It is about time to begin to replace the plastic wheel sets on my rolling stock with metal ones. Much of the fleet is Athearn BB, but there are a variety of others. Question: Is it sufficient to replace just wheel sets, or should I look at replacing the entire truck, side frames and all?
Objective is performance, with prototype consistency only a secondary consideration.
Most importantly, please offer suggestions as to which brand (if any) is the best choice.
Mike
I’ve been replacing plastic wheels with metal ones for about a year and I’ve found that the Intermountain and the Proto 1000 wheels work very well. I see no reason to switch out the entire truck, as long as its in spec. unless you want to go to a highter level of detail. All the cars I’ve been upgrading have been Athearn Blue box kits.
There was a very recent thread on this topic. The original poster on that thread was having some problems with the axles not fitting properly on some Athearn cars. I don’t remember exactly which cars he had, but it seems that different cars had different spacing for the wheelsets.
I posted in that thread a link to a company call Reboxx. They sell wheelsets with different axle lengths for specific manufacturer’s truck sideframes. They have an application chart that gives the axle lengths for the different flavors. I’ll post that again for your convenience: http://www.reboxx.com/Documents/Wheelsets/33%20Application%20Chart.pdf .
If you look at the Athearn flavors you’ll see that most of the sideframes take wheelsets of the same approximate axle length. If all your cars are these, the replacement wheelsets from Lifelike (the proto-2000 ones), Intermountain, or J-Bee (spelling?) will probably work okay. But I did notice that there was one truck that took an axle longer than the rest, and one that required shorter axles, so if you have any of those cars you may need a special axle.
If you do decide to change wheels, I’d suggest that you only get a small quantity originally so that you can test them out. If what you buy works out okay, then you can make a bulk purchase.
Regards
I used almost all Proto 2000 wheelsets, except where they were too long or too short, which is where Reboxx came in. Not sure what I’ll use this time around - used ot be before Walthers bought Life Like, MB Klein used to get them cheap, being local to Life Like in Baltimore, and they sold them for an amazing price. I noticed at their table at Timonium in October, since they now have to go through Walthers, not as cheap. About the same price as my LHS. Still, out of dozens of packs of wheels I NEVER had one out of gauge, ever. So, I will probably repalce any non-metal wheel with them again, it’ll just cost me more.
–Randy
Proto2000 by far best for the price. Use the reamer tool and you’ll get some really easy rolling cars.
I’ve used InterMountain or P2K interchangably. Both work fine, but the InterMountain’s metal axel seems to add just a bit more weight.
I’ve needed to use the “Truck Tuner Tool” heavily on some of the recent blue box kits. Seems that one of the truck sources Athearn has now uses European NEM specs and the axels are noticably shorter.
Mark Gosdin
You should be fine replacing just the wheelsets.
I use Intermountain wheels almost exclusively. They are more expensive then others, because they are entirely metal. Not metal wheels on a plastic axle like most others. They add a good deal of heft to my cars (Athearn BB, MDC, Accurail, and Bowser), and have wonderful rolling characteristics.
Nick
Intermountains are worth the extra money. They are heavier, roll better and can be used for power pickup on lighted passenger cars/caboose/?FREDs etc…
The only time I would change the trucks is if they weren’t correct for the car.
Mike,
Your Athearn ‘BB’ fleet has pretty good trucks under it. Right now your best value for ‘metal’ wheel sets is Intermountain ‘bulk’ packs - They are available from Internet dealers for around $60/box(100 wheel sets). Otherwise they are around $10/12 wheel sets in small blister packs. The P2K 12 packs have really gone up in price. Like Randy, I purchased something like 50 of the 12 packs for $3.99 each from MB Klein many years ago and they lasted until about a year ago. The Intermountain bulk packs are the way to go. Another item you will ‘need’ is a Micro Mark or Reboxx ‘Truck Tuner’ tool to ream out the journals on your trucks before you insert this new metal wheels. What a difference it makes! Here is what I do to the trucks on every car I assemble:
Clean up the ‘flash’ on the side frame with a small mill file
Ream out the journals with the Truck Tuner
Insert metal wheel sets
All of my Athearn, MDC, Accurail, & Walthers cars use either P2K or Intermountain metal wheel sets. I have a few ‘special’ cars that needed ‘exact length’ Reboxx wheel sets. The rolling performance will be consistantly better on your car fleet.
