I am looking to change out wheels on various freight cars and maybe trucks. Can someone give me some guidance as to how to know which wheels / trucks to buy for prototypical accuracy and best running? I am not sure of the best manufacturer or how to figure out which ones I need.
Same question for kadee style couplers. I have a couple cars in need of replacement couplers as well as some Tichy kits in need of couplers. I have no idea which size / style I should be using.
There’s an excellent thread or maybe two directed by the good doctor which will tell you all about wheels and trucks.
Consensus is Intermountain makes the best wheelsets. I think Tangent makes identical wheels for a little bit less money. Kadee makes good looking wheelsets if looks are important. The difference seems to be the diameter of the cone end of the axle. Intermountain and Tangent make small diameter axle ends that definitely run better.
Micromark makes a truck tuner at works very well to ckean up old or poorly made truck axle pockets. They make a truck pliers that spreads the truck for easier removal of wheelsets. I find it less useful for inserting g new wheelsets or the tuner tool but I may not be using it correctly yet. Micromark has a special pricing on a set of both tools at the moment.
Consensus is Kadee makes the best trucks if you feel the need to upgrade although I think Accurail also make good trucks. If you like your old trucks then just swap in new wheelsets. Maybe consider tuning the plastic trucks. Keep any metal trucks that are any good, hard to get better ones these days.
Kadee makes the best couplers according to consensus. Walthers Proto max are pretty close imho. Bachmann EZ Mate II are acceptable plastic couplers. McHenry are not so good imho. Accumate are just weird and I thought initially they were no good at all but I’ve since changed my opinion. They still seem weird but there’s no doubt they work well.
Kadee has a nifty coupler conversion chart and several pages for specific brands of locomotive or cars. I use the newer whisker type couplers in preference to the original brass spring design. Easier to install and reliable. Also their newest line of snap together coupler boxes is very good if the coupler boxes also need upgrading.
There are basically three things to consider when deciding what coupler you might need: shank length which is short, medium or long; knuckle height which is center, overshank or undershank; and shank thickness especially for Bachmann products. Also Bachmann fit unique trucks which don’t fit other brands nor vice versa unfortunately. I don’t think much of Bachmann trucks myself.
By restating the Intermountain and Tangent information I don’t mean to imply that the wheelsets supplied by Walthers, Rapido or Athearn are not also good choices. I’ve used them all. Intermountain are the most free rolling. Some modellers don’t see that as an advantage though.
Thank you everyone. That information is indeed helpful. There is also a ton of great information in that linked post.
One more question: where / how would one determine the right truck style for a particular car? If I replace some trucks with the kadee sprung trucks do I just match what is already on the car?
A Barber S2 with roller bearings is more recent than a Bettendorf with solid bearings.
And then you could get into roadnames that prefferred one brand over another, even down to roadnumbers with a repair that changes it from the “normal”.
Quick answer - Roller bearings are now federally mandated on all interchange equipment, and equipment with solid bearings are not elligable to interchange between railroads, effective Jan. 1 1972 onward. (MOW Equipment specific to a single railroad are exempt, but cannot leave “home” rails.) So if you model from 1972 on, roller bearings on anything not in MOW service, if “modern era” roller bearing style trucks on everything, MOW included, with very few exceptions.
Generally, 100 Ton cars get 36" wheelsets, 70 Ton and smaller get 33". (Intermodal equipment, and specialized cars can be different.)
Truck types should depend on the era you are modleling and the type of rail car (tonnage rating). My RR is modern day proto typical so all of the rolling stock has to have roller bearing trucks, i use Kadee trucks and Intermountain wheel sets if i decide to change the Mfgr. trucks & wheels , if you model a past era in the USA Bettendorf friction bearing trucks should be used, again the time era and the car load rating is most important, Bayway Terminal NJ
I’m modelling the late '30s, so my cars all have era-appropriate trucks. On some cars which never ran in interchange service, some otherwise outdated trucks could still be used, like these TH&B hoppers, which left their home rails only on a lake boat, which took them to the south shore of Lake Erie, where they were loaded with coal, then returned, on the same lake boat, to their home rails…
…complete with archbar trucks, stem-winder brakes, and split-K brake gear…
These 65 ton capacity cars were built in 1914, and some of them were still in use (company service) into the early '70s.
