I also buy the Walthers all metal wheels sets but the case. I like how they add a little extra weight to my older cars. I often have to use the Micro Mark Truck Tuner to make the new wheels spin freely.
I gle birdshot in the voids between hopper bays beneath the car for additional weight using white glue. A Sarpie permanent marker can color the dry glue black in seconds and dry in minutes. The result is a car that even when empty tracks well.
I have more than 300 pieces of freight cars. I bought 10 sets of those 100 per box but once in a while you will run into trucks that are too wide to keep them in place. I bought the boxes when Walthers had them on sale then my Dealer put them back fro me, when I needed more I went to my Dealer & pick them up. 10 boxes of 33 4 boxes of 36.Some of my newer stock already had wheels & couplers. I had a number of Talgo type trucks so I had to change those too.
Looks like you've been super busy with updating your rolling stock and equipment I've done the same for many many years just bought a whole bunch of box of parts and pieces for my hobby and I started my own little repair shop called Garrett's station
I spent nearly $400.00 on changing out wheel sets and couplers on about 100 pieces of rolling stock. I changed the wheels from plastic to metal (after all, trains have metal wheels) & body mounted Kaydee couplers. I also took the time to weather each piece of rolling stock. Took me several months to complete the project. I also changed out all the incandescent lighting on coaches to LED lighting and changed out the headlamps of locomotives to LED's as well along with proper ballast resistors. I used mini full wave bridge rectifiers, LED strip lighting (the ones that can be cut apart at every 3rd LED & have the ballast - current limiting resistors - already on the LED strips). I also used 3200uF capacitors for flicker free lighting. I even lit up an old REA (Railway Express Agency) coach by making my own wheel pickups out of some scrap copper I salvaged from an old computer. The LED strip lighting is 12 volt DC and I think I used about 12 LED's per coach. I used bright white LED's but they turned out to be too bright, so I painted each LED with yellow acrylic paint and now they look period correct with yellow lighting. I also changed out all coal loads to real coal. I had a big lump of bituminous coal I went after with a hammer (outside of course) and smashed it into HO scale. I also brought each piece of rolling stock up to NMRA standard weight for each piece of rolling stock. Cheers from eastern TN
I'm just starting this project with my 55 ton hopper fleet. It consists of Athern, LifeLike, Stewart and a few Atlas cars. The Atlas needs no improvement. I put Atlas trucks under one of the Athern cars and it not only runs like an Atlas, it looks like it. Next I'll just replace the wheels on another & compare.
I have a question as someone who got some metal wheels for his first train set, what do i do to fix the trucks if after i install the wheels, the wheels become stiff and hard to turn. How to i loosen up the wheels to make them more free wheel?
The best fix is to tune the trucks. To do this, you'll need a truck tuner, mico-mark makes one and the part number is 82838. Now I'm sure there may be another way to do it with possibly a drill bit or something, but the truck tuner is the safest way to get your wheels freed up without causing any damage to the truck. Hope this helps!
Very nicely done. I just wish my N gauge rolling stock had screws in all the wheel sets to make the process this easy.
I also buy the Walthers all metal wheels sets but the case. I like how they add a little extra weight to my older cars. I often have to use the Micro Mark Truck Tuner to make the new wheels spin freely.
The truck tuner is a tool I must invest in. I've had a few wheel sets that are a little tight. Lol. Thanks for the comment!
The tuner is a real asset to make the wheels turn freely!
I gle birdshot in the voids between hopper bays beneath the car for additional weight using white glue. A Sarpie permanent marker can color the dry glue black in seconds and dry in minutes. The result is a car that even when empty tracks well.
I used the very same wheel sets, Walthers proto 33" wheel sets. On larger freight cars I used 36" Walthers proto code 100. Cheers from eastern TN
I have more than 300 pieces of freight cars. I bought 10 sets of those 100 per box but once in a while you will run into trucks that are too wide to keep them in place. I bought the boxes when Walthers had them on sale then my Dealer put them back fro me, when I needed more I went to my Dealer & pick them up. 10 boxes of 33 4 boxes of 36.Some of my newer stock already had wheels & couplers. I had a number of Talgo type trucks so I had to change those too.
Keep up the awesome videos!
Don't forget the metal wheel set shifts the center of gravity down toward the rails. Hal
Did you check the coupler height with the height gauge by Kadee?
All of my classic 'HO' scale rolling stock have Kadee couplers and metal wheelsets 100% throughout.
Looks like you've been super busy with updating your rolling stock and equipment I've done the same for many many years just bought a whole bunch of box of parts and pieces for my hobby and I started my own little repair shop called Garrett's station
I spent nearly $400.00 on changing out wheel sets and couplers on about 100 pieces of rolling stock. I changed the wheels from plastic to metal (after all, trains have metal wheels) & body mounted Kaydee couplers. I also took the time to weather each piece of rolling stock. Took me several months to complete the project. I also changed out all the incandescent lighting on coaches to LED lighting and changed out the headlamps of locomotives to LED's as well along with proper ballast resistors. I used mini full wave bridge rectifiers, LED strip lighting (the ones that can be cut apart at every 3rd LED & have the ballast - current limiting resistors - already on the LED strips). I also used 3200uF capacitors for flicker free lighting. I even lit up an old REA (Railway Express Agency) coach by making my own wheel pickups out of some scrap copper I salvaged from an old computer. The LED strip lighting is 12 volt DC and I think I used about 12 LED's per coach. I used bright white LED's but they turned out to be too bright, so I painted each LED with yellow acrylic paint and now they look period correct with yellow lighting. I also changed out all coal loads to real coal. I had a big lump of bituminous coal I went after with a hammer (outside of course) and smashed it into HO scale. I also brought each piece of rolling stock up to NMRA standard weight for each piece of rolling stock. Cheers from eastern TN
What screws does the 33’’ trucks wheels take please help thanks for Ho scale
I'm just starting this project with my 55 ton hopper fleet. It consists of Athern, LifeLike, Stewart and a few Atlas cars. The Atlas needs no improvement. I put Atlas trucks under one of the Athern cars and it not only runs like an Atlas, it looks like it. Next I'll just replace the wheels on another & compare.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
For Me I Run Horn hook and Knuckle Couplers.
What If you wanted to Use those Cars For Ballasting the Tracks If you need a Ballasting your Tracks?
I have considered converting a hopper to a ballasting tool. But I have not developed the plans yet. I'm sure it's possible
I have a question as someone who got some metal wheels for his first train set, what do i do to fix the trucks if after i install the wheels, the wheels become stiff and hard to turn. How to i loosen up the wheels to make them more free wheel?
The best fix is to tune the trucks. To do this, you'll need a truck tuner, mico-mark makes one and the part number is 82838. Now I'm sure there may be another way to do it with possibly a drill bit or something, but the truck tuner is the safest way to get your wheels freed up without causing any damage to the truck. Hope this helps!
@@themillrunandwesternmaryland11 thank you, I'll go look that up right now
What about weight
That's the next area of exploration. What should it weigh and what to use! Stay tuned!
K d wisker couplers are better because they have a centering wiskers