What is the best brand of Wheel sets to replace old plastic ones.
Youngtrain,
First off, [#welcome] to the forum! Good to have you aboard!
Secondly, you’ll get a myriad of wheelset preferences and recommendations but the answer is really contingent on what piece(s) of rolling stock you have. Some cars will take 33" and passenger and some newer cars require 36" wheels. Also, some wheelsets are slightly shorter or longer in width (between manufacturers) and may fit some trucks better or worse than others.
That said, I have been very happy with Proto 2000 wheelsets. They also come in both the smooth-back and ribbed versions; the latter being appropriate for older rolling stock that still had hand-brakes.
Lastly, a really handy tool you may also want to consider is a truing tool:
It will clear out any flash or burrs where the wheel tips are centered in the truck and can be purchased from online sites like Micro-Mark.
Tom
Wow, that’s like asking which vehicle is the best, Ford, Chevy or Dodge.
Welcome to the forum! [#welcome]
Tom covered it pretty well.
I happen to like Intermountain for everything but my Athearn BB streamlined passenger cars, I buy the Athearn wheel sets for them.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
My Model Railroad
Assume we’re speaking of metal wheels here.
While there are several brands that very good I preferr Intermountain brand wheels,reasonably priced and come in bulk packagin.
And They fit 95 percent of the rolling stock produced today.
rolling quality is above average.
If you can find them. They were a subject of a previous post where the poster was complaining (so what else is new) that Walthers could not tell him when they would be made available. Now the Walthers website says they are discontinued. See first couple of line items here: http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?manu=WALTHERS&item=&words=restrict&split=30&category=&scale=H&instock=Q&showdisc=Y&keywords=wheels&start=30
Walthers now lists some other wheel sets with either metal or plastic axles, but they are not available with a note stating “no information from vendor”: http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?manu=WALTHERS&item=&words=restrict&split=30&category=&scale=H&instock=Q&showdisc=Y&keywords=wheels&start=0
Hi, and welcome to the Forum!
You can’t go wrong with Intermountain. You can get them in bulk on Ebay, and I’ve installed them on a good 300 cars over the years. They look good, roll extremely well, and don’t tend to pick up “gunk”.
Of course there are other good ones too, but IM are always available.
There is no one “best” option, and opinions vary. From my experience, I’ve come to prefer machined wheels with finely pointed metal axles like Intermountain or ExactRail, over cast wheels with plastic axles like Kadee or Proto 2000. Cast wheels have voids on the surface that can pick up and redistribute crud, while machined wheels have a smoother surface that tends to stay cleaner. I’m slowly replacing Kadee and P2K wheels with machined types.
Youngtrainguy86
Ditto!
Dave
P.S.
Welcome to the forums!! [#welcome]
I thought the cast wheels died with the Athern Blue Box items and CNC machining??
What do ribbed back wheels have to do with hand brakes???
Charlie
Charlie,
Someone can correct me if I’m wrong. My understanding was that ribbed wheels were used prior to the advent of dynamic braking. They were made of cast iron and the ribs helped to keep them from overheating. Smooth-back wheels were/are made from wrought or rolled steel and dynamic braking made the ribbed wheels obsolete because the brakes weren’t worked as hard.
Tom
The ribs made the wheels more subject to cracking and major failure, that is why they were prohibited.
The P2K axles had only plastic axles in the past; now they are available with either plastic or metal axles. For 33", the following choices are available:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/920-2300
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/920-2301
Similar choices are available in 36", but both are out of stock for now.
Another vote for Intermountain which I’ve installed on @500 cars over 12 years.
While Kadee wheels do not have voids from the process, they are sintered.
The metal particles are compressed under high pressure and very tiny spaces exist between the particles which can eventually absorb dust. I guess you could call them voids.
Sintering is a process of forming a solid from powdered metal. Not like a solid machined metal wheel. Still an ok wheel.
Intermountain, Reboxx, NWSL are solid metal.
Rich
[#welcome]
I use Intermountain and have always been happy with them. I have converted several to resistor wheel sets.
Maybe you can’t see them, but microscopic voids are still there and the reason those kinds of wheels tend to pick up crud that Rob mentioned.
I only have few of the older LL Proto 2000 and Kadee wheelsets and when I get caught up on replacing the other wheels, I’ll probably replace them too.
Another vote for Intermountain or ExactRail wheelsets.
Hi, Tom
SO much has been written about the manufacture and use of railroad wheels that an entire thread (several, in fact) have been devoted to them!
(See Below)
This link was provided in one of my replys, You’ll recognize Messrs. Charles Smith and Lanz Vail mentioned in it.
http://www.vbfamily.com/Wheeldoc.htm
Here is an excerpt from the above link:
Many, but not all cast iron wheels can be identified by the beautifully spiraling ribs known as “brackets” on their back sides. The brackets added strength to the wheel’s flange and to the plate supporting the rim. Charlie Smith says most. but not all cast iron wheels made after 1920 had brackets. The spiraled brackets are not found on steel wheels. Charlie tells us cast iron wheels were outlawed for newly constructed cars in 1958. They were banned for replacement on existing cars in 1964, but remained acceptable in interchange until 1968.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/t/47414.aspx
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/p/206728/2261614.aspx
[url] http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/p/206728/2261614.aspx [url/]
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/247988/2766477.aspx
I GIVE UP!!! [banghead]
(this software is driving me absolutely batty ! Trying to make active links [:(!]
As soon as I sucessfully make a link “clickable” the one above it beco
Probably there needs to be some clarification. The 920-2300 and 920-2301 are not P2K. Walthers just calls them “Proto”. The original P2K wheels/axles are 920-21257/21258/21259 and are discontinued.
Interesting question. One of the best pieces of advice I noted is the need to use the truck tuner on plastic trucks. I use it on all my plastic trucks.
I cannot say what might be the best wheelset to use as I have had good success with Kadee, P2K, Intermountain, Reboxx and Atlas.
I still have plastic wheels on many of my pieces of rolling stock, however, I now ensure there are no steel axles included as those are easily attracted to uncoupling ramps. Sooo, I have a number of items of rolling stock with Accurail or the older Walthers brass axle wheel sets and have no issue with them as long as I use the truck tuner on the truck.
Overall, I do not believe there to be a single best wheelset. This seems to be an item of personal preference.[:)][C):-)]
As has been noted, Proto 2000 and the current Walthers Proto are not the same product. Proto 2000 wheels were cast metal and had plastic axles. Kadee’s still are.
Here’s a representative Proto 2000 wheelset. At this level of magnification, the voids in the cast surface are readily visible.
And here’s a Kadee wheelset. Again note the texture of the cast surface, and the plastic axle.