picked up a set of ho impack cars . does any one know what manufacture made these, some are missing the 5th wheel that supports the semi trailer. the 5th wheel support is made out of metal, this is the part i need . thanks for any help john
That 5th wheel support being made out of metal is throwing me off, the three brands of HO scale spine cars I’ve seen all have plastic 5th wheels. The Athearn is a plastic body with a metal bar hidden inside the spine. The Walthers car has a metal body with better weight, and it’s low to the rails. Both types have the truck screwed directly to an adaptor that joins the sections together. The old Con-Cor model has a separate truck with an “H” shapped adaptor on top that the ends of the unit sit on, but it also has a plastic body.
the cars are plastic like you said, 5th wheel is metal maybe this was bought from another manufacture because it is glued on.but the square weight is screwed on from the bottom towards the back of car where the rear truck is.
That sounds a lot like the Athrarn one. The steel plate weight runs under the platform for the trailer wheels. Here’s the assembly instruction sheet, and it has the Athearn part numbers if this is the one you have.
http://hoseeker.net/athearninstructionscars1970/impackarticulatedpiggybackcars1990page2.jpg
I have the Athearn model. I don’t know what you mean about the “5th wheel” do you mean the hitch for the trailer? On mine those are plastic.
thanks for the help on identifying the cars i believe the metal 5th wheel /hitch was made from rail detail products thanks again john
I don’t know about the rail detail products so I’m not trying to “debunk” your guess of what hitch was used. Do the stands look anything like these:
235-1004, 235-1007, 235-1008, 235-1011, 235-1012, 235-1013, or 235-1014
These are all Details West hitches, in case you didn’t see the item description at Walthers.
I can tell you for sure that 235-1004 hitches are for the Athearn impack cars and that 235-1014 are for the Walthers AP spine car. I have the 235-1004 hitches and they sure do make the Impack cars look nice.
I think the other hitches I listed are generally used on flat cars (TOFC). Since you got this from eBay, I can’t say for sure what hitch the previous owner used, but maybe you can reference the pictures with what you have.
tony you are correct it is the 235-1004, now i can get the ones that wre missing, the box that the cars were in ,had a label that i mentioned but now we know for sure thanks for the input and yes they do dress up the car.
john