I got a full set of Walthers Amtrak Superline II HO passenger cars. Some of them are not rolling well and I wanted to ask what is the best way to get smooth running axles. They are correctly spaced so it seems the trucks are squeezing the axle ends a bit tight. Is there a recommended lube or is it just a matter of prying the trucks open a bit more? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Capt Wilb
I have both of the Superliner I and II. The Superliner I’s roll better. You will need to add a drop of oil like Labelle #107 or graphite in the journals. This increase the rolling characteristics. Just be careful, a small drop goes a long ways. Also, make sure the truck sideframes are square. I place a truck on a sheet of white paper and see if one part of the truck is in too far or out too far. Squaring them up will help.
Hope this helps.
EDIT: I have used the truck tuner on metal sideframes and have had no trouble with the tool after doing 9 Walthers passenger cars. I believe the tuner is made of a tool strength steel and is quite durable.
I have dozens of Walthers cars and while their trucks look OK, you have to drag them down hill!!! ALL Walthers cars (and all others too for me) get this used on them before they hit the rails.
http://www.micromark.com/HO-TRUCK-TUNER,8241.html
ratled
Lubricating wheels/journals with oil is just asking for trouble down the road. Oils attract dirt and will eventually gum everything up.
Better to do as the previous poster said and use a Truck Tuner or The Tool to correct the problem… If you still want to use a lubricant, use a dry lube like graphite or teflon powder.
You can take the truck off and adjust the screws a bit, since the sides of the truck are metal you will have to put a small amount of lube in it.
Definately a dry lube. I am never sure the graphite stays put to do its job. I have also used some of the dry lube I use for the derailleurs on my road bike on some of the cars with no build up issues.
The truck tuner works great on plastic trucks, but I assume the Superliners have metal trucks like all the Walthers passenger cars in my fleet. I may be wrong, but I don’t think the truck tuner was designed for metals trucks. For what it’s worth, my set of 20th Century passenger cars recommended light lubrication with Labelle 107 oil. If you go that route, I’d use the oil sparingly. As a previous poster stated, you can loosen the four small screws which hold the truck assemble together. I did that with several of my cars that had trouble staying on the track and it worked wonders. I loosened them each about 1/4 turn.
i’m using what one of the guys on the forum sugested last year. moly magic grafphite works good on the walters trucks. not runny like oil and stops the truks from being so noisy.