I am looking at IHC RP-25 contoured metal wheels to replace the plastic wheels on my IHC passenger cars. Someone told me to stay away from these wheels. Do the intermountain, reboxx, proto 2000 wheels have insulation for lighting purposes? Again, thanks for all your help and suggestions.
SteveB, Look in your local hobby shop, or favorite mail order place for Kaydee wheel sets. They make metal rp 25 wheel sets in magnetic and non magnetic, don't get the non-magnetic ones, they don't conduct current. Hope this helps, LOL
SteveB, all N and HO wheel sets are insulated for two rail operation, so they do not short out. It costs extra money to manufacture two different metal wheels, one to fit the axle, and the other with a larger hole so a plastic sleeve can fit between the wheel and axle. To serve both as an insulator, and to further cut costs, manufacturers decided they could injection mold one wheel that also had half an axle on it with a hole all the way through. Then all they had to do was cut a piece of wire the right length, slip two wheels on and they were done, much cheaper. The two half axles would also gauge the wheel flanges. As it has turned out, the plastic wheel generates static electricity, and attracts any dust around, then it is deposited onto the rails. It is still better to have metal wheels, because they do not attract dust, and are harder. Magnetic wheels are steel, other wheels are brass, and one is annodized aluminum. Even though the aluminum wheel is metal, the annodic coating is an insulator, so your car lights can't get any current. You have to use brass, nickle silver, or steel wheels for lights. See?
I found some MDC wheel/truck sets that are packaged as a product, separately bagged (sorry, I threw out the packageing, so I don't know the #). They have metal wheels with only one side insulated and include a brass contact to bridge the axles. I used them in a caboose to pick up track current for lighting. Kaydee wheels are aluminum on a non-conductive axle, so they won't help with pick-up. Note that wheelsets that will conduct current from only one side generally have one wheel insulated from the axle with plastic, while the other wheel is directly connected to the axle.
