I just bought 10 new Southern Pacific Hoppers made by Model Power.I filled them with sand and they want to come off the track easily.I notice as I run them even slow, they want to sway from side to side even with a load of sand in them.I changed the front truck over to micro couplers and left the rest to rapido couplers.Is this the problem I’m having? If I have to I’ll change all of them to new trucks with micro couplers.On a different locomotive I have 6 Chicago and Northwestern hoppers and I have no problem with them at all. I am stumped.
Check how the screw meets the truck. if it dosen’t you may have to carefuly file a little off the bolster to make the truck a little tighter. Rule of thumb is one truck should have a little wobble and the other shouldn’t but not tight enough to derail it, you may have to add kadee washers to bring it to the right coupler height, Jim.
So, I should check the trucks for looseness?How they sway from side to side could be them nit fitting tight against the car.It’s got to be the trucks, adding weight did not help.
Adding weight isn’t going to help the problem turn the car over and see if the trucks have excess side to side wobble . If it does you are going to have to either return them or do your own repairs . They may be factory screw ups maybe a call to your lhs might be your best bet first. let us know.
Sway or wobble? Swaying suggests to me that the body slides to one side and then the other, but if it is merely tipping, or wobbling, over the trucks, then I agree with the advice. Your bolsters may have flashing, or came out of the molds with a non-flat surface that acts more like a cam or a ramp.
-Crandell
I bought all of these from a guy who sold them on Ebay. They are new in the box and I would rather fix them than ask him to take them back.They sway from side to side and I am replacing them all with micro couplers and I found pins that fit a little bit tighter.I bought 6 and have 6 more coming and would rather find the cure for this. So I nee all the answers I can get. Thanks.
Sounds like these are N scale cars , am I correct?Jim
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Yes, I did forget to mention all of my things are N scale.I do not know the brand but like I said earlier that I have 5 chicago and Northwestern hoppers that roll perfectly and haven’t had one dump yet.
Make sure the replaced couplers more easily. Sometimes the screws to the coupler boxes are too tight and the couplers can’t move freely. This can cause derailments especially on curves and with lighter rolling stock.
Try putting a kadee washer between both the trucks and the body on one of the cars and try it and see if it makes a differance might just need some stablity
Is a Kadee washer real thin? The new trucks with the micro couplers match the locomotive’s height right now without a washer.
They are paper thin washers , there are 3 differant thickness’ your local hobby shop should carry them,as for the couplers they should have the shims to lower them match the other couplers also, good luck Jim.