Bachmann Freight trucks

[ftauss]

I have a couple of older B-mann gons. Thesae have plastic wheels and axles. I'm putting McHenrys on them and repaintingthem and wanted to do something about the trucks so they are more free rolling. They exert much more resistance then other cars and don't roll down the hump as well.

I have Athearn trucks and wheelssets. Unfortuneately the trucks don't fit over the existing screw post, I guess I couls sand these down, and the Athearn axles in the wheelsets seem a bit longer than the B-manns, the fit tight and don't seem to give much advantage.ell except that they are metal and well tapered. The originals are bluntish and fuzzy.

Just file and sand the existing ones, do others work, any tricks folks?

Frank

[SteamGene]

Try Kadee or Intermountain metal wheel sets.  If you have a reamer, ream out the "journals."
Gene

[r.cprmier]

Suppliers I use are:
Kadee
Greenway products (extremely good)
Precision
Tichy
Central Valley

These are good quality for their respective price.  They are also almost always available.

Rich

[ftauss]

Do any of the reccomended sets (trucks) have a pivot sufciently large enough to fit over the post on the B-mann cars? If reaming is all that I need I can just ream the B-mann truckes and use the existing Atherns, which was the original plan anyway. The shop havd a bag of 12 all brass wheelsets for $3, maybe I'll grab those when I go back.

Frank

[Craig]

I do exactly as you described; I cut and file the bolster on the car and install an Athearn truck, which I fit with Kadee or Proto wheel sets. I use a Micromark truck tuner prior to installing the wheel sets and test fit/ream until I'm pleased with the performance.

[PhilipCal]

In addition to the excellent information already posted, let me add this. Anytime you can replace plastic wheels with metal, go for it. While many plastic wheels offer good, even excellent performance, they do leave a residue on the rails. Metal wheels, on the other hand, actually mimic the prototype, and help keep your rails clean. I completely retro-fitted all my rolling stock over a period of about a year. One of the best investments I ever made.