As i mentioned in the SD60 thread, i finally got my P87 order. As i expected they are the usual NWSL quality and these particular pieces have a dirty metal finish which is probably adequate for most. I plan on repainting them though. COnverting trucks to these wheels isn't hard but does require some work. The first ones i installed were on the Athearn Dash 9 that's on the bench(the one in which i ruined the motor btw, i got a new motor as well!) These were the 42" wheels and i pulled the old ones and and slid in the new ones and was all set or so i thought! Just a note, these wheels sets are exactly like their normal HO ones except for the fact they have the proper 64 tread and flange cross section. Well i plopped the chassis on some test track and proceeded to roll the unit. At real slow speeds it was fine but quicker and one of the wheels would end up derailing- and this was on straight track. So i pulled the unit and studied the truck. It seems Athearn has very low tolerences and the metal parts which hold the bearings weren't quite matched. So i had to match those up. I also had to put some washers between the bearing and the wheel face to keep the bearing from moving too much which was helping the wheels jump. I popped the truck back together and it worked fine. So the Athearn 6s are doable, but require work. I haven't ran that unit under it's own power but it should work fine. If i have to do any more tuning i'll mention it... The next unit i put em on was a P2K SD9 which has been dissasembled far too long! I test fit the wheelsets and they were fine except when i put the sideframes back on. I studied the situation and realized it's because the NWSL axles are a little bit longer(these fit on P2K 6 axle, Genesis, Kato, etc as well which is why they are a little long...) and i would have to drill into the sideframe to properly seat the sideframe. I drilled through the end cap bearing end, beveled the inside and popped em back on- perfect! No running problems. So they weren't simple replacements but it was minimal effort. I haven't done any Athearn 4 axle but they should be fine but i'll probably have to do the washers as well. I haven't done any Atlas/Kato/etc either, but they should be no harder than the P2K SD9... Now i really need to get my track plan hammered down so i can start laying some track and prototypically run some trains!
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by tunnel88: Now i really need to get my track plan hammered down so i can start laying some track and prototypically run some trains! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <font color="336633">thanks for the tips, and i know what you mean about the track work, all i got at the moment is bare baseboards </font> ------------------ Matthew wheres all the C636's???? stickymonk.com Matts Photo gallery
Athearn @$@%!!! Well today i got back into testing the wheelsets and i'm not happy with the Athearn C trucks at all. As i mentioned i tuned em or so i thought. They were fine on tangent but testing them on a 36+" radius curve they jumped like grasshoppers! I'm gonna test them on what i'm assuming will be my minimum mainline radius 48" but i'm not expecting good results from the current setups. This is so frustrating i'm gonna have to really study this truck and see if i can modify the center axle. I might try removing the washers. I'll keep everyone posted but right now all Athearn 6 axle units are considered no-go until further development or Athearn builds a better truck... Some good news is the P2K C trucks are flawless on curves(as i expect the other high end models will be), and the Athearn 4 axle trucks are in/out replacements with no fiddling at all! No problems on curves either- I'm gonna try to finish the #10 switch i started working on so i can get some legitimate test setups...
Tunnel88, lay a straight edge on the rail surface of all 3 wheels while up side down. See if the center wheel is holding up the straight edge, or if straight edge rocks on the center wheel. After running for a time, the bearing surfaces on the truck may have worn enough to cause this. ai hsve an older Athern that the center wheels are plastic and have no flange. This was the problem I found. Present day trucks do not boogie like older Lindsey sprung trucks did, so track has to be glass flat. Just a suggestion. ------------------ Watash
Watash, i mentioned the cause and effect in a different post and in a nutshell it was this- If your Athearn C truck rocks on a perfectly flat surface throw it away because it's worthless with P87 wheels. It all has to do with the poor tolerence of the Athearn C truck assembly. Not all of them are this bad but the ones that are out of alignment have no chance of success unless you can figure out how to straighten the contact metal which i think is virtually impossible to do and get smooth running trucks. If the trucks are perfectly level and don't rock on a flat surface they will work fine. On that particular model(a Dash 9) one truck was perfectly level while one wasn't. That was why i thought i fixed the problem originally when i really didn't. I had to replace the truck with a level one to get it to stay on the track. On a side note, the Genesis units don't have this problem. Nor should any other quality 6 axle model(Atlas/Kato/P2K 6axle/etc...) I don't know what style of truck the Stewart Centuries use so i don't know about them.
Tunnel88, are there any HO or N trucks made today, that the side frames are fastened to the bolster with a shoulder screw, so they can twist to follow dips in one rail? Same question regarding the Lindsey type freight and passenger trucks that were equipped with real tiny coil springs? I have some freight car trucks, that are equipped with a phosphor-bronze leaf spring, that will also twist (ossilate) to fit non-flat track. All three types worked freely before we added weight, most came with the kit, just like the engineer and fireman (painted) came as part of the Varney engine kits. The Lindsey trucks did come separate and were expensive at $1.25 a pair for Passenger 6 wheel. You could put a tooth pick on the rail and roll this truck over it, and each wheel would ride up over it without lifting any other wheel. The manufacyurers really tried to take good care of us back then! All were Zamac 4 or 5, no plastic, wheels were brass, steel axels, brass bolsters. Any trucks like this today? ------------------ Watash
I don't know of any like that and the price today would probably be astronomical... The only sprung trucks i can think of are the Kadee one's but they aren't really accurate because they don't have the right amount of springs... There has to be others i would think though.
