Ok, dumb question, but I have to ask it.
How do I remove the plastic trucks from a HO freight car? I am wantng to replace them.
And, how do I remove ONLY the wheels if I only want to replace the wheels. Do they pop off? Do I need to cut em off?
Thanks folks
TJ
Depends on the make. In most cases, you just spread the trucks and the wheels will come out. Careful not to spread too far.
Good luck.
Peter
Most plastic trucks can be easily spread apart to remove wheel sets. I tend to put a medium flat head screw driver into the space between the outside of a wheel and the inside of the truck and twist gently. This spreads the truck and levers the wheel set out.
To remove the truck altogether. They are either held in by a screw (Athearn et al). held in by a press fit plastic pin (Accurail and Atlas) or held in place by a press fit plastic nub molded onto the truck (basic Lifelike and Bachmann). Generally you can pry these of by levering with a screw driver.
most do pop up and some you have to take the shell of too get to the trucks wheels, make sure you get wheels that the pins on the side of them arent to long or the wheels might not spin well
Wow, that was way easier than I thought! Thanks for your help folks!
This hobby just keeps getting better and better.
TJ
As mentioned above, when replacing wheel sets, the axle lengths need to match fairly closely.