i inherited some older cars (bachman and tyco i think) recently. The cars are in good shape overall, but I would like to replace the trucks and the couplers. I am going to use kadee couplers (matches what i currently use). The trucks are ok, but a couple done go like they should. Couple of them are 6 wheel trucks. What would be good wheels/trucks to use to replace the old ones with? Thanks everyone.
If these items have truck mounted couplers and snap-in trucks, I throw them away.
Glue a wood or plastic plug into the hole where the truck was mounted, drill a hole for a 2/56 screw, and install Accurail, Kato, or Tahoe Model Works trucks with metal wheelsets.
Body mount Kadee couplers and these cars will perform much better.
Those are all good suggestions. There are other good quality trucks too such as Walthers.
I would add weight if needed based on the NMRA formula. The car should weigh 1 oz plus 1/2 oz per each inch of length of the car. … Example … Car is 6" long. Weight should be 4 oz = 1 oz + (6 x 0.5 oz)
Check coupler height. Make sure wheels are in guage and free rolling.
Spend the bucks to get a truck tuner.It will be money well spent follow the directions for usage you will be amazed at how much better the car will roll.Use your knuckle coupler of choice and body mount them after removing the truck mounted coupler and it’s mounting arm.
If you want metal wheels I would reccomend InterMountain sets,JayBees are good to if you can find them.I personally reccomend metal wheels.
Cost wise the truck tuner ( check Micro-Mark if your LHS doesn’t have) is about the same as a pack of IM wheel sets these packs will do 3 cars.The wheel tuner can be used on every HO car you have.One more thing the IM wheel packs are about the same cost as a pair on trucks.
What does a truck tuner do?. I have heard about them but not sure why they do.
Go to the MicroMark web page and search for “truck tuner.”
It will open up the inside of the truck, burnishing and smoothing it out to make wheelsets roll better. It will also make sure that the angle inside where the needlepoint axle end goes is correct, making for better rolling characteristics.
If you’re trying to make the best of old Bachmann and Tyco, the cost of upgrading could easily exceed the value of the car. Consider if the revisions are actually worth it of if you’d be better off spending the upgrade money on a better car that will work aceptably well from the start.
For example, Tahoe Model Works makes great trucks with nice wheelsets, but they currently retail at around $8/pair. There are multiple ways to purchase kadee couplers, but let’s say at least $1.50/pair for those. You’ll also need screws to mount the couplers, and probably the trucks, plus the cost of any materials to fill the old truck mounting holes and/or build up shims for the new coupler boxes. At about $10 plus to upgrade a train set quality car, such an upgrade may not be a cost-effective option.
Many train set cars can run well if you substitute metal wheels in the original trucks too, and regardless of what wheels you use they can be saved for better cars once you acquire them. If you’re considering the long term, any nicer quality trucks or couplers you choose to add could also be used on other cars later.
If you just want to make the Bachmann and Tyco cars run somewhat better for now, you could try asking around locally for better types of plastic wheels on metal axles, like older Athearn, MDC, Walthers or whatever, that a modeler, shop, or club may be willing to part with cheap or even free. The same could be said for plastic Kadee-compatible couplers that hobbysits often throw away.
It could end up costing more possibly in the long run, but the one who i inherited them from started to work on them in the way of weathering them. He also wanted to replace the trucks, but never got around to them as he was limited some cause he was retired. They are senimental to me and would like to incouperate them as i get the better cars to like the athern blue box cars and such.
This is one of those train set cars that some folks think aren’t worth wasting money on.It has Kadee couplers and IM wheel sets cost less than half of what the Red caboose and Walthers cars do,personally owning both of the other brands I think this one looks better than either .
By the way this train set car was made in 1976 by LifeLike.
Actually I believe the HO Thrall is a IM product not Red Caboose,they did the N scale version.
Good enough then. That changes the value equation in favor of upgrading instead of replacement.
I’ve had the boxcar at left here for close to 40 years. I like having it around as a link to my early days in the hobby despite it being basically a trainset quality car. It has Kadee couplers and I installed metal wheels in the original trucks. Weathering and some decals help it blend with other “better” cars.
If I do body mount couplers, would it affect the coupler height at work.
That depends on the car. You’ll need a Kadee coupler height gauge or a homemade equivalent to ensure you’re getting a consistent height with all your cars. It will often be necessary to shim the Kadee coupler box down from the floor, or to add some washers above the trucks if the coupler is too low. In extreme cases it can may be easier to use Kadee couplers with offset shanks.
Not every trainset quality freight car is worth the restoration cost but even with the lower end cars, replacing the deep flanged “pizza cutter” original wheels with decent quality RP25 plastic wheels such as Athearn’s or Walthers’ that themselves were replaced by better metal wheel sets can be a virtually “free” way to improve such a car, although I agree that metal wheelsets are the best.
I have and use the truck tuner but before I got one, I used a phillips screwdriver of the right small size to do essentially the same thing: ream out and burnish the bearing opening on plastic truck sideframes.
At this point I have so many bags of KD #5s sitting around that I regard equipping a marginal car with KDs to be essentially a no cost matter.
And there are some Bachmann/Lionel HO/Mantua trainset quality freight cars that are actually rather nice castings, and sometimes are painted and lettered rather nicely to boot, and well worth re-equipping. I enjoy the challenge, although I admit that sometimes I do cheat and just give up on the original floor/frame and try to adapt the body to either one of the Central Valley generic freight car floors/frames or use one of my very large supply of Athearn or MDC floors/frames that are left over from other projects. Some cars have such a proprietary frame/bolster setup that adapting other trucks to such a car simply does not work. If the original trucks cannot be improved, it is time to just slip in a new frame/floor.
For one old Train Miniature boxcar where all I had was the body, I ended up scratchbuilding the entire floor and frame, and added complete AB brake castings and piping while I was at it. The castings were an old white metal item that I no longer recalled acquiring.
Maybe my psychology is at fault but to me if I do not recall buying it, and have had it for a long time and it is just sitting there, I regard such wheels, couplers, frames, castings and other parts
Many of the cars with Talgo-style couplers sit high to accommodate the swing of the coupler. When you change the trucks (use solvent-type cement to plug the original mounting hole with a scrap of plastic sprue) you can, if necessary, also file down the mounting points so that the car sits lower. Don’t do this until the couplers have been mounted, though, so that you can see how much material needs to be removed.
Depending on how much work you wish to do, cheap trainset-type cars can be made to look quite good. Here’s a Tyco reefer, bought used for a couple of bucks. I installed some Athearn trucks (with the original plastic wheels - not a fan of metal wheels unless the trucks come with them) and added body-mounted couplers. After stripping off the overly-heavy original paint, I found the cast-in detail to be quite acceptable, although I did replace the grabirons and sill steps with metal parts. Trucks, couplers, and lettering, plus the metal parts and paint probably cost under ten bucks - a bargain if you add in the enjoyment of doing the upgrade and the satisfaction of having a unique model.
Over the years I acquired more of these cars, but eventually decided that the steel ends were a bit too modern for my late '30s layout era. I was also increasingly dissatisfied with the cast-in-place roofwalks. However, rather than sell the cars, I elected to update them once again. My main objectives were to change the ends, modify the roof and re-work the sometimes sagging floors.
Well, I removed the ends, but took a little more material than originally planned:
…then removed the roofs, too:
You will probably find this link useful…sooner or later:
http://www.kadee.com/conv/hocc.htm
Take Care![:D]
Frank