I was glad to land an Athearn #1702 200-ton wrecking crane kit at the show this past weekend. It’s the $5.98 retail vintage, if that matters. I want to put metal wheelsets in the provided 3-axle trucks, but I don’t want to ruin them in doing so. I’ve had no problem with other kits with 2-axle trucks, where a bit of a twist makes it easy to remove the axles. These trucks, which I think are hard plastic (vs metal) don’t “give” much so can someone advise how to remove the axles without damaging the truck? Even if I got the end axles out I think the mid ones would need prying open or something but I’m afraid of the potential damage. Thought I’d ask before a mistake, rather than after!
I think I built this same kit in the 60’s, but would not have changed wheels.
If the truck is plastic, there should be no problem spreading the sideframes to remove and replace wheelsets, even if it’s fairly resistant to flexing. The older cranes and passenger cars equipped with six-wheel trucks used metal sideframes, which consisted of three pieces riveted together. To change wheelsets, the rivets of one sideframe need to be drilled-out, and, once the new wheels are in place, new rivets used to re-assemble the trucks. Bowser or PSC probably have suitable rivets available.
I have one of those, which I assembled back in March of 2001. I paid $5.95 for it. I don’t remember any trouble installing or removing wheels from the 6 wheel plastic trucks.
Thanks for the tips. Glad to say I can report success…I determined that the trucks are (really) hard plastic, not metal, so proceeded to pry them. The first one I got the axles out and added P2K ones back. On the second, the prying actually spread the bolsters out of the side frames, which turned out to be just force fit. When it gave way I thought I had broken it. Now with the P2K wheels it seems to track fine.
When I first added it to the layout (with the old wheels), it jumped around a lot at turnouts, even if it stayed on track. I noted when doing the prying open that the original wheels would slip inward on the axles if pryed very much, which probably threw several axles significantly out of gauge. It did not occur to me that I could mess up the gauge that way. Of course the usual 2-axle plastic trucks that just need a twist to remove or add wheelsets don’t cause abuse to the wheel on the axle. There’s no end to the learning.
I rebuilt the Athearn Crane and added Intermountain 33 inch metal wheels. The removal/replacement was not difficult, as mentioned, but be careful not to spread the trucks too wide. I added lead weight INSIDE the collar ring and below the top of the ring, so as not to offset the weight balance of the crane. Add enough to hit as close to the NMRA suggested weight ( 1oz plus 1/2 oz per inch of car length) as possible, and a bit more if possible. Do not add weights to the rear of the crane housing, as that will create an off-centered imbalance. The additional weight will enable the crane to move with better stability. My experience and 2cents, Cedarwoodron