I can’t seem to move the wheels in metal wheel sets as you would do those with plastic axles. Can these wheels be adjusted? I thought I would save myself some time by buying a few pieces of RTR rolling stock. You would think for the money, the wheels would be in gauge. Thanks, Jim
Jim,
Have contacted the manufacturer about them? There is always the bad run of something out there. I changed out wheel sets many years ago and found 8-9 that were bad out of the package(out of 20+ packages). I contacted the manufacturer and the sent me a new package at no charge!
Jim Bernier
What brands of RTR rolling stock and wheelsets are you having problems with? Normally, Intermountain or Proto 2000 metal wheelsets are good replacements, but they don’t fit all brands. Didn’t the RTR stuff already have metal wheels?
WHEELSETS are coming out of China that have NEM axles as well as NMRA, and when substituting NMRA wheelsets into NEM trucks, wheels don’t wan’t to turn.
MOST REPLACEMENT wheelsets are NMRA, so the ‘importer’ is causing the problem . He is subbing NEM trucks on you thinking you won’t notice the switch, and he can make a slightly higher profit.
JayBee made ‘drop in’ NEM wheelsets (sold through Walthers) but apparemtly didn’t sell enough to keep it in the line. When I have a car using NEM sheelsets, I sub KATO trucks to get Kato’s matching wheels & sideframes.
Don’t blame the OEM wheel maker. Contact the car maker/Importer. When he gets enough compliant’s he’ll stop it.
Some of my Athearn RTR wheels are crappy, reveals the problem in that waddle as the car rolls on the track. Im glad that the metal wheels are there, but are so cheaply made that they need replacement with Proto wheels or similar wheels.
I might go through 100 proto wheels and find one that is bad. That’s life. Cannot have everything perfect in the eyes of mortal man at the factory.
contact the company, for maybe get some new trucks
What does NEM mean?
Euro Trash wheels LOL.
I presume you are trying to adjust the gauge by twisting and sliding one of the wheels on the axle? The ability to do that would depend on the engineering of the specific brand of wheel you are talking about. I have many metal wheel sets that I can perform this adjustment on. My hands got sore fixing the BLI California Zephyr cars. Almost everyone was out of gauge.
There has to be something insulating the metal wheel from the metal axle so they should be able to be moved. It might just be very hard to do.
Your misguided attempt at humour is not helpful and not funny.
NEM is the european equivalent of the NMRA (Nat. Model Railroaders Association) and sets the standards for european models, (couplers, wheels, etc) most of which is not compatable with US equipment.
This may sound like a dumb question but have you tried turning one wheel while pulling or pushing? You can also place a tiny socket into a vise, stand the wheel set in the socket and tap the axle end gently to open the gauge.
Karl
N.E.M.=
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normen_Europäischer_Modellbahnen
NOW, do you know any more than you did?
It’s an attempt to get a set of European manufacturing standards different than NMRA. (axle’s are shorter - flanges are different)
Like NMRA, compliance is voluntary. ‘QUALITY’ differences vary among manufacurers, and ‘Machined’ (not stamped) wheels are shaped to meet NMRA (NWSL, JayBee) plus always seem to be in gauge.
Replacing NEM wheels with NMRA wheels is unsatisfactory because of mismatched side frames, and why subbing KATO trucks are a superior ‘bang-for-the-buck’ with NMRA wheels, axles, & sideframes.
‘ROLLIING’ qualities are a combination of polished axles furning in frictionless sideframes, not the ‘Metal’ wheels.
Getting the NMRA CONTOUR of lathed Metal wheels allows better tracking through turnouts. Heavier ‘unsprung’ weight is another benefit.
Since few plastic cars ‘depress’ springs, they offer no real tracking benefit. (A holdover from metal cars.) Brass cars mostly benefit, but few have them: