Sorry for reinventing the wheel , but I have a bunch of older Athearn & MDC cars that need to be converted to all metal wheelsets. I read some of the old threads but prices have changed .
I want to use all metal ( ie. metal wheels with metal axles ) to add as much weight down low as possible . Is brass , blackened or plane , okay or are nickel plated the ones to look for ? Proto 2000 sets are now nearly a $1 per axle and Intermountain 65c per axle .
The question is - which brand , if any, are more cost effective than Intermountain and where are they available ? Keeping in mind I will need to buy a few hundred .
I can’t really think of any other brands, but I’m in the same boat and I think that just for the sake of it, I’m going to be getting all Intermountain wheels, simply because there seems to be so many people that swear by them, kinda like a Kadee coupler.
I want to use all metal ( ie. metal wheels with metal axles ) to add as much weight down low as possible . Is brass , blackened or plane , okay or are nickel plated the ones to look for ? Proto 2000 sets are now nearly a $1 per axle and Intermountain 65c per axle .
Intermountain wheelsets are only $0.65/axle if you buy in quantities of 1200 (enough to do 300 four axle cars). In quantities of 100, they’re $0.75. That’s the direct price. However, you can buy packs of 100 from M.B. Klein for $59.99 + shipping, which should get you the roughly same price as 1200 direct from Intermountain. http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/product_p/imr-40055.htm
I bought a bunch of Intermountain wheelsets online a couple of years back. I used the same reasoning - best quantity discount. These are good-looking, solid, quality wheelsets. I’ve had no problems with them. One wheel on each is solid-mounted to the axle, while the other has a small plastic insulator to isolate the wheel electrically. The wheel-to-axle connection lets you use wipers on the axles to pick up electrical power if you need it for car lighting, etc. If you do that, make sure you mount the insulators on the same side to avoid shorts.
I purchased mine in bulk for about $52 for 100, so look around. I ended up swapping out about 250 Athearn, MDC, E&C cars and have a few left over for my other future cars, if needed.
Over the past few years I have probably installed somewhere between 7000-8000 wheelsets . They are all Intermountain and out of that I have had only two bad ones from them. They roll great, they are easy to convert to a resistor wheelset and they seem to be the most slippery of all the metal wheelsets I have ever used. Much less prone to derailments than any others. --------- Ken McCorry
Proto 2000 wheelsets are probably the most popular because they’re the cheapest.(I find eccentric axle points produce unrealistic ‘wobble’) so I don’t use (Real freight cars… may sway. but HO cars ‘wobble’).
Metal axles rotating in Delrin (slippery plastic) ROLLS the bes,t, so smooth polished. axle points and the sideframe plastic produces best rrolling results.
2… Wheels are either stamped or machined on a Lathe cut (better) .
Plated Brass or Solid Nickle- are both Good…( I like plated-weathered wheelsfor rolling stock & solid N.S. for pulling wheels on engines), and pay more attetion to the plastic used for sideframes… .
I keep a pair of EB Delrin trucks with lathe machined 33" wheels handy to compare to,as a ‘standard’.to judge others by…I haven’t compared to InterMoumtain’'s but they are close. (Their cars roll beautifully).
I currently have metal wheelsets from Kadee, Reboxx, and a couple other manufacterers in service (I have no idea what is what aside from the 1st two). Here are my opinions on those first two.
Frankly, Kadee wheelsets are lousy replacements. I have several of them in Athearn and other cars, and they roll so bad and are so derailment prone that I’m pulling every car that derails twice (in a spot not known as a trouble spot) out of service until it gets a different type of wheelset installed. I’ve tried liberal use of a truck tuner, checking and rechecking gauge, truck screw tightness, and offset spacing, but nothing helps.
I have heard good things about Kadee wheelsets when they are installed in quality trucks, preferable Kadee’s own. Maybe I’m using the wrong axle length…
Reboxx wheelsets are some of the best rolling wheelsets on the market, and are great replacements for Athearn Blue Box cars, with the proper axle length. I have a standard Athearn 53’ reefer that rolls better than Atlas and other high-quality cars. The ones I have seem to be scale wheelsets, noticably thinner than other brands, and for all I know could be Proto:83! They aren’t as forgiving as some other brands, but hold the tracks pretty well. A bit pricey ($10 for three cars) but some of the best wheelsets available!
Almost two years ago I replaced all wheelsets on my freight/passenger cars that did not already have them. I got Intermountain (33 &36 inch) in bulk from Ebay vendors and am very satisfied with the results and cost. It was not cheap - but the bigger bulk package you can buy, the more you save.
I also like Intermountain but have be equally satified with Branchline and P2K. I have found the axles on Intermountain wheel sets to be very slightly shorter and fit a little sloppy in some trucks
The Kadee trucks I own are not as free-rolling as some others. But the sideframes are beautiful - and sprung for decent equalization. The other nice part about Kadees wheelsets not being quite as free-rolling is that the cars don’t misbehave (and the axles are non-magnetic) when trying to do the Kadee 2-step for delayed uncoupling.
I would love to put code 88 wheels on most of my trucks - it really makes a visual difference on 19th Century freight cars, especially when combined with “scale” or Kadee 711 couplers. Tahoe Models makes some nice arch bar trucks with code 88 wheels - I have
I’ve heard of some derailment and ‘wobbling’ problems with the P2K wheelsets, but I’ve never experienced it. They’ve worked well for me, I’ve replaced plastic wheelsets with them on a lot of my rolling stock. .
But the Intermountain wheelsets are terrific–they’re heavier and they provide a good low center of gravity, especially on some cars that might be a little ‘lighter’ than NMRA recommendation. And with a little ‘tweaking’, I’ve replaced the wheelsets on all of my lighter-weight (Rivarossi/IHC) passenger cars with the Intermountain 36" wheels and the difference in both weight and rolling qualities is like night and day.
So I’ll certainly agree with a lot of the other posters–you can hardly go wrong with Intermountain.
I’ve installed Intermountain narrow tread width wheelsets on my last two cars (which happen to be lightweight flat cars). They were a small fraction of the cost of NWSL wheelsets bought years ago and used for my previous car…
As many others have said, Intermountain is a good choice.
Personally, I go one step further, I replace most all freight trucks with Kadee metal sprung trucks, but I remove the Kadee wheelsets and install Intermountain wheel sets, with a very light drop of oil in each journal.
This provides a more free rolling truck than any other combination I have tested. It easily equals all rigid sideframe truck/wheelset combinations and is more free rolling than most.
It also provides extra weight down low where it does the most good. That combined with the sprung/equalized design results in noticibly better tracking.
I have stopped weighting cars to NMRA RP’s do to the improved tracking of this truck set up. The combination of keeping cars lighter, adding the weght of the metal trucks down low, with more free rolling/equalized/better tracking has increased pulling performance from all locos in the range of 30% to 40%.
I do not use semi scale wheels because they are not fully compatable with NMRA standard track. Many will tell you they “work” fine, but they drop down in turnout frogs which is not the correct design or operation. I agree they look good, but so do truely scale wheels on a display model. Operation and reliablity first, appearance second here on the Atlantic Central.
My understanding is that only custom-built or jig-built turnouts are (usually) the only ones meeting NMRA specifications for rail clearances. None of the mass-factory-produced turnouts do, and they are particularly “sloppy” about the frog. Has anyone tried the semi-scale wheels on FastTrack turnouts?