Ok;
Yes, it;s me again!!!
Why is it that you replace the original wheelsets on several ( I mean several) Athearn kits- that the Kadees have a LOT more drag than the original wheelsets- although you have used the scam micromark’s truck tuner, and have applied grapite dust for your lube.
I just DON’T get it.
They are not the same length probably. Before you swap axles you need to measure the old one and buy the same length replacement By no means are all the same length and not every company makes all lengths.
Who are you trying to kid?
Agreed. Sounds like your axles are too long. (or your journals are too shallow, take your pick)
That’s the first negative comment I’ve ever heard about the MM truck tuner. Most people rave about it.
Tim,
I have been replacing all my plastic wheels with Kadees. What I’ve found is some trucks are tight like you are describing and make the wheelsets bind. Even using the Micro Mark Truck Turner sometimes they are still tight.
What I do is add pressure to the trucks when using the truck turner. That enlarges the hub then the Kadee wheels spin freely.
I use to use graphite until my tracks started getting filthy. Now I just use the turner with pressure when needed and they roll super smooth.
Bill
NOPE
You guys have either not actually tried it, or you are GLOSSING ME OVER!
Something is amiss, catch the drift.
Bill,
I still have my questions involving plastic/metal axles VS metal/plastic axles.
I need to find a better source. Metal VS metal.
I dont know Kadee wheels.
I DO KNOW Proto 33" wheels and IM 33" Wheels with the points fit nicely into ATHEARN BB USA Trucks.
I DO Use the so-called “Scam” Reamer from Micro Mark. What I do with it is to gently hold both journal boxes (Or roller bearings if you prefer) towards each other so that the reamer can get it cleaned out good.
I DO flip the reamer over and get both sides of a truck.
I DO test the wheel on the truck for rolling ability before accepting that truck onto the freight car.
Sometimes a wheel spins a few times and stops… more reaming. If that does not settle the wheel down it gets a new truck from my spares box. Those trucks have already been reamed and fitted with known good wheels and ready so I dont have to do something twice.
Axle length from point on the side of the wheel to the other point vary slightly from maker to maker. I personally prefer the Proto 33" while IM wheels are like really up there on my choice list.
I dont bother to put Graphite. By the time I get done with the dullcote, Bradgon powders etc… they will be filthy. If I need a helper engine for that stubborn train… think onery freight cars from Thomas and Sodor… I will find one.
Now if someone can tell me why my Branchline wheels are like Bricks and grind into everything I would appreciate it.
The only thing I miss with trains is that someone stole the Klicety Klack with those long sections of flex track etc. I should someday get my dremel wheel and chop 10 scale feet gaps and plate them over with the old bolt rail fishplates to get that Klickety-klack back into the train.
I find the P2K wheel sets work well if you don’t like the KD’s. They are metal wheels with delron(?) axles. I’ve never heard anything bad about Inter Mountain wheels either.
I don’t think Bill will be happy with any answer, but I’ll try.
Kadee wheelsets have longer than average axles. If you are using the standard 33" wheels the axle length is 1.012 - 1.020 which is wide considering that InterMountain and Branchline have a standard axle length of 1.010. This width of the Kadee wheels causes the axle to bind in the axle cone. If that’s that case, you need to ream some more. Just the opposite is true trying to replace the wheels in Kadee trucks. The standard that IM and Branchline follow, makes them too short and ride high in the Kadee trucks axle cone and causes binding against the bolster or the car body.
Not all trucks are the same, see the lists below.
Check this reference out if using 33" wheels.
http://www.reboxx.com/Documents/Wheelsets/33%20Application%20Chart.pdf
This one if you’re using 36"
http://www.reboxx.com/Documents/Wheelsets/36%20Application%20Chart.pdf
Remember: A poor workman blames his tools and even a blind pig can find an acorn.
All axles are NOT of the same length. E-mail John Burroughs at jburr@reboxx.com and furnish the exact dimension of the existing axle to want to replace.
