Wear in the journals: a concern?

[mtrpls]

This post regards HO scale plastic trucks outfitted with either plastic or metal wheels, and whether or not the needlepoint of the axle of the wheel will wear into the truck's journals over time.

I bring this up because, as I was inserting some Intermountain metal wheels into Athearn trucks, I noticed that the outside face of the wheel was able to laterally shift very close to the inside edge of the truck; there was barely .010" to .015" gap between the face of the wheel and the inside of the truck. While this is not a problem per se, I can't help but wonder if the needlepoint of the axle will eventually wear into the journal, closing that gap and causing the face of the wheel to rub against the inside of the truck. This would, of course, cause problems down the road including increased lag and drag on the train, perhaps even cause derailments if the wheel stopped turning altogether.

As I often run 50 to 75 car trains, I'm thinking about the cars towards the front of the train on curves, and whether the curve - which will cause the journal of the truck to pressure into the wheel - will precipitate the wear. Will I be forced to replace all my trucks in the near future?

I took a look at many of my freight cars tonight, and it seems they all feature wheelsets that come within a close distance to the inside surface of the truck. Will continued operation cause the journals to wear out, and thus allow the wheelface to come in direct contact with the truck sideframe?

Is this a real concern?

 

[jbaakko]

Huh, my Branchline wheels don't shift like that. I dropped the idea of using IM for that very reason, too much shifting.

 

[UP2CSX]

Obviously, if the truck sees enough wear, the journal will be worn too deeply and the wheel will come in contact with the truck. The questions is, how long would it take for this to happen? I don't know the exact answer but I have some cars from 30 years ago that were run at club shows at our local fairgrounds for 12 hours a day for two weeks straight every year. This doesn't count the normal running during club operations nights and running on my home layout. All of them have Athearn trucks that had metal wheel sets installed. As you say, there was some play in the wheel sets when I first installed them and, as I look a them now, there's amost exactly the same amount of play. My view is that this slight amount of play is actually a good thing since it helps the trucks cope with less than perfect trackage. I'd estimate some of these cars have close to a thousand hours of running time on them and the trucks have never given me any problem. My own unscientific analysis is that this is unlikey to be a problem in the normal lifetime of a freight car.

 

[nsfantodd]

I have heard of wheelsets wearing all the way through sideframes. But these were on coal cars that had live loads and got a lot of operation, worst case scenerio!

Your problem is with your wheelsets, not wear. Reboxx sells wheelsets to fit specific sideframes. As you can see on the chart, Athearn cars take wheelsets with longer axles. Thats why you got the side-play.

http://www.reboxx.com/Documents/Wheelsets/33 Application Chart.pdf

I use Intermountain wheelsets with excellent results. I usually replace my older Athearn sideframes with Accurail sideframes.

As far as wear is concerned, I would'nt worry about it. I also ran a coal train with live loads. And while I was warned about it, I never had any problems.

If you ever wear any sideframes out, you can get Accurail sideframes for just over a buck a pair. Accurail trucks with Intermountain wheels is a really free rolling combination!

http://www.accurail.com/accurail/parts.htm

Todd Templeton