Repairing Rolling Stock Questions

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I have a couple of questions I could use some help with.

1 Broken Necks / Mounting Point’s for trucks. I have cracked a few and I need to know what sizes stock to buy to replace the necks / mounting points with. I have a idea how to mount the new neck, just not what sizes to buy. I want to use Athearn trucks.

2 Have a few cars where the wheel flanges do not line up like in this photo.

http://s83.photobucket.com/user/cudaken/media/Repair%20and%20detail/TruckAlignment-1.jpg.html]

Wheel sets still fit fine and roll well. Could I possibly use my Truck Tunner to clean up the wheel set that do not aline up right? In others words add just a little more play so all the flanges line up when I flip them over? Having a hard time putting in the proper words here. I am better working on the rolling stock than asking questions right! [(-D]

Thanks for the coming answers.

Cuda Ken

2

Be nice if we knew the brand of cars…

Roundhouse didn’t use a bolster pin on their cars like most manufacturers.

3

Larry, reason I did not list the maker of the rolling stock is because I just want to use Athearn Trucks. Some will me Tyco, Life Like, Bachmann and so fourth. I have a good idea how to fill the big hole so to speak like with the Tyco.

Thank you for the question, Ken.

4

Hi Ken:

I’m going to guess that by “neck” you are referring to the little ring of plastic that sticks out the bottom of the bolster for the truck to pivot on. Is that correct?

If so, I use 1/8" Evergreen tube. It fits most trucks without modification to the truck but there may be a few where you will have to drill out the hole in the truck a bit so they pivot freely. If I can suggest, I would drill the center hole in the 1/8" tube out a bit before trying to tap it. Sorry, I don’t know the proper drill size for a 2/56 tap. I just eyeball it. Also, I learned the hard way to let the glue set for at least a day before trying to tap the hole.

I hope that is the information you were looking for.

Sorry - I can’t help with the crabbing truck.

Dave

5

I have never heard anything on a car called a neck, what do you mean by this word. Is it the screw; or, pin that hold the trucks to the bolster? I would simply replace a truck that held the wheel sets so the truck “Dog Walked” as your illistration shows.

6

Several people have commented on the use of the truck tuner and seem to think that it will “dig the hole deeper”. In my opinion, the proper use of this tool is just to clean out the inside of the axle cone, not to dig a deeper hole.

Concerning the skew or crabbing you describe, it seems to me that the likely cause of this is that the wheels on the axles are not centered on the axle. The check for this would be to replace the wheels/axles with with a quality set and see if the skew disappears.

You can replace what I would call the centering pin with 1/8 inch diameter Evergreen styrene or equivalent tube. Use the existing hole to center the drill. Be sure to check that the hole in the truck bolster will pass the 1/8 tube to make sure that it is the correct size before starting all this. Then, as mentioned, tap the hole for a 2-56 screw. The correct drill for this tap size is a number 50. Be sure that you give whatever adhesive you use to install the tube time to set before drilling/tapping.

As an alternate to replacing the centering pin, what I’ve done is use a 2-56 washer. But you can’t use any old 2-56 washer. If your local hobby shop has one of those Walther’s (Hobits?) small screwbolt/washer displays, you can find a 2-56 washer here that will probably work. The difference between this washer and the hardware store variety is that the outer diameter of Walther’s washer is smaller, and will fit inside the hole in the bottom of the truck bolster. The truck screw goes through the washer, through the bolster, and into the tapped hole. In effect, the truck will center itself around the washer.

7

For the “skewing and crabbing” problem I have a distant and ancient memory that eons ago guys would put very small soft springs on the outside of the wheels (so between the wheel face and the inside of the truck sideframe, with the axle end in the center of the spring) – but it might be that that was an O scale technique not well suited to HO

Dave Nelson

8

I think the ‘skewed’ wheel sets is because the wheels aren’t centered on the axle. You might just take one axle set out and reverse it to see if they don’t line up now? Just a thought. Myself, I would replace them all with good metal wheel sets thought.

-Bob

9

Hmmm, I thought I said that.

10

That was a delayed…echo. [:-^]

Take Care! [:D]

Frank

BTW: I wouldn’t waste my time, trying to fix those trucks. They don’t really cost that much.

