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So I was surfing and noticed that Exact Rail is offering 100ct metal wheels for about the same price as the Intermountains. Anyone have the exact rail wheels? Whats your opinion? I almost exclusively use Intermountains but I am just wondering how these are.
Never tried them but I think Branchline wheels are pretty much at par with IM.
I use those two and stock Atlas wheels, got rid of my Protos and other brands.
If the new Exactrail wheelsets are metal axles, then I think they are comparable to Intermountain. Some of my newer Exactrail cars have metal wheelsets, and look very similar to Intermountain.
Exactrail has many product lines (Signature, Platinum, Evolution, <insert some other pretentious word here>) and on the cheaper product lines, they use Proto 2000 style wheels (plastic axle, metal wheels)
Unless I can the metal wheels on metal axles made by Exactrail for less than what I am paying now ($50-60 for a box of 100) I don't plan on switching.
Never tried them but I think Branchline wheels are pretty much at par with IM.
I use those two and stock Atlas wheels, got rid of my Protos and other brands.
Branchline wheels are now made by IM by contract. (I'm not sure about the future of that though since Branchline just sold all of it's rolling stock assets and tooling to Atlas) Axle length is slightly longer. Reboxx wheels also come from the same factory where IM makes their wheels (the guy who owns Reboxx is IM's president)
Theres no current patent on the metal axle metal wheels with one side insulated so many manufacturers make them (Con-Cor, Athearn, and Bachmann to name a few). The metal axle points provide better rolling qualities and the metal axles prevent themselves from warping like plastic ones would from rough handling while installing, or temperature/humidity changes.
According to ExactRail's website, their HO wheelsets offered in bulk packs have brass wheels on insulated brass axles.
The IM 33" bulk packs seem to have dropped out of M.B. Klein's catalog. I'm looking for an available alternative. So, resurrecting the OP's original question at the top of the thread, does anyone have any experience with these ExactRail wheelsets?
Have 10+ ExactRail cars & all the wheels have plastic axles.Used to get Intermountain wheels (w/ metal axles) on eBay. But now get them at Railmaster Hobbies: http://www.railmasterhobbies.com/
Problem w/ plastic axles is they can be bent too easily when being inserted in the truck side frames.
According to ExactRail's website, their HO wheelsets offered in bulk packs have brass wheels on insulated brass axles.
The IM 33" bulk packs seem to have dropped out of M.B. Klein's catalog. I'm looking for an available alternative. So, resurrecting the OP's original question at the top of the thread, does anyone have any experience with these ExactRail wheelsets?
I am still curious about the ExactRail wheelsets that they claim have brass axles. I wonder if this is something new or a misstatement on their web site.
I am still curious about the ExactRail wheelsets that they claim have brass axles. I wonder if this is something new or a misstatement on their web site.
What do you use on Walthers passenger rolling stock? I was going to use Intermountains on mine until I figured out the metal axle points create a short.
I wonder why? I put Intermountains in mine with no problems. Aren't the trucks supposed to be insulated from shorts anyways for the internal lighting?
Make sure that when you put the Intermountains in that the insulated side of the axle, the black gasket on one side of the axle, are all facing the same way on one truck, and facing the other way on the other truck. If it still shorts out, try installing them all the same way (all the gaskets on the left or all the gaskets on the right) and see if the internal lighting still works.
I used Intermountain wheels in my Walthers superliner with no problems. The metal trucks do add friction to the axles (metal on metal contact), so I used the Intermountain ball bearing wheels, which are also insulated on one side.
What I found is that the (using a multimeter) that current will travel up the uninsulated wheel side and contact the axle. It then takes the current to both sideframes, which creates the short. I checked this before installing a Minatronics light kit into a Walthers Pullman coach. I went back to the stock wheels.
The Minatronics light kit wants you to have a metal axle, but plastic sideframes. I used the plug and play hookups in the car to run the lights. Since current goes through the metal sideframes, you would have to stagger the insulated wheel side between both trucks, but insulate the metal pads (one on each end) to prevent the short. Or, just wire it up the Minatronics way and not use the plug and play setup.
How are the power pickups set up? Mine picks up power from the axle contact points inside the truck journals. If theres an additional pick up point from the axle, then you'll want to remove it. This is all assuming that your trucks are metal though.
Also check the gasket on the Intermountain wheels. There was a bad batch a while back where some of the wheels didn't have the insulating plastic gasket installed.
If you don't mind taking photos of the setup, I would like to get a better idea of what you're working with.
Power goes from the track to metal wheelsets (the Walthers ones) to the metal sideframes. The bolster of the truck is insulated, and the sideframes are attached to the bolster by 4 (two on each side) unpainted screws. Those screws contact two pads (one on each side of the hole for the kingpin), which run longways down the car and up one end to the roof. From there, I soldered (although it is difficult, next time I'll use track joiners with soldered wire) pickups for the lighting kit. The lighting kit has a capacitor which, once powered, keeps the light from flickering as much.
That seems similar to what my Superliner uses. I don't have the lighting kit installed, so I put all of the wheels all on the same side so that it doesn't provide a low-resistance circuit.
I've been meaning to buy the lighting kit for a while. I'll go to the LHS tomorrow to see if I can get one.
Don't know what you guys are having problems with on P2K wheelsets. Other than a few that came out of gauge, I haven't had a problem at all. No bending, wraping etc of the axle.
These should however be used in a nylon truck anyway. If used in a metal truck the bearings on the ends do have a tendency to wear quicker than normal.
To insert them, spread the truck sides apart some, or twist the truck some so the axle falls into place. Then reverse the process to take the "bend" out of the truck.
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