Changing plastic wheels

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C

csxfan

Member
Hi guys, I'm new to this forum. I'd like to change my old HO Mantua and Model Power plastic wheels for metal ones, they produce too much dirt on the track, I really like the rolling stock, especially the Model Power military series, I can't find any new HO military rolling stock with metal wheels anywhere, any tip, at a reasonable price ?

Can you, experts, recommend the best, or cheapest but working, metal wheels to do that, to fit the Model Power rolling stock, or can it even be done ? If so, how can I do it ? I've never "touched" a product. Do you think I can do it and succeed just with a screwdriver and my will, or is it some skyrocket science to replace plastic wheels with metal wheels ? Thank you, I will appreciate any help.
 
If you want to just replace the wheels and not the trucks: Most wheels can be changed out by just slightly spreading the trucks apart to release the axle. Then replace the new wheel and axle set in reverse order. (Tho some trucks/wheels sets need a special tool to ream the axle pocket)
You can use any metal wheel sets of your choice..there are several makers. Just be sure to use proper size. Some are 33 and some are 36 inch wheels.
Also some have different sized flanges for different rail codes (code 83,100, and etc.)
 
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Oh, and if I want to change the trucks as well, is it better to also change the trucks because of the dirt, or why ? So a complete amateur like me can do it without a problem, nicely, generally speaking ? Thanks.
 


search for Intermountian wheels. If you have alot of wheels to replace buy them in bulk. 100 per box. will run you around $50-$60 depending on the store. Its alot cheeper than buying them in smaller packs.

Proto 2000 also sells them but they still have plastic axels and IMO dont roll as nice as the Intermountians.

The Trucks, unless they are warped and cause derail are most likely not the problem causing dirty wheels.
Trent
 
lmackattack said:
Proto 2000 also sells them but they still have plastic axels and IMO dont roll as nice as the Intermountians.
Trent
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He is right. Some replace the plastic wheels with metal that have plastic axles. While this cures your track cleaning problem it doesn't do as well for the free rolling part. Thats where the metal axle's needle point works like a bearing in the truck pockets and plastic to plastic seems to have some friction drag.
 
I like the Intermountain wheelsets as well. They roll better than most other wheels I have used. And avoid the plastic axle's if you can, they tend to have more problems with bending and warping than metal axles. And don't get semi-scale wheels unless they'll work on your track.
 
Wheels

I got my hands on a box of wheels and found that there are three different axle lengths? .940" 1.000" and 1.025".
Each of these sizes were in different plastic bags. All were marked "made in China"
These were purchased by a fellow model railroader as a bulk pack.
I always thought that there was some sort of standard??
Is there a chart that shows which axle length goes with which manufacturer??
I'm confused!
Mac
 
Wheels

Hi again.
Ignore my last rant! I found what I needed, all I had to do was type Reboox wheel sets and! bingo.
Mac
 
hamltnblue said:
I have both proto's and Intermountain wheelsets on all of my rolling stock that didn't come with metal. Both run fine. I agree with the OP though in getting rid of the plastic wheels. Also if changing wheels I'd recommend a truck tuner like the one here.
http://www.micromark.com/HO-Truck-Tuner,8241.html
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The truck tuner will remove any flash and rough spots, but will not made the holes any deeper or wider.

Some cars, such as European-made cars use shorter axle lengths which is the NEM (European equivalent of the NMRA) style. Bachmann Silver Series cars also use the shorter axles (beware! Bachmann's Intermountain clone metal wheels don't fit their cars! (because the axles are the same length as Intermountain!)) If you need short length axle metal wheels, get them from Reboxx (the wheels are made by Intermountain's factory). If you have any old Bachmann Silver Series cars that you no longer want, scrap them for the wheels! The wheels are similar to Intermountains but have the shorter axle length!

Some Athearn Blue Box kits come with trucks that won't take Intermountains because they are too narrow. The NEM wheels come in handy.

Some Athearn Blue Box kits come with trucks that are too wide even for Intermountain wheels. It's less expensive to chuck the trucks and get new ones instead of buying special wheels for them.
 


I'll second (or third, or fouth) the call to go with Intermountain wheelsets. Spend the money for the box of 100 which works out to be 50-60 cents a axle. Beware Atlas wheelsets as they use a short axle that won't work in most cars.
 
diburning said:
Some Athearn Blue Box kits come with trucks that are too wide even for Intermountain wheels. It's less expensive to chuck the trucks and get new ones instead of buying special wheels for them.
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I have to disagree with this totally. I have Athearns going back to the fifties, from their first use of the nylon trucks, and I've NEVER come across this problem, nor have I even had to contemplate this, with ANY Athearn truck! I have probably owned every BB ever produced, and I never had to replace trucks because I couldn't get a wheelest, esp. Intermoutains,to fit.

