This has never come up for me before, as all my cars were very free rolling. But I just had delivered a batch of used but very good condition Athearn BevBel automobile box cars that don’t roll so freely.
Everything is nice and clean (plastic wheels though). Do I dab something like CRC spray on them, or some oil that I would use on loco drivers or what?
Hi Gerome
I wouldn’t put any oil or spray on them, get one of these truck tuners, it polishes the journels ( the tip of the axle rides in this pocket) and makes the run very smooth, well worth the money.
Your best option would be to change to metal wheels. Don’t put any type of oil on them because that will just attract dirt and make things worse. A dry lubricant such as powdered graphite or teflon would be okay to use by dipping the ends of the axles into it. You don’t want to overdo it because graphite or teflon on your rail can cause your engines to lose traction.
Do both of the things suggested above (1) Buy the Truck Tuner from Micro-Mark. (2) Replace the plastic wheels. Your track will stay cleaner with metal wheels. John Timm
Thanks, gentlemen [tup].
Yes I have seen the little truck tuner in the catalog, but never did order it.
But just now I swapped out the plastic wheels on one of the cars in question for P2K metal wheels and did a little roll test on my big hill.
Out of 8 identical cars with identical NMRA weighting, only two rolled half as far as the one that now has metal wheels. The rest rolled an inch or two on the incline or not at all. Yet when I spin them with my finger, I can get them to spin rather freely. That plastic is not very efficient on the rail eh ?
All good advise . The truck tuner is must for the tool kit . A while back I bought 48 RD4 hopper cars . I wound up having to turn every journal on all 48 cars ! I replaced the wheels with metal ones & these cars pull easy . Good luck … Randy…
The major improvement you can do is to get the truck tuning tool and tune up the trucks. Whether the wheels are plastic or metal makes little difference to the rolling capabillities, it’s the axles and journals that matter, that’s where the friction is. If the axle doesn’t turn freely in the journal, the car’s not going to roll freely, period. The Athearn cars, while they do have plastic wheels, they also have steel axles, so the problem lies in the trucks, tuning the trucks with the truck tuner can make all the difference in the world. I have over 400 cars on my layout, only about a third have metal wheels, the other cars which have all been “tuned” roll just as freely as the metal wheeled ones, better in some cases. I have never had a problem with plastic wheels picking up dirt any more so than the metal ones, to me it’s just something the wheel manufacturers came up with to sell more wheels. JMHO.
I agree with the advice to use the Truck Tuning Tool, and would add one thing to the instructions. After gauging the wheelsets properly, take a pencil or pen eraser (the block type), and press the end of the axle into it and rotate it back and forth a few times. Check the end of the axle for burrs, it should be a nicely polished cone shape on the end of the axle. I’ve been doing this for some time now and have had the cars treated this way be smooth rolling.
Also, some above have suggested replacing the wheelsets. While not necessary for good rolling cars, if you’re planning to go that route, look for the axles with brass or other nonferous metal. If you plan to use the delayed uncoupling feature, or the permanent magnet uncouplers from Kadee, a steel axle will be attracted to the magnet and give you false uncouplings, or be difficult to “set” the couplers in the delayed position.