Metal Wheels & Axles(Dummy)
- Thread starter Larry
- Start date
Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
Doesn't Jaybee sell the wheels you're looking for? I know they sell them for powered units, as does NWSL, but I think Jaybee also sells them for dummies.
straight-track
Engineer
Metal dummy wheels
Larry, Rather than buy them, I've saved $ by using ( if you have naturally ) Athearn 1/2 axle wheels joined with Plastic tubing instead of the geared axle. Joe !
Larry, Rather than buy them, I've saved $ by using ( if you have naturally ) Athearn 1/2 axle wheels joined with Plastic tubing instead of the geared axle. Joe !
jeffrey-wimberly
Dr Frankendiesel
I never knew Athearn had a different truck design for the dummies. In the past I've sometimes rebuilt the dummy trucks into powered trucks and used the same wheels and axles the power trucks used. I've done this with a GP38-2, 3 F7's and an Alco PB1.
straight-track
Engineer
Dummy Wheels
Jeff, What I'm saying is if you want to sacrifice a powered truck and dummy-ize it, simply remove all the gears and axle. Join the wheels with a piece of plastic tubing, replace the bearings and Wha-La a dummy truck ! Joe
Jeff, What I'm saying is if you want to sacrifice a powered truck and dummy-ize it, simply remove all the gears and axle. Join the wheels with a piece of plastic tubing, replace the bearings and Wha-La a dummy truck ! Joe
jeffrey-wimberly
Dr Frankendiesel
I've done that too. I use shrink wrap to join the axles but in most cases the truck I'm using was made for geared axles so I usually leave them on. Most Athearn dummy loco wheels I've come across have square plastic bearings on the axles. This can be easily replaced with a regular axle and bronze bearings. One thing Athearn has been known to do on dummy trucks is to have them of the same polarity so that if you do put in regular axles and bearing they short out.
Rotorranch
MRR Refugee
Why not just leave the axle gears be? Once you remove the rest of the gearset, the axle gears just hold the wheels together.
Rotor
Rotor
Larry
Long Winded Old Fart
What I really need is metal axels for Dummies, because the axels are completely diff. than the ones for powered trucks. The housing that holds the axels have the same or about the same diameter axel as a Freight car.
I was trying to stay away from powered axels because of the cost of buying them. Anyway, there's a lot of drag when you use the powered trucks w/out gears. I have Dummies that came from the manuf. w/metal wheels & they roll real easy w/no drag at all.
Larry
Long Winded Old Fart
Figured It Out
Well, Figured out what to do for metal wheels. I had 6 axles w/split gears for Athearn engines. I tapped out the short axle in the metal wheel w/a pin punch. Then I pulled the plastic wheels off of the metal axle in the Dummy engine. Put the metal wheels back on the long shaft out of the Dummy trucks & checked them w/my NMRA wheel ga. Both sets of axels are the same diameter. I use a small 1/4 drive socket to put the wheels on the axel. If they go on to far I use my small Micro-mark wheel puller to pull them back out to the right spacing. Before I put the axels back in the trucks I had to grind down the ends of the saddles that the axels set in because the metal wheels are thicker than the plastic ones. After I put the axles back in the trucks I brush on some powered Graphite & then put the covers back on & assemble them back into the frame.
Makes 100% better Free rolling w/the metal wheels. So, anyone have any wheels w/split gears for Athearn you wanna get rid of cheap?
Oh & BTW, the brass bushings for the powered frame is the same bushings for the gear shaft on top of the tower on the trucks.
Well, Figured out what to do for metal wheels. I had 6 axles w/split gears for Athearn engines. I tapped out the short axle in the metal wheel w/a pin punch. Then I pulled the plastic wheels off of the metal axle in the Dummy engine. Put the metal wheels back on the long shaft out of the Dummy trucks & checked them w/my NMRA wheel ga. Both sets of axels are the same diameter. I use a small 1/4 drive socket to put the wheels on the axel. If they go on to far I use my small Micro-mark wheel puller to pull them back out to the right spacing. Before I put the axels back in the trucks I had to grind down the ends of the saddles that the axels set in because the metal wheels are thicker than the plastic ones. After I put the axles back in the trucks I brush on some powered Graphite & then put the covers back on & assemble them back into the frame.
