stock car problems


B

basementempire

New Member
Hello, im fairly new to the hobby and my son and I are basically just puttering around in the basement with a 4x6 HO layout. anyway.. i recently bought two Athearn 40' stock cars. one has plastic wheels the other has metal wheels. heres my problem. i have had no problems with the plastic wheeled car but my metal wheeled car keeps derailing.. but it seems like only when it travels in one direction, not the other. (does that make sense??) as soon as it starts rolling one wheel slips off the rail. it almost looks like the truck assembly may be twisited or warped in some way. either that or maybe it needs more weight? im stuck. is there something different with metal wheelsets? if i can steal back the camera from the wife i can take a picture and show you the assembly but until then, anyone got any ideas or had a similar problem. no other cars i own have this problem.

thanks alot.. i love this forum and all the terrific pics and posts
 
Couple things to try:

1. Try rolling just the truck along the track (yes, you have to take it apart...) You will be able to see if anything is out of line.

2. Use an NMRA track gauge to make sure the wheels are in gauge. I just found a wheelset that was off. It sporadically (I think the car did this on purpose just to bug me) derailed at a turnout.

3. Check where it derails - is it always at the same place? Check the track.

4. Try just rolling each wheelset across a table. Is anything warped?

Kadee replacement wheelsets work well in my Athearns.

Good luck!
 
Basement--

Besides the excellent advice Fazby gave you, you also might want to check the truck and see if it's swiveling freely, both sideways and up and down. I've had that happen with some cars, and a slight turn of the screwdriver to loosen up the truck usually cured the problem. But DEFINITELY check the wheel gauges.

Good luck.
Tom
 
thanks for the great, quick replys! i havent had a chance to try anything yet. been pretty busy doing "normal" chores around the house. but im going to try to look at it tonight
 
There are number of things to look for. Check to make sure both trucks turn freely and have a limited ability to rock side to side, and make sure the wheels are not rubbing against something on the car as it rolls down the track through curves and turnouts. Take the two cars and put them together so that they are touching wheels, and then compare the distance between the flanges on each axle. The wheels on any one axle should not be significantly more inboard or outboard than the rest of the axles. If you find a wheelset that is too narrow or large, pull it out and twist them on the axle until they match the rest of the wheelsets. The NMRA gauge comes in handy for checking wheels as mentioned above.
 
i took a closer look at my trucks after i unscrewed it from the boxcar. it turns out that the whole assembly was twisted because when i set it on the rail one wheel was clearly off! i couldnt see this before maybe because of the shadows or i wasnt looking close enough. anyway, with a little physical help it now sits straight on the rail. i re-attatched it to the stockcar and hooked 'er up. so far so good. no problems and it seems to track pretty well.
thanks again for your quick replies and helping hand!

Scott
 
Glad to hear things are working again. Remember the strategies though. Some other car will get miffed with you and begin to act up. I think they like the attention...
 
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