast as I thought! LOL!
One of the cars I bought was for my budding Grand Son and Conductor. Saw a nice little John Deere Green and decaled unit that we just had to have.
All of you have given me some priceless input! I very much appreciate it [:D]
BTW:
It’s two boxcars equipped with plastic wheels and McHenry style knuckle couplers. However these couplers have no springs but have the built in “flexing plastic” (Uggh!). With tax, the cost of these boxcars came to $13.88 each as they were on discount.
From what you all “collectively” are saying this is what I understand here:
(A) These two Consolidated Door Box Cars that I just bought with the plastic wheels and couplers are likely early run.
(B) It’s possible that I have non-NMRA trucks. (In comparing the wheel faces of these cars to the wheel faces of the old plastic axles the contour is very different----concave shaped).
(C) The axle needle points on these cars may be narrower than the P2K 33" metal axles.
My choices are:
(1) Try the reaming tool and enlarge the journals.
(2) Purchase and try out InterMountain axle sets since they have finer needle points.
(3) Purchase complete trucks.
I must admit, it does irk me a bit that I have to dump addtional money on these cars. I expected them to be equipped with metal wheels when I purchased them. Not trying to sound ungrateful, but Athearn might as well not even put couplers on these cars! Those “built in” flex plastic springs are useless after a while of coupling and uncoupling. Good for modelers that don’t intend to perform switching of freight cars. I hope that Athearn has indeed made improvements.
Cacole,
Interesting point you make, but these cars look “decent” as the underframe is different and the body detailing slightly better. Seems like these are “Blue Box” cars that were upgraded “slightly”.
Based on what Twhite is commenting, the “newer” Athearn RTR cars have metal wheels, so perhaps Athearn "smartened
I use P2K on all my rolling stock and have been very happy with them. (I have two Athearns with P2K metal wheels.) Is one wheel set binding up more than the other on the same truck? Try changing out the troublesome wheel set(s) for another set.
I have had wheel sets in the same package roll better or worse in the SAME truck. If one didn’t spin freely, I’d pull that one out and try another one. Usually, within a couple of tries, I’d find a wheel set that worked much better. The other option would be to put in new P2K trucks. I had to do this on a couple of Walther gondolas. They were fine in the straightaway but would bind slightly in the curves.
Here’s a stupid question for you: Are you sure your wheel sets are 33"? I’m not insulting your intelligence. The P2K 33" and 36" wheel set “packages” are extremely similiar. The reason for asking is that I’ve almost done it myself.
Hope to be of help. Let us know what you find out.
Hello Tom. Don’t worry, no insult taken! [;)][8D][:D] I always appreciate the help. [tup]
I did check the situation over and over. Yes, my P2k wheels are 33". I did consider that perhaps something was wrong with the P2K axles so I tried different ones and came up with the same problem, the wheels on both sides bind against the RTR cars journals. The shape of the RTR plastic wheels’ needlepoints are different from the P2Ks as well as the “old” plastic wheel sets that come standard on BBs (I’ve got a huge scrap pile of plastic axle sets).
I think Don Gibson hit on something because I noticed that the wheelface of these plastic axles resembles those on Rivorossis! As Don pointed out, some Europeon manufacturers don’t conform to NMRA standards. I wish Athearn would have “Done it Right” in the first place! It’s funny but the plastic wheels on these cars do r
Like KD couplers, wheel sets are not created equal.
Reboxx wheels are made by IM but are installed on custom axle lengths(17) by Reboxx.
Here’s a limited list as to the variables. Note the improved roll test equivalent. http://www.theoldandwearycarshop.com/Reboxxcharts.html
What determines the correct size is also what truck is used by what model car manufacturer.
Athearn uses Bettendorf while Accurail uses Andrews & Bettendorf.
KD uses Andrews, Arch Bar, ASF,Barber, Bettenforf and etc. The list goes on.
According to Nigel, P2K measures 1.008, IM measures 1.013 and KD measures 1.018
I’m not a wheel guy but according to Master Wheel Mechanic Bob Elliott, ATLAS CABOOSE WHEELS
fit Athearn 33" cars perfectly and IMs go in Athearn cars that need 36".
Hmmm, all my Athearn RTR cars came with metal wheelsets installed. I too have have the 50’ Boxcar you speak of, and it came with metal wheelsets. Hmmmm…
Hello BigBoy–(my fellow FP45 fan). I’m glad that you’ve got the metal wheelsets on your cars.
As I indicated above, all the wheels on these two boxcars (one Rio Grande—the other Cotton Belt.…) are good old fashion cheap plastic. The only reasonable explanation seems to be that perhaps the “early run” RTR cars had plastic wheels. Had I known that these cars had them along with the low quality knuckle couplers, I would have thought twice about purchasing them. I assumed that all RTR cars came with metal wheels, as yours have.
Now, I did purchase these cars at a local train show. At a train show vendors may have “brand new-never been opened” stock that can be easily 10 years old. I suspect that train shows are perfect places for vendors to unload a lot of “First Run” items that may have had minor glitches or complaints.[V]
Case in Point: A buddy of mine bought a BLI GG1last year at a train show at what seemed to be a super good price!. When he got it home and encountered problems, he then found out that apparently a batch of “EARLY RUN” Broadway Limited GG1s had factory defects. Fortunately BLI did repair his unit for free after he contacted them. He had to wait over a month before he got it back.
In this case here, I’m only looking for a solution. The posters above did a great job in showing me various options and for that I’m very thankful!
I said hmmmm because I was wondering why mine have metal wheelsets and yours don’t. But as you said, it’s probably an early run from the factory. Have you noticed that the coupler boxes stick out to far? They look like they’re to far out to me.
No don’t worry. The extended couplers are actually normal for these cars. The prototypes had “Draft Gear Extended Couplers”. This was to help in cushioning coupling. Cars like these often carried fragile shipments or shipments that could be damaged by sudden “Jolts”. The couplers would actually “slide in” slightly after the impact of coupling, thus absorbing the energy.
(you guys, feel free to jump in and correct me or add to this!)
I remember watching railroad crews couple freight cars in Tampa yard. Many times the locomotive seemed to shove the cars rather “hard”, when the cars coupled the sound wasn’t a gentle click but a very loud “KABAM!”
AntonioFP45,Look here…Some of the early release RTR cars had plastic wheels…These was switched over to the SIMI SCALE .80 metal wheels" instead of the more common.110s…The newer releases including the BB RTR cars has metal wheels.
The coupler boxes are suppose to represent “Cushion Coupler Boxes” found on boxcars in the late 60-mid80s and is suppose to extend from the end of the car.
A very simple and easy fix is to use the BB trucks with the P2K wheel sets.