Makes 100% better Free rolling w/the metal wheels. So, anyone have any wheels w/split gears for Athearn you wanna get rid of cheap?
Oh & BTW, the brass bushings for the powered frame is the same bushings for the gear shaft on top of the tower on the trucks.
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stang_crazy
Member
Larry ya wanna take pics of what ya did?
I know the dummy wheel sets have smaller axle but they are also held in place by a lil clip that sits in the actual truck. If ya take that out ya can put regular metal wheel sets in place.
I know the dummy wheel sets have smaller axle but they are also held in place by a lil clip that sits in the actual truck. If ya take that out ya can put regular metal wheel sets in place.
jeffrey-wimberly
Dr Frankendiesel
That's the way the dummy trucks in my PB1 and F7's were. I took out the adapter that the dummy axles went through (they have pieces on the that fit where the bronze bearings would go) and replaced them with regular wheel sets. That's when I ran across Athearn's little trick of using the same truck for front and rear. Luckily I had some other trucks of the right polarity to use as rear trucks in the models I was rebuilding. When I finished I had three pairs of power trucks for the F7's and a power truck for the front of the PB1. The trucks were for the most part just like the regular power truck. They lacked the contact arm (solder a wire to the rivet the would have held the arm) and they had those clips in the bottom that held the dummy axles. I took the bottom plate of the truck and the clips fell out.
Larry
Long Winded Old Fart
Got a Question.
I finally set those Dummies on my layout today & when I turned on the transformer to pull them around w/powered loco's they caused a direct short on those tracks. Couldn't beleive it because the wheels & axels are not touching any metal side frames, etc. I reversed the trucks in the frame thinking they were in backwards. That didn't work, Any idea's?
I finally set those Dummies on my layout today & when I turned on the transformer to pull them around w/powered loco's they caused a direct short on those tracks. Couldn't beleive it because the wheels & axels are not touching any metal side frames, etc. I reversed the trucks in the frame thinking they were in backwards. That didn't work, Any idea's?
stang_crazy
Member
Do ya have pics of what it is ya did exactly?
straight-track
Engineer
Short
Larry, If I understood your method of rigging up those dummy loco metal wheels. You could take them out of your loco set them on the tracks and they would still cause a direct short. Metal wheel to metal axle to metal wheel - Wha-la BuZZZZZ short, correct ? Joe
Larry, If I understood your method of rigging up those dummy loco metal wheels. You could take them out of your loco set them on the tracks and they would still cause a direct short. Metal wheel to metal axle to metal wheel - Wha-la BuZZZZZ short, correct ? Joe
Larry
Long Winded Old Fart
Larry, If I understood your method of rigging up those dummy loco metal wheels. You could take them out of your loco set them on the tracks and they would still cause a direct short. Metal wheel to metal axle to metal wheel - Wha-la BuZZZZZ short, correct ?
Yes, sounds about right. Didn't think of it that way. So, metal wheels need plastic axles to make them work. Why didn't I think of that 1st. Everyone tried to tell me to tie the axles together w/plastic tubing right out of the engines. The only thing is those wouldn't work because of the narrow saddle that the metal axles came out of on the plastic wheel. Oh Well, Back to square ONE.
That's why the metal wheels in an engine is hooked together w/a plastic gear.
straight-track
Engineer
Dummy loco metal wheels
Larry, Here is what I've done ! When I mentioned tubing I meant Styrene plastic tubing. I don't remember the sizes are ( two different sizes, one solid and one hollow ) off hand, but the geared axle is replaced with a short piece of styrene tube. The wheels you have pulled off the metal axle can be mounted on a piece of solid styrene tubing add the black axle support and WHa-la cheap dummy wheels ! Joe
Larry, Here is what I've done ! When I mentioned tubing I meant Styrene plastic tubing. I don't remember the sizes are ( two different sizes, one solid and one hollow ) off hand, but the geared axle is replaced with a short piece of styrene tube. The wheels you have pulled off the metal axle can be mounted on a piece of solid styrene tubing add the black axle support and WHa-la cheap dummy wheels ! Joe
