Has anyone swapped out the trucks on a bachmann fulldome car with the 6 axle trucks from Kato? I want to use these to replace the Bachmann ones, http://www.katousa.com/images/800122B.jpg As not a huge fan of the Bachmann ones. If nothing else, I can probably replace the wheels with NWSL or Fox Valley, and use the Kato couplers in the bachmann trucks, but this is more or less and last chance option for me.
are those from the Articulated car sets? You'd have to do some form of miracle to probably get the screw to fit above the mid axle, have you considered the MTL 6 xle commonwealth trucks?
I have done this for one of the guys who run on my layout, not fun, must lose the center axel, install the screw and snap the truck over the head. Better option is the newer full dome which comes with MT (?) couplers and was less than $12.00 at woo woo woo. Bob.
You have a link to the other full dome...as far as I know Bachmann is the only one who makes one currently. Only ones I see at woo woo woo were the Bachmann ones for $12. Car in question. http://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=265_389_391&products_id=2633 I'm pretty sure I can fit Kato couplers into the Bachmann trucks. Kato part number 923500. If I'd have to lose the center axle, I may just swap the couplers out with the 923500s.
Not sure why you want to replace the trucks. Mine from at least two different time periods in manufacture and with two different materials used for the trucks still roll excellent. Trucks off the car will roll freely across my worktable with just a slight finger nudge. And the truck side frames are correct for the car. Unless you want to light the car then the options probably would have to be the Kato trucks which look closer than the MT trucks and already have the pickup while MT doesn't. Since a number of my passenger consists will be fixed with no car switching out I have pretty much gone over to using the Unimate couplers. I have found that the Unimates fit pretty much everything. Only the car end connected to the power has an MT. On the other hand my equipment for the Fast Mail which will switch out cars like a freight are all MTs for that reason.
It is the Bachmann, last I looked just available in Santa Fe. They run very well out of the box, have MT couplers (1128 ? ) Bob.
"are those from the Articulated car sets? You'd have to do some form of miracle to probably get the screw to fit above the mid axle, have you considered the MTL 6 xle commonwealth trucks?" The Kato #800122B 61-RDO truck is what the El Cap diner (and Budd Big Dome/Great Dome cars, UP baggage as well as many retrofitted modernized business cars) used. As for the MT Commonwealth truck it is a heavy duty freight car truck... definitely not something you would want to have on a passenger car since it is the type designed for freight service. The Kato truck or the DPH 1006 truck (misidentified as 6-TCA-1 but actually a 61-RDO, if Spookshow's photos are correct) would be what you would need on the Bachmann Big Dome model but I do not know where the mounting hole is on the Bachmann model so its hard to say which would be better. An earlier design used on some lightweight equipment (i.e.: NYC dining cars, GM&O coaches and parlors, SP head-end cars and some USA hospital ward cars) is represented by the Kato 800106 6-TCA-1 trucks, though there were some variations in regards to where the brake cylinders were placed. Contrary to information documented about the DPH 1006 truck being correct for the Espee triple unit diners it was type represented by the Kato 6-TCA-1 that was used on all but the last two sets (10280 - 10282, 10283 - 10285) of triple unit diners built for Espee, since the 61-RDO wasn't made available until the latter part of the 1940s.
I think the Bachmann and Kato 61-RDO's have the mounting hole in the same place - I have used the Kato trucks on cars that have screw mounts. However, the Kato axles are fat and the center axle gets hung up on the screwhead, so I replace the center wheelsets with something that has a thinner axle (FVM, Atlas or BLMA, I forget which). -Mark
I replaced the trucks on my B'mann full dome with the Kato 61-RDO's. I used the type of screws that came with old Rivarossi passenger cars. Could not get the Kato center axle to clear the head, even after filing most of the head off, so I replaced the center wheel set with an Atlas metal wheel set (thinner axle). Fair amount of work, but a much improved ride..
Hmmm, may have to find the right wheels to install in the center spot to get it to work... Basically you just snap the Kato truck over the screw head. Sure I could find something that works at the local hobby or hardware store. Thanks all.