Reboxx offers wheel sets of many different lengths to replace almost any mfr’s wheel sets.
Are the original Athearn wheels the plastic ones or the metal ones?
I have only used Kadee wheel sets once, and that was on a brass six wheel passenger truck because it was shorting out badly. Kadees are double insulated.
Anyway one of the main reasons I don’t use Kadee wheel sets is because there is a very old clause in our club rolling stock standards that explicity states “… cars will have metal wheels (but not Kadee brand)…”. I’ve always found this odd since in the coupler section it states “…cars will have Kadee couplers …”. Perhaps they knew something you are just now experiencing?
Kadee wheelsets have delrin axles and sintered metal wheels (like the old Athearn BB diesel wheels). They work well in the Athearn BB freight cars, and their 36" wheels work outstandingly in the old AHM/Rivarossi 6-wheel passenger car trucks.
Because of the sintered wheels, however (they tend to collect more dirt and “crud”), and because of the fact that they only come in one axle length, I have stopped using them on freight cars. I now use only Reboxx “semi-scale” (0.088" tread) metal wheels, and use the “Tool” (another name for the truck tuner Micromark and Reboxx sells) on all plastic truck sideframes. My cars all roll beautifully, and without the side-slop in the bearings that can happen with Kadee, IM, and Jay-Bee.
SqueakyWheels, you’re right - you just don’t get it. You need to lighten up a bit. As one of the other posters mentioned, it’s a poor workman who blames his tools.
I do have one question for the forum and manufacturers on the subject of trucks: How come we can’t get trucks with wheel axles and side frames that are narrower, to match the “semi-scale” wheels? The standard HO truck sideframes are 'way too wide, to accomodate the grossly oversized 0.110" wheel tread, but now that we can get narrower wheels that work well on our track, how about some proportional wheel axles and sideframes? Just a thought…[?]
Some of the newer Blue Box Athearn kits use a truck that is made to European standards.
Those trucks don’t work with Kadee, Proto 2000 or InterMountain wheels - I tried them all.
The trucks I got in my Athearn kits took a LOT of work, pressing very hard indeed, with the Reboxx tool before I eventually got Proto 2000 wheels to working in them.
I ended up buying replacement trucks for the Blue Box kits and keeping the “too narrow” trucks as spares once I got them working correctly.
Mark Gosdin
gmcrail-I noticed that about the side frames the other day. I was looking at a bunch of old spares. Some were nice and thin and prototypical looking and others looked like O gauge. I wish I could identify the thin ones and use all them. (no ID marks on em.[V])
I had some old KD’s. Sprung metal trucks, metal axles and metal wheels with insulator sleeves.
If this is the case, then Im finished with the 60th Anniversary Athearn Products I will need to either find Blue Box Kits of the old USA variety or RTR cars in the future. I CANNOT have these Athearn Trucks made to some foreign standard that deliberately cuts out Proto, IM or other Metal wheels here in the USA. Unacceptable I say!
[|(]
If I wanted EUROPEAN stuff, I move to Amsterdam, tilt at windmills and live on Marklin and Trix products and leave the USA behind. After all the Euros know how to build trains right the first time dont they?! But immigration is not the solution.
Im also beginning to think the powers that be who are in charge of creating USA Train products are becoming ignorant or deliberately building these products so that ONLY THEY get the money and NO ONE ELSE can use anything to fix THIER products. And never mind the so called NMRA standards… those are 20 years out of date and has not had much influence these days against the Rising Chinese and other Foreign Currency costs of over seas production.
For example, let’s build boxcars with TINY metal wheels so that if we try to use the PROPER wheels like PRoto 33" from another manufactor, they WONT FIT>…/…
Kinda like behaving as a child who deliberately stabotages thier own toys so that
Feel better?[:D]
Yes. Much.
Does it do any good? Probably not.
Cheers.
I really doubt that Athearn had you in mind when they decided (as any business that wants to make money) to outsource the production of their products. It’s a