I also have some freight cars with mismatched trucks…a not unusual situation if a car showed-up with a damage truck that needed replacement rather than repair.
I figured out how to use the Micromark truck pliers properly to insert a wheelset. Works very well. The pliers hold the wheelset when you apply no pressure to the handles. You slip the points in straight above the truck “journals” as the axle points reach the truck you begin opening the pliers (gently squeezing the handles). If you’re lucky the wheelset drops right in and you close the jaws (release the handles) and withdraw the pliers. I had tweezers or bent tip pliers handy in the other hand in case the axle points need a final lining up before you release the truck pliers.
The Micromark truck tuner is magic on poorly moulded journal recesses.
Highly recommend both tools if you plan on upgrading a lot of wheelsets anytime soon.
I agree with Kevin. Since the trucks on my rolling stock are plastic, I just insert the pointed end of a wheel set into the conical hole of one of the journals then pry the truck apart just enough with my fingers to slip in the other end. No fancy tool needed; just my fingers.
The truck tuner on the otherhand is very useful. I occasionally have to clean the flash from the truck journals that come with kits. I don’t have to do it very often but it really makes a difference in how well they roll.
After using the tuner I give each wheelset a quick flick with my finger and allow it to spin freely: If a wheelset will spin for 5 secs or > before coming to stop - I call it good. If it fails to spin for 5 sec I give it another turn with the truck tuner and test again until it passes.
If those pliers work so well, then why do you need tweezers and bent tip pliers on hand in case those pliers don’t work so well?
I agree with Kevin and Tom. Don’t waste your money on the Micro Mark pliers. They are a completely unnecessary. I have removed and replaced countless wheelsets over time with one simple tool - - my fingers.
I read the procedure as described, and had no idea why anyone needed so many tools on hand for a simple finger-job. I was born with all the required tools already installed!
Depends on how convenient you find it prying the truck ends apart with a finger tip. After doing this many, many times I discovered how easy it is to do with the Micromark pliers. These pliers will not of course work on metal trucks but then neither will your fingers generally speaking. Metal trucks cone apart although I have succeeded in swapping wheelsets out of Kadee metal trucks without taking them apart but you can’t usefully spread the truck ends anyway.
The extra pliers or tweezers are only needed if you fit wheelsets without removing the trucks (another advantage for the Micromark tool) or you have maneuver the wheelset into the space behind a cast on brake shoe above those goofy McHenry couplers. In that latter case it is actually easier to use the tool with trucks in place than to remove the trucks first. The particular IHC streamlined cars have been modified and the trucks are secured by metal screws, lockwashers and nuts.
Sure I wouldn’t bother breaking out the tool for one or two trucks but for a consist of 8 passenger cars or a batch of newly acquired freight cars it’s a great tool. You won’t regret buying one.
I am a huge proponent of Kadee sprung trucks with code 110 wheels. Every freight car I own, except one, has Kadee wheels, trucks, and couplers.
From what I have read for your desired era, you cannot go wrong with Kadee #500 Bettendorf trucks. I buy them by the dozen.
I also mix in a few #504 ASF Ride Control, #515 Double Truss Vulcan, and #517 Pennsylvania 2D-F8. However, once a train is moving, you really cannot tell the difference.
Very early roller bearing trucks would be acceptable as well. Kadee does not make a model of this truck. These are old sprung trucks by Aurora I think.
I use Bettendorf T-Section on most cabooses. Also, as others have mentioned, home road only and maintenance equipment has some Andrews and Arch Bar trucks.
I always paint my trucks. This is a great way to spend a free day.
Actually, pretty convenient. I know where they are at all times and I don’t have to dig through my toolbox or a drawer to find them. [swg]
The only time I really ever need the truck truer is when I put together a rolling stock kit. Plastic wheels generally come with those and I always replace them with ribbed metal ones and #58 couplers from Kadee as part of the assembly process. Any RTR I purchase geneally comes with metal wheels so no replacement necessary.
I can see the advantage of the pliers if you were going back and replacing a large number of wheelsets at one time. Since replacing/adding wheelsets is part of the assembly process for me, the pliers wouldn’t be an advantage for me.
