Hello, I was on E-Bay the other day and I came across interesting 40 ft boxcars for a reasonable price but they all had plastic wheels, would I be able to find metal wheels to replace them or should I go for the more expensive models with the metal wheels already installed.
Thank you.
Serge
You can easily change wheels on anything in HO. Just flex the truck sidefames and the axles will come loose. Your local hobby shop sells packs of metal wheels (actually assemblies of a pair of wheels pressed onto an axle).
don’t worry about plastic wheels. unless they are the antique pizza cutter style they will work just fine so long as they are in gauge and don’t wobble.
i have been in this hobby for 45 years and half the 450 cars on my layout are running just fine with plastic wheels. i run 50 car trains with near zero derailments and track cleaning is a rare event.
sure there are some advantages to metal wheels but i think their main advantage is to the people who sell them. the truth does not support their agenda. if you like the metal wheels better, then change over to them. just don’t get caught up in all the hype and waste your money.
personally, i would never change out a wheel set that was not giving me trouble to start with.
maybe i am just an old fossil but i get by just fine without onstar, an ipod or a bluetooth also.
grizlump
you can find a card of 12 axles w/metal wheels (enough for 3 box cars) for about 7.00 on sale thats 2.35 a car ,I like p2k (my choice ) but the trick is you have to find on sale and get more than you need or add them to an order for other things or supplies to keep the shipping from killing you…last year when I was building supplies (track an such) i got 10 cards of wheels for 5.95 each and mixed em in my track and such order so the shipping was minimal ,now I had no use for ten cards of wheels at that time but there all gone now…I use nhshobbies.com for most of my supplies ,track,switches ,roadbed ,tools ,couplers ect. they dont carry rolling stock and such…oops went on and on again …J.W. ps I like athearn kits w/p2k metal wheels ,they track nice.
Unless the plastic wheels have “pizza cutter” flanges, are out of gauge, or the axles are warped, there’s no reason to replace them.
I have a number of old Tyco/Mantua cars. Many of these came with “Talgo” trucks. The couplers are part of the truck, rather than being body-mounted as is more desireable. Since these are very old cars, they were equipped with horn-hooks in addition to the plastic wheels. I’ve cut off the coupler mounts, put Kadees on the body and now run these cars regularly.
The trucks, however, are all-metal and not particularly flexible. So, I haven’t been able to easily replace the wheels. I’ll live with the plastic ones for now. But, just so you know, you can also buy replacement trucks for a few dollars a pair.
Many plastic trucks, old and new, have burrs or other problems which affect the rolling resistance of the wheels. Get a Truck Tuner from Micro-Mark. This is a reaming tool that removes burrs, flash, and other junk from plastic sideframes. It will not work and may be damaged on metal sideframes.
I agree. If the wheels are causing some problem, they should be replaced, but plastic wheels work just as well as metal ones. Rolling quality is dependent on the axle/sideframe interface and the material of which the wheel is made doesn’t seem to have any bearing on how often you’ll need to clean your track. The majority of my rolling stock has its original plastic wheels and I don’t clean track. The main cause of dirty track is a dirty layout environment.
Besides the added expense of metal wheels, the noise which they add to a moving train isn’t any more realistic than the sound of plastic wheels on the rails.
Some metal wheels have foundry data cast onto their face, which, in my opinion is their only advantage. If the car is moving, though, it’s pretty hard to read. [swg]
Wayne
Serge -
Ditto on the plastic wheel stuff. If they ain’t broke don’t fix 'em. If they are broke, then newer profile / correctly spec’d axles are in order. I perfer plastic, but that’s your call.
Archer
Maybe. Many plastic wheels have steel axles which can cause problems with uncoupling magnets and the axle bearings can rust if there is humidity in the RR room. The rust will reduce the free rolling capabilities of the car. I also think that plastic wheels attract gunk more than metal wheels.
One other thing not mentioned very often is that metal wheels are noisier than plastic wheels on the track. You will get way more "clickety clack’ over switches and trackwork with metal wheels than plastic.
Add me to the, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” column. As long as the plastic wheels (on metal axles) are in gauge and clean, I use them - even if the truck they’re installed in goes back on after a serious kitbashing of the car it was originally under. (Ever see a single-bay hopper? How about a seven axle articulated hopper with one bay per carbody?)
Most of my rolling stock has metal wheels - because that’s what TER, KTM and Tenshodo put under them. I have had issues with some that came free of their plastic hubs…
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - plus some wild feats of imagineering)
griz you old fossil !
You left out the part about walking to school in your bare feet in waist deep snow uphill both ways and how much you liked it. [:D][swg]
I can’t think of any manufacturer (that sells quality products that is) that has plastic wheels on their stuff. They use metal wheels for a reason so you decide. This topic has been brought up so many times and the majority of people say junk them and install metal wheels. [(-D]
Hello everyone, a big THANK YOU for all of your comments and infos, they were greatly appreciated.
Serge
Accurail, Bowser, and Red Caboose spring to mind. [:-^][;)]
Wayne
Danish manufacturer Heljan had an embarrassing problem whith the metal wheelsets on early runs of their British ‘Dogfish’ wagon (a type of small ballast hopper). The cars themselves are a quality product, but the wheelsets were not insulated so they shorted out the power. Oops…
I think self replacement would be the best and cheapest way. I’ve removed my wheelsets a few times to get to broken couplers and it was very easy to remove and replace.