HO truck replacements


BigE

BigE

Active Member
I have 2 old Bachman cars in need of trucks.
These have the plastic push-pin type pilot mounts.
One has body-mount couplers and the other apparently was truck mounted.

Can someone help find replacements for them please.
Preferably from MB Klein since I have a couple of other things to order.
I did some searching around yesterday but got no where.
Thanks, Eric.
 
I have been using Kadee replacement trucks for decades. Although I haven needed to replace any trucks in recent years as I really have all of the freight cars I need, I like their sprung trucks. I started building my freight cars fleet almost 30 years ago, many being the old Athearn blue box kits as they were probably the best available back then All of them are still in service and have not given me any problems at all. I did have a Walthers dealership back then and many of the old blue kits had their trucks replaced with the sprung Kadee trucks, or at least had the wheels replaced with Kedee metal wheels. In more recent years I have also used Intermountain metal wheels.

I would also recommend to have body mounted couplers on all of your freight cars. Having a mix of truck mounted and body mounted couplers can lead to derailments, especially when backing up.
 
Genetk44 said:
Do you want to switch the truck mounted couplers to body-mount? Are you looking for new push-in mount trucks? I would check Accruail and Kadee

http://www.kadee.com/html/truck_and_wheel.pdf
http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/HO-Scale Trucks.htm
http://www.accurail.com/accurail/parts.htm
Click to expand...

I'm comfortable putting on body mount couplers.
Did my first conversion on a caboose yesterday in fact.

I'm not as fancy as Chet's rig so a simple replacement would be fine with me. I already have steel wheels on everything.
E.
 
montanan said:
I have been using Kadee replacement trucks for decades. Although I haven needed to replace any trucks in recent years as I really have all of the freight cars I need, I like their sprung trucks. I started building my freight cars fleet almost 30 years ago, many being the old Athearn blue box kits as they were probably the best available back then All of them are still in service and have not given me any problems at all. I did have a Walthers dealership back then and many of the old blue kits had their trucks replaced with the sprung Kadee trucks, or at least had the wheels replaced with Kedee metal wheels. In more recent years I have also used Intermountain metal wheels.

I would also recommend to have body mounted couplers on all of your freight cars. Having a mix of truck mounted and body mounted couplers can lead to derailments, especially when backing up.
Click to expand...

What is a "sprung truck"? I see that mentioned a lot.
E.
 
A sprung truck actually has operating springs in the truck allowing more movement of the wheels over the tracks. Here's a photo of a caboose that I removed the coil springs in the truck and replaced them with leaf springs which cabooses had. The truck is still sprung, but should give you and idea of what a sprung truck is.

IMAG0267.jpg Take a close look.
 
I understand that the cars have the pin that pushes in to hold the truck in place. It should work on the Kadee trucks. It is a more expensive replacement, but I really like them. I have replaced a few of the older freight cars with the push pins by tapping a a hole for a screw to hold it in place. Off hand, I can't remember the size (2/53 ?? Doesn't sound right. The same size screws as the old Athearn kits use. ) That's also what I did on the wooden caboose kit and a number of wood Silver Streak kits.
 
montanan said:
I understand that the cars have the pin that pushes in to hold the truck in place. It should work on the Kadee trucks. It is a more expensive replacement, but I really like them. I have replaced a few of the older freight cars with the push pins by tapping a a hole for a screw to hold it in place. Off hand, I can't remember the size (2/53 ?? Doesn't sound right. The same size screws as the old Athearn kits use. ) That's also what I did on the wooden caboose kit and a number of wood Silver Streak kits.
Click to expand...

I just got off the phone with Bob at MBK. He said use the #2-56 screws. He asked if I had any Athearn cars with the screw mount trucks. I didn't know what make they were since I see no makers mark on them but I do have a number of them.
I actually like that screw-mount style but have wondered what happens if/when they get stripped out.
Then what?
E
 
Genetk44 said:
I would just use a small nut and bolt through the floor of the car.
Click to expand...

That's fine except one of them is an open coal car.
The 3 I had trouble with yesterday are the same. I've put them aside for the time being.
E.
 
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