I purchased a very nice set of HO scale Southern pacific daylight passenger cars on Ebay.
The cars are in excellent condition, look to be possibly Rivarossi, maybe a couple Athearn.
They were not in boxes, but the seller carefully wrapped them individually in bubble wrap and packaged them quite well, so they arrived with no damage.
Anyway most of them have wheels that slide over a metal axle.
I checked them for gauge, and adjusted them, but itmakes no difference.
I tried a drop of special lubricant on each axle and this makes little difference.
They are all 4 wheel trucks.
The problem I have is they don’t roll very freely, and I am trying to figure out how to correct the problem without replacing the trucks.
They came equipped with Kadee couplers.
It just seems like I saw a tool somehwhere that helps correct this problem.
I have searched through my Walthers 2007 catalog and looked at passenger car trucks, and the tool secton,and can’t seem to locate what I thought I once saw.Perhaps it was in a MRR magazine.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to correct the problem.I bought these cars to go with my GS4 SP steam enegine.
Thanks,
Hmmmm…you bought low quality passenger cars, so I am not suprised. That bieng said, you can get replacement wheel sets and a reemer and have free wheeling cars…
I believe the tool you are talking about Is called a journal box reamer. Check out micromark and see if they have it. If not pm me me and iwill search around for it.
I agree with what has been said thus far, and have an additional question.
Do the wheel sets seem to roll free in the truck frames (turning them with a finger), but don’t roll when placed on the track?
I had some problems with these cheaper cars too and found that in some cases the “cast on” details of the side frames were causing interference. Just another something worth looking at too.
Are the cars lighted? Sometimes the wipers for elect pick up cause too much friction. If they are the Rivarosi or IHC/AHM cars, new trucks are the answer - are the trucks screwed on or on a “push pin” mount? Also look on the underframe, there’s often the manufacturers name on the underside. My [2c]
I bought a set of cheap IHC passenger heavyweights and replaced the wheelsets with Intermountain 36" metal sets. They roll freely with the original trucks. I also added weight to the cars.
This may be irrelevant to what you have, but just something to consider, along with the Micromark truck tuner.
The early runs of Rivarossi/IHC cars used a soft plastic for the trucks and over time the bearings became a slot allowing the truck side frames to rub the rails. If this is the case you will have to replace the trucks.
If the wheels have already been changed, it is likely the brake shoes are dragging on the wheels. This is a known problem with Rivarossi and IHC cars. Originally the wheels were undersized and putting in correct size wheels makes the brake shoes drag on the wheels.
Renegade – I’m pretty sure you’re thinking of the MicroMark Truck Tuner
It helps a lot with replacement wheelsets that have the axle points dragging in the journals, though you should check other detail parts too that could be causing problems, like others have said.
I don’t think Rivarossi ever made 'Daylight cars, but Athearn did - Talgo coupler mounts and all.
You can play with the trucks, but replacing with D&G trucks and Kadee body mounted #38’s is the ultimate answer. Night & day difference! - Well worth the price. Best rollers made.
AHM/Riverossi did make their 1930 series of streamlined cars in “Daylight” paint. None are correct for Espee and only cars used in day train service were painted “Daylight” colours.
As for teh trucks on the AHM/Riverossi passenger cars the truck frames are plastic and the metal axles wear the journals out fairly quickly. I use Kadee 33 inch wheels and slightly bend the brake shoes away from the wheels. 36 inch wheels are the correct size to use the then the brake shoes must be removed from the trucks. The couplers are body mounted and I make a shim from sheet styrene and use a Kadee 46 coupler in the Kadee box. The box is attached with a screw to allow for repair of the coupler should some event damage the coupler. Just be sure the coupler is at the correct height using the Kadee gauge.