2 part question, going to replace some plastic wheel with metal ones, which is better 33’ intermoutain or 33’ kadee? also what is the weight of each one of them? I have bought some kadee in the past, but the cars with them are packed in storage. The kadee look to be a bit cheaper 9.18 on sale for 7.98 right now, the intermoutain ones are 13.95
Trying to figure out how much more weight to add to some kits to bring them up to the right weight. Need to know the weight of the wheels, so i can factor that in.
Hi fourt. Me again (we both seem to be up late tonight).
You can buy the Intermountain 33" wheels in bulk packages of 40 or 100 sets. They are a bit cheaper that way. Note that the prices are in Canadian dollars so you should do your own search to see the $US prices.
I believe the difference between the Intermountain wheel sets and the Kadee sets is that the Intermountain sets have metal axles and the Kadees have plastic axles. Lots of people swear by both, but I have heard that the Kadee axle tips are prone to wear whereas the Intermountain axles will not likely wear in several lifetimes.
However, if you have metal trucks the Kadees might roll slightly better because of the self lubricating qualities of the acetal plastic axles. The Intermountain axles would be metal on metal, but we might be splitting hairs here.
The Intermountain wheel sets weigh 13 grams per four axles. I don’t have any Kadees to compare.
I have heard that some modelers prefer the Intermountain wheels over the Kadee. Intermountain has a much broader selection of specialty wheelsets. I use some that have microscopic ball bearings that work great on brass passenger cars [tup]
In my experience I have used the Kadees, 33" and 36" smooth or ribbed, depending on the car, without any regrets as replacement wheels. Much of my recent rolling stock already had metal wheels installed, including some Intermountain, so I would guess my rolling stock is about 75% Kadee wheels. I routinely run 60 to 70 car freights and rolling resistance is negligible.
A while back I was buying the Life-Like wheelsets (pre Walthers) but I found their quality control allowed some poorly formed wheels to be sold.
I’m away from home and my precision scale but I’ll weigh some stock Athearn wheels and compare them to the Kadee #520s. I don’t expect much difference since the Athearn had steel axles and plastic wheels and the Kadee vice-versa.
If you are weighing your cars to THAT close of a tolerance you will probably have to use individual pieces of AAA buckshot to get your final weight [:-^]
hon30critter only up as i work nights. The trucks that i would be putting them in is plastic. I am working on 4 2-bay covered hoppers, They are about 1/2 the weight they should be. Going to put a brass tube across the bottom for weight and looks. Going to have to cut a hole in bottom to put some lead fishing sinkers for more weight and some white glue or something to hold them in place. Needed the weight of the metal couplers so i can get close to the recommoned weight after puting the lead inside. Some of my older stuff packed away in storage has the old proto 2000 wheels on them or kadees’s. Not sure if i have ever used the Intermountain ones before.
This has been discussed many times here over the years.
The intermountain are all metal wheels. All that I have read, they roll a little better. This can make a difference with long freights. Our club has run forty to fifty freights. I have run thirty NYC Pacemaker freights. We all converted to intermountain.
The Kadee are sintered metal wheels capable of picking up dirt easier. They are not solid metal. Still ok thought but I like the shiny thread of the all metal. NWSL and reboxx are nice.
Yes, this topic is often revisted and you have lovers/haters for both Intermountain and Kadee. I prefer Kadee since it’s often cheaper than Intermountain.
Fourte: I found that fishing sinkers are make great rolling stock weights. I often put them underneath the rolling stock by first squeezing them with pliars so they are less noticeable. A small dollup (science word) of liquid nails really holds them.
Let’s look at the big picture. The weight of the metal wheels is on the rail whereas the weight of the car is in the body both work hand in hand and there is no real need to figure in the few grams or maybe the ounce the metal wheels weigh.
You could drive yourself bonkers worrying about such things but,there is no real need.The choice is yours to make.
My standard weight is metal wheels and I add three 1/4 oz stick on weights over each truck and that seems to work quite well.
That’s 3/4 oz over each truck and that also improves long distance rollability…
So, by adding 4.08 gm per car (8.24 gm - 4.16 gm.) you will be increasing the cars weight by exactly 0.1439178 ounces by replacing the Athearn wheels with Kadees!
I buy Intermountain wheels in bulk packs. When they say “100 wheelsets” they mean “100 axles,” so that number will do 25 cars.
And, no discussion of replacing wheels would be complete without some clown like me coming on and suggesting getting a Micro-Mark “Truck Tuner” tool to clean out the axle bearings and give you much better rolling performance.
MBKlein, Intermountain 100 packs, enough for 25 cars, $70, thats $2.80 per car, 12 pack is $10, that’s $3.33 per car, although they don’t currently show 33" sets in the 12 pack, just 36"
I use and like Kadee wheels but understand sintered metal’s potential for issues down the line. I use a wire brush in a Dremel tool to polish the treads on my Kadee wheels (in other words it removed the dark coating on the treads) as it gives them the gleam that wheel treads on the prototype have unless they have been sitting idle a long time.
One old trick to add a bit more weight to a car where access to the interior is no longer possible, is to wrap fine solder around the wheel axles.
I have started using Wathers Proto trucks. Reasonably priced and so far no problems.
I tried the new Kadee trucks with the plastic side frames. I had a few issues with them. One I don’t care for any of their self centering trucks. Two is their two piece cross bar. It is a pain trying to hold everthing together and get the truck to sit flat.
And three is the fact you have to cut the mounting stub off your cars. I have spent too much time making sure the car doesn’t lean to one side after I file the stub flat. I’m not a machinist.
I tried some of the Kato trucks, the ones with the spinning bearing cap. Virtually everyone I bought the wheels were too close together. Moving the wheels even a few thousands caused them bind up in the side frames. ( it’s the way the axles and side frames are made for the spinning bearing caps ) And the flanges seem too thick. Anything that I put the Katos on was a derailment going some where to happen.
If you mean the king pin that holds the trucks on there is no need to remove it. I’ve never found a reason to do so if you follow the very basics that has worked from the start of the hobby-tighten down until the truck doesn’t move and back off 2 1/2 turns.
The car will not wobble or lean and will track perfect.
Here’s what will happen if a screw becomes lose and falls off… You will have a pile up because there is nothing holding the truck on and please don’t ask how I know this. With the king pin in place this will not happen because the truck is being held on by the king pin and can not roll back under the car causing a derailment…
At the club all the Kadee wheels seemed to collect dirt to the point where derailments were caused by the gunk buildup. We replaced them all with Intermountain
I see that replacing the wheels will not add much weight. However the better rolling ability and looks are better. I had one of the truck tuners before i moved, not sure where it and a lot of other tools/parts/models ended up in storage. have gone through the boxs 2-3 times and still cant find everthing. Stupid me just put whatever i grabed in a box for the move, instead of puting clothes/books/train stuff etc in it own box.
Going to stop by one of the local hobby shops today after i wake up and see what wheels they have. Thanks all for the help, will update after i get the wheels.
Just remembered that hobby shop is closed on wedsday’s, will have to wait till thursday.
Before there was such a thing as the Trucktuner I used a very small Phillips screwdriver for the same purpose. You twirl it just like the Trucktuner. In a pinch it can work.