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Older Rolling Stock with Plastic Wheels?
Gary asks readers:
“Hi, I have a bunch of older rolling stock with plastic wheels that snap in and plastic horn couplers attached to the trucks. I’ve tried to convert to Kadee and metal wheels but I find I need to almost wreck the car to make it all fit. Is it worth it or should I just get newer cars.”
9 Responses to Older Rolling Stock with Plastic Wheels?
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had the same problem if you take apart the trucks after removing them the metal wheels slide in just keep your hands steady
Gary, Yes you are right. Switching to Kadees is tuff when installing many of the cars. If the wheel trucks are removed it will make them easier. They will work BUT, If you connect couplers that are body mounted verses truck mounted it is difficult to adjust the height of the couplers on wheel truck mounted. I have been doing something different. I have been getting Kadee #5 couplers with the box mounts.
I take the old wheel sets off. and if they mount with screws I will just install wheel trucks without the couplers on them. If they are the ones that clip in as some of the old truck mounted did. I fill the old mount holes with styrene sprue rod parts and and glue them in. Then Sand them down flush I redrill for screws and now I can adjust coupler height by adding No 208 or 209 Kadee spacers to adjust the height of the couplers. When the couplers are body mounted it works much better when backing a train. If you are running sharp curves you may need to stay with truck mounted couplers especially longer cars. Shorter cars will work on tight curves but longer cars will have more overhang on the couplers in the curves.
Your better cars generally need 22 inch curves or better But if you can body mount your couplers then you will be much happier. Use Goo Glue to mount your coupler boxes or drill if you can and install with screws. On some cars like tank cars you will run into problems on some that don’t have much to body mount them. In that case you could replace the wheels on the existing trucks and you may have to use Kadee couplers that have a hight coupler or a lower coupler to get the right height of the coupler. Take your time and do it right and you will have great success. I have a lot of cheaper cars that I have converted both wheel trucks and the couplers and unless you are looking close many of these cars look just as good as your better cars. A lot of tyco or Backman truck mounted couplers will need a tab cut out to allow the flat spring to fit in the existing box. It is in the instructions to cut that tab out so the spring will fit better. Also some require a small spacer washer on the mount pin to keep the coupler from being too loose. Look at my Caboose Parade 2015 video on you tube and many of the cabooses have been cheap cabooses that were converted. But you can see how well they travel together. Good Luck. Be patient. Newman
If you can afford it, change to Kadee (or other good make of) trucks rather than just changing wheels.
As Newman says, fill and drill for the new truck screw, filing down or adding washers to adjust car height. Adjust the screw for minimum play without tightness.
Coupler height adjustment may require packing under the coupler, or digging out a channel for it in the car floor, if necessary adding a piece of plastic inside the car to screw into.
Careful dilgent work will produce excellent results.
I’m going to configure a few conversion cars that have both, so I can use older cars without converting couplers.
Conversion cars are great, as that keeps your fleet gong as you convert your cars. a coupler mounted on a wheel truck may have a different height than one that is body mounted so make sure your conversion car has the height adjusted on the new coupler and wheel truck
If you are just converting your couplers on the truck (and I did that for a while) the new coupler on the old truck may not be the same height as the car you couple to that might be body mounted. I use coupler cars when I have guests that would like to run their cars with mine and have different couplers or different height because of mounting. I would even keep a conversion car around even though you have completed your fleet just for your guests you invited to run with you if needed. from Newman
Newman is right , I have done this with good results. A little weathering and these old plastic cars are running again. However their is one more important issue that should be considered. These old plastic cars are to light and need to be weighted. The NMRA standard for this is 1 ounce plus 1/2 ounce for every inch of car length. for HO scale. This will help them to stay on track much better.
Henry Good catch, on the weight I forgot to mention that. Although I kind of guess at the weight. I have kind of got use to feeling the weight without weighing the car.
I had worked with some Rose Hulman Student engineers with their student club. They had the idea that they needed to weigh a car of coal to proximate the weight of a real full load. The engines could not pull them with anything else on the train. I think they forgot that a model engine only can pull a fraction of cars compared to the proto type engines . So yes work with the weights suggested from Henry Newman
I have changed nearly all of the wheel sets on my cars from plastic to steel with great success but I also had to add a bit of extra weight. I use KD couplers on all cars some can be a bit of a problem to get the right height and I use a KD height gauge that sits on the test track on my bench to get everything lined up. Make sure that the metal wheel sets are the same diameter as the plastic ones. I find that by using metal wheels I am not cleaning the track so often. I also run DCC and this also saves a lot of track cleaning. As others have said take your time to get it right the first time. Enjoy your hobby.
Seriously? What kind of cars do you have? In some ways I can identify but for most cars it’s not that big a deal. For the most part you take the trucks off first and then do the couplers. Kadees are quite forgiving… if they’ll sit in the pocket while you’re trying to put the cover or snap or whatever it is that keeps the coupler in the pocket. Sometimes you have to manufacture your own pocket cover. Some times you have to body mount a coupler pocket. Lots of FUN! That’s why they call it modeling! As far as Metal Wheels…most trucks are not a problem. Wheels pop right in. Personally…I still like doing kits and probably always will. 🙂 Kadees are more prototypical and Metal Wheels make your cars run smoother and operate better.