Anyone know how to remove the trucks from a Mantua Old Time wood reefer box car? I dont see any screws holding the truck on and it looks like it should just pop off with some pressure. But I don't want to break the truck or destroy the mounting hole on the frame so I am asking if anyone has removed the trucks and can point out the best way to do it.
Are the trucks plastic and have two round holes forward and aft of the center of the truck? If so try to pull on the truck and twist it in a swivel motion. Two little ears on the truck holdes the truck in place.
Not sure Fred, HO Seeker shows the screw comes up from the bottom from the 1948 model to the 1983 model.
It could also be a pin, and not a screw. The pin usually has a raised center rib, to grap onto, and remove it. Not sure if the link will work, but if you get to the literature page, you can look for yourself.
http://hoseeker.net
Mike
My You Tube
How old are the reefers? Are these plastic or metal trucks? Is the coupler mounted to the truck or to the car body?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
If it has a pin to hold it in, the pin will look like a plastic screw but not have a slot for a screwdriver. You have to pry it out with a small screwdriver or needle nose pliers or something similar. If it doesn’t have a pin then it means it has a two prong post which holds it in place. The prongs are made with one facing the front and the other to the rear of the truck. Use a very small screwdriver between the truck and the car body/undercarriage to push the either prong towards the center and pull down on the truck to remove it.
Yes there are two small holes on ether side of the pivot. I tried pulling and swiveling the truck but it is not coming out. I may need to use a little more force and a small screwdriver to leverage it out. Thanks for the reply.
I would have replied to your thread the day you posted., but the Forum logged me out and wouldn't let me return until tonight
I don't know if you got those trucks out yet, Fred, but here's a couple of photos showing what you're dealing with...
I had four of those Tyco reefers, and once the too-heavy paint is stripped off, the moulded-in detail isn't too bad at all....
Mine all had sagging floors, and since I was going to be working on them for that, I decided to remove the "steel" ends, as not a lot of '30s-era wood reefers had them. When I started that, I also thought that it might be a good idea to replace the moulded-on roofwalk and ice bunker hatches, and this is the result...
I re-built all four with "wood" ends, and gave them all scratchbuilt radial roofs, too. The sagging floors were replaced with scratchbuilt ones, complete with truss rods, effectively backdating them by a couple -or-so decades...
The Tyco trucks aren't too poorly done, either, and after buying a number of used Tyco and Mantua (Tyco's predecessor) gondolas, I re-detailed them a bit with free-standing metal grabirons and some underbody brake gear. I used a utility knife cut-off the extension for the couplers and those truck-mounting nubs, and added body-mounted Kadees. Since the detail on the Tyco sideframes was quite crisply-rendered, I added a plate of black sheet styrene to the bottom of the trucks' bolsters, plugged the truck-mounting holes in the underbody with styrene rod, then attached the original trucks using screws.I'm not a great fan of metal wheels, so left the original wheelsets in place, too...
The Tyco gondola is quite similar (except for the bigger rivets) to Accurail's nicely-done gondola (which also got metal grabirons and sill steps)...
Wayne
dr.wayne, this forum would not let me log in for about a week likewise. I thought I may have been de-accounted. I'm wondering how Fred4hp's truck removel is going. Sure wish this forum would let you upload your own photo stock and not have to use a host. dr.wayne it gives me great pleasure to see your work.
PC101....it gives me great pleasure to see your work.
Thank you for your kind words.
It give me great pleasure to be able to share both the photos and any help or advice which I'm able to offer.
I could not log in for about three weeks. Terrible forums. Ok, they are free.
Some years ago I gently pried the trucks out with a screwdriver. The pins are split. I am sure you know now.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.