I was on that favorite auction site of everyones and was looking up metal wheelsets. I found 33 inch and 36 inch bulk packs of branchline and intermuntain. 100 pack 36 inch branchline was 40 ish dollars and similar for as many intermountain.
Question is:
a) is this a good price for the 100 pack the 300 pack is buy it now for 95
b) what is the usage for 33 inch and 36 inch. meaning if I bought 100 of these things which should I buy to upgrade my boxcars, hoppers, flatcars, tankcars, cabeese, and such?
That’s a pretty good price for IM’s. I think they were around $65 at an online store I was looking at.
33" are for most standard rollong stock. 36" are generally for passenger cars and I believe some modern closed hoppers and similar stock.
That is a pretty good price for either Intermountain or Branchline ‘bulk’ packs. I use a lot of Intermountain wheel sets and usually pay about $50/box for the bulk packs. I would buy some various brands 33" & 36" wheel sets and try them out. The axle length varies between brands, and the clearence in the truck journal varies a lot. I have had good luck using Intermountain wheel sets in most of my cars. One thing you will want to buy is the ‘wheel tuner’ tool from either Micro-Mark or Reboxx. This allows you to ream out a perfect conical journal in your truck sideframes - It will make a big difference(the wheels roll so much better).
Now for the 33" vs 36" debate: freight cars with a capacity over 77 tons usually use 36" wheels(larger contact patch/larger axles). What this translates to is that most box cars use the 33" wheels, and most 100+ ton capacity cars(like covered hoppers or coal hoppers) use 36" wheels. Super high capacity covered hoppers(125-130 ton capacity) use 38" wheels. Some Trailer Train flat cars use 28" wheels due to vertical clearance issues when loaded with truck trailers.
If you model the 60’s or earlier you’ll need mostly 33", except for passenger which are 36".
One thing I’ve found is that Intermountain wheelset have metal axles, I “believe” Branchline have plastic ones. The metal are a little heaver and I think roll better. Again some brands fit some trucks better than others. I use IM and P2K, They work very well in athearn, accurail, bowser and stewart freight cars, I had a few older cars (I don’t remember the brand) that the IM were a little too small.
MB Klein has them for $60. IM also sells 28", 38" and semi scale tread and roller bearing versions.
I had heard the IM’s had a longer axle than the P2K’s. IM’s are supposed to be a better replacement for the IHC passenger trucks. (P2K’s just fall out.)
My experience has been that the p2k’s are very slightly longer than the IM’s. I measured them when I started converting to metal wheels and I don’t exactly remember the difference but it was small.
That’s interesting. It’s the opposite of what I’ve been told. I guess I’ll start out with a 12 pack and check before I get a bulk pack of them.
Thanks for that info.
I’d try a 12 pack of any brands that you are considering. While they are all metal the axles are different and the look is different. IMHO I think the P2k look the best, but the IM roll the best, Branchline are OK but I don’t think look as good. Others will differ. They all need to be painted.