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I have an issue, thats going to be fun to resolve.
I just "upgraded" an older Roundhouse mill gondola to the appropriate size of wheels. Went from Roundhouse common kit issue, 33" plastic wheels to the appropriate, smooth back, 36" metal wheels, I used Branchline Code 88's...
Issue is, the wheels now hit the underside of the car! I checked the coupler height, hoping I could just throw in a Kadee washer, however the coupler is dearly perfect (minus the fact that its a cheap plastic knuckle, not a Sergent yet).
Now, if I was using Kadee's, it might be as simple as adding the washer, and using an under set shank coupler, however its not that easy with Sergents!
So, do I:
Trim out the under frame around the area where the wheels hit
Add the washer, and shim the coupler
Add the washer and hope the Sergent couplers mate well enough
Josh, been there done that as they say!
All my cars get that treatment and many get modified.
I trim the underframe to fit the wheels, that way the car profile is the same as is the coupler height.
Jim, most modern Gondola's have 36" wheels & 100 ton trucks now. Check all E&C/LBF/Hubert's cars, they actually printed the wheel size info on the end of the car like the prototype, and they say "36in wheels".
However, going by what I've learned, a car with a load limit (LD LMT) of ~190,000 to ~205,000 would need 36" wheels on a 100 ton truck. This car is stenciled for 206,100.
If it's 100 tons then 36" wheels would be correct. Seems like the easiest soluntion would be to trim out the offending parts of the underframe if we're not talking about a huge area. Anything else is going to make the car ride too high and mess up the coupler alignment.
Sadly, I'll have to cut out a huge square area above the wheels, but that does seem like the most logical area. The wheels are hitting the whole sub floor, not just a small framing part.
I'll post pictures later to show the work I had to do.
Oh yeah, speaking of subfloor... forgot to mention a car I trimmed out for wheel clearance had the metal wheels ground out on the metal plate!
Wound up cutting the plate down too, then filled the entire underframe with lead shot BB's.
how much of an encroachment we talking like a 1/16th of an inch or what? if you put a washer under the trucks and then readjust the coupler? is that possible?
The cutting worked. The electrical tape did not, its too thick. Right now its just painted. I might have to cut back the weights in these cars. Well, just about every Gondola.
I replace wheels on an Athearn Gondola today, and the wheels are very close to touching the metal weight.
Now to figure out how to make up for loosing this weight, I might have to start casting some tungsten+Epoxy replacement weights for my gondolas
The electrical tape won't last long anyway. It will just rub through. I did that to an athearn old BB kit that I had shorting issues with.
I finally did the paint and thin styrene. It not only solved that problem, but leveled the car up.