Given the price of some replacement trucks nowadays, I feel this is extremely poor advice!
 
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PM me your address. I'll send you a pair of Athearn BB trucks that are too wide. This pair came off of a 40ft high cube box car.

New trucks are 3-4 bucks a pair, as for getting wheels with longer axles that fit these trucks.... have fun looking. Reboxx wheels are $10 a pack, with about $2-3 shipping. $13 for 12 wheels, about $1 a set. 4 wheels = $4. Less trouble to get new trucks.
 
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diburning said:
PM me your address. I'll send you a pair of Athearn BB trucks that are too wide. This pair came off of a 40ft high cube box car.

New trucks are 3-4 bucks a pair, as for getting wheels with longer axles than Intermountains.... have fun looking. Reboxx wheels are $10 a pack, with about $2-3 shipping. $13 for 12 wheels, about $1 a set. 4 wheels = $4. Less trouble to get new trucks.
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Addy on the way. This by any chance isn't the one painted mostly as SP prototype is it. If it is I have a ton of those roller bearing trucks left over from other modeling projects. If it is don't bother sending them. I put other wheels beside the Intermountain, in them. Try Branchline, TWM, P2K. I've used them all. And they all work. If they didn't in yours, you either didn't prepare them properly, the trucks were used, or they had bad axles in them to begin with.
 
Nope, came from a BN car.

One of these, Athearn Blue Box (photo shows type of car, not the actual car)

860-2_TQ.jpg


I've tried the Intermountains, Athearn RTR plastic axle wheels, LBF, and Atlas wheels; all of which wobble too much and were on the verge of falling out of the trucks.

I've also tried the P2K wheels. They fit a little better, but there's still about an eighth of an inch of play in the trucks. The wheels roll fine, but the side to side play is enough to cause a derailment.
 
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diburning said:
Nope, came from a BN car.

I've tried the Intermountains, Athearn RTR plastic axle wheels, LBF, and Atlas wheels; all of which wobble too much and were on the verge of falling out of the trucks.

I've also tried the P2K wheels. They fit a little better, but there's still about an eighth of an inch of play in the trucks. The wheels roll fine, but the side to side play is enough to cause a derailment.
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Judging by the picture, pretty much the same car. I'm familiar with the trucks however. They are the same ones used on 99% of the "modern" stuff, that is the BB cars that came with the roller bearing trucks.


I have seven of those RB trucks in front of me now. Will you take someone else's word that its not a stock unaltered truck giving you the problem? I'm going to visit Rex later on this week, and can show him the trucks with Intermountain, Accurail, TWM, Red Caboose, Branchline, Walthers and P2K wheels in them. They also roll right now very well without any "tuning", at all. Plus there is no danger of the wheel falling out. The Accurail, Walthers, and Red Caboose wheelsets are plastic BTW.

Without even seeing the trucks I bet the journals (where the axles fits), is much larger than those on another car. This indicates that these are coming off of a used car, one that had seen a lot of usage, or if not, the trucks were "tuned" too much. This is more than likely what has happened.

Keep in mine, the truck tuners are reamers, and if too much pressure is used in tuning the truck, the journal will get bored out, and nothing will fit. Remember, its metal against nylon and nylon will lose in the end.
 
I bought the car new, and assembled it myself. I tuned the truck slightly, and didn't ream it out at all, just removed the flash (there wasn't much if any)

I'm going to drop it in the mail in a few minutes. I'm not trying to argue with you, but I made that first post in good faith based on experience. If you can use them, that's great, if not, feel free to chuck them. Either way, you've got yourself a free pair of trucks. :D
 
diburning said:
I bought the car new, and assembled it myself. I tuned the truck slightly, and didn't ream it out at all, just removed the flash (there wasn't much if any)

I'm going to drop it in the mail in a few minutes. I'm not trying to argue with you, but I made that first post in good faith based on experience. If you can use them, that's great, if not, feel free to chuck them. Either way, you've got yourself a free pair of trucks. :D
Click to expand...

Sometimes, thats too much. Never ream a truck until its tested with the wheelsets its gonna run with. I've found that by testing first, I have less reaming to do.

I'll take the trucks and compare them to the stock unaltered RBs I have. Then if a project comes up that I need them on, they'll get used. I model steam era and have little use for RB trucks. However, I do a lot of custom work and use these trucks on some of them.
 


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