11

The cars you mention has truck mounted couplers so,during the change out of the trucks you will need to body mount the couplers so, in that light along with the round Evergreen plastic you may need some Evergreens flat plastic for making coupler pocket pads…

I apologize not not knowing the needed size of the flat plastic.Maybe one of the more experience guys in this change out can chip in here with the size.

If you don’t already have these you may want to consider buying a NMRA gauge and a KD coupler height gauge…

12

Where in any of the O.P.'s original question; or, the comments which came after, is it mentioned that the trucks on Cudaken’s cars are talgo type trucks (trucks with attached couplers)?

13

"Where in any of the O.P.'s original question; or, the comments which came after, is it mentioned that the trucks on Cudaken’s cars are talgo type trucks (trucks with attached couplers)? "

Right where it says “TYCO,Life Like,Bachmann, and so forth.”[:D]

14

As for the skewed wheelsets in the trucks, simply remove the offending wheelsets, and use a twisting motion to move the wheels in the appropriate direction on the axle. You can do it “by eye” or use calipers to set the length of the portion of the protruding axle ends. Then use the NMRA gauge to set the proper wheel gauge. If necessary, add a drop of ca to the backside of the wheels where they interface with the axle.

Wayne

15

Sorry, I don’t get Cudaken saying his cars are made by Tyco, Life Like or Bachmann from his statement above.

Good luck!

16

Frist let me say I am sorry it has taken me so long to get back to the folks that have answered this post. I am really under the weather with something nasty. [+o(]

Dave said “If so, I use 1/8” Evergreen tube. It fits most trucks without modification to the truck but there may be a few where you will have to drill out the hole in the truck a bit so they pivot freely."

That is the answer I was looking for so thank you.

Max said “As an alternate to replacing the centering pin, what I’ve done is use a 2-56 washer.”

So Max if I can find this type warsher at my LHS I don’t need what I am calling a Neck? If my LHS does not have any, who on line would?

Bob said “I think the ‘skewed’ wheel sets is because the wheels aren’t centered on the axle”

Nope, I have just plain wore them out! Some of these cars I am working on have well over 1000 hours on them. All tracked great at one point.

Larry said “The cars you mention has truck mounted couplers so,during the change out of the trucks you will need to body mount the couplers so, in that light along with the round Evergreen plastic you may need some Evergreens flat plastic for making coupler pocket pads.”

Well you where right at one point. They started as Truck Mounted Couplers, but the couplers where cut off years ago.

Dr Wayne said “As for the skewed wheelsets in the trucks, simply remove the offending wheelsets”.

Doc, I wish it was that easy! 90% of the rolling stock have PK 2000 33" wheels installed years ago.

One thing most of you folks missed is when I said I want to use Athearn Trucks on the Tyco, Bachmann, Life Like and other rolling stock.

I have plenty of nice rolling stock, in fact I hav

17

Just to get the terminology straight, what you are calling the “neck” is the tube-like projection that sticks down from the bottom of each end of the car that the truck mouinting screw screws into, correct?

What I have done is use the washer in the truck bolster placd in the hole where the screw head that holds the truck to the car goes. So instead of the bolster pivoting around the “neck”, the screw centers the washer and the truck pivots around the washer outside diameter. At least this has worked for me.

If the hobby shop doesn’t have these washers, I don’t know where you would get them online. As I mentioned, the OD of these washers is smaller than the OD of the standard 2-56 washers.

18

I will admitt, I could not understand what you were saying in the above sentance.

19

I know I am getting here a bit late, but, Ken, as a car guy, you probably have a caliper or micrometer in your took kit (?). If so, you might want to try this check. Pop the wheels out of the truck, and measure from the point of the axle to the face of the opposite wheel. Repeat the measurement from the opposite axle point and compare the two. They should be the same. If they are not, compare the measurements for both axles in the truck. Possibly they could have the same offset, so installing them back with the offfset on the same side could help the problem.

20

With the benefit of his additional detailed follow-up post, I think it was a simple typo and he probably meant to say “Some [cars] will __*b__e Tyco” etc.

That did certainly make for a confusing earlier post.