Jim Bernier
I just checked the first few dealers who come up on a search and gee, guess who has the best price I saw on the Intermountains? Betcha get it in one.
Only downside I see is it is a bit more difficult to add detection resistors with the metal axel and the insulation at the wheel hub. With a plastic axle, yo cna just glue on a surface mount resistor smack in the middle where it’s out of the way and won’t hit anything and then just paint conductive paint out to the wheels. With an all metal product you’ll have to glue the resistor on at an angle bridging the hub insulation and while it’s far from imposisble, it’s not as easy as gluing something flat. I suppose you could make up a jig that holds the wheelsets at a 45 degree angle so it would basically be gluing flat…
As for rolling quality, I’ll have to get some and compare. I don’t see how a metal axle will outroll that insanely slippery plastic P2K axle.
–Randy
IM’s are heavier so there’s more rotating mass and the axle points are a lot sharper so there’s less contact friction area with the truck.
I heard a lot of folks say they were better, but I was REALLY surprised how much better when I bought some. I’d gotten quite a few P2K’s with warped plastic axles too.
Thanks to everyone for the input. It clearly is an area where I needed guidance. Walther’s catalogue that came yesterday has 12 pack of P2K for $8.99–think I remember that right-- so maybe I’ll start there and then go to the big bulk Intermountain package.
Mike
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/category_s/1469.htm
MUCH better prices than Walthers.
Mike, on the older Athearn Blue Boxes cars made in the USA Proto 2000 33" wheels sets work fine. New ones made in China they will not work with out some reaming using the tools listed in another answer.
If you are looking for more free wheeling rolling stock, get a Truck Tuner. I use a Mirco-Mark #82838, it will make a metal axle Athearn turn as freely as a all metal set.
My self, I think it is a urbane myth that metal wheel sets will keep the track cleaner. Two years ago I was 90% plactic wheels, I am now 90% metal wheels and still clean the track the same amount of time? Ones I have not converted are the newer Atharns that the Proto wheels set will not fit.
Tune your trucks first, then up grade if needed. I have spent $630.00 on wheels?[#oops] Still have to drag a cleaning car around?
Cuda Ken
I always use Intermountain axles on my freight cars. They seem to have the smoothest rolling qualities (and sound), and only cost $1 more than the P2K wheels. I’ve tried Kadee and P2K wheels, but don’t like the plastic axles as much as the Intermountains.
If you have any trucks that are bad enough to need replacement, Athearn trucks with metal wheels are the best deal I’ve found so far.
Yep, better price, but I’ve got a list of stuff that I’ve only found (sale prices) at Walther’s and may be simpler to go there. Sometimes if the list has more than a few items, shopping around takes a lot of time and multiple charges for shipping is a killer. That said, I’m going to keep looking and see what I find.
You have to give Walther’s credit for posting links for sold out stuff to their wholesale customers. Doesn’t always work, but I found a Cornerstone Series building that none of the major online dealers had through Walther’s links. Without that service, I’d likely still be looking.
Fun hobby!
Hi!
Last year about this time I “bit the bullet” and bought enough Intermountain wheel sets to rewheel 26 passenger cars and 200 freight cars. Half the passenger cars were modified Athearn standards, and most all of the freight cars were modified Athearn, Atlas, MDC, etc. At the time, Walthers had a sale on the wheelsets and I found others on Ebay stores as well.
It was still expensive, but definitely worthwhile as they do not pick up or hold dirt (as the plastic ones do), and they look/sound better. I suspect they may roll and track better but I can’t support that. Actually, stock Athearn BB kit trucks are typically as free rolling as you would want. To answer your question, I did not replace the trucks/sideframes during this process - just the wheelsets. However, I did make sure that each “axle hole” was smooth and clean and those few that were not got treatment with Micromarts little reaming tool. Oh, while I was doing all this I lightly weathered each truck side - a significant improvement in itself.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44