Hi all, I have a full Amtrak Superliner set from Kato. Finally changed out the awful couplers woth Kadees. Now I'm finding the cars don't roll well. It's not as much dirty wheels as it is the axles spinning. It's the same with all 7 of the superliner cars. I attempted to pop the wheels off and have a look to see what might by slowing them down. But they look rather complicated (I'm a casual hobbyist each year during the holidays).
Any suggestions?
Ill try to Attach some pictures below.
Thanks!
If the trucks are plastic, you can use a Truck Tuner to ream the points where the axles fit into the sides of the trucks.
Rich
Alton Junction
If HO-scale, a Micro-Mark truck tuner...
https://yankeedabbler.com/82838-truck-tuner-by-mico-mark-scale-ho-part-mic-82838/
Worth it's weight in gold.
If N-scale, better trucks, as there doesn't seem to be an N-scale truck tuner available. Perhaps someone who models N-scale can give you a recommendation on good-quality correct trucks.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Good point, Tom. The Truck Tuner is only available in HO scale.
Yea so it's HO and metal wheels. I'm having a hard time using IMGUR with my phone but if you saw pictures you'd see the trucks are different than what I'm used to. Metal wheels into a plastic frame but before they touch the hole in the frame the points pass through a piece of metals which is used to provide power to the lighting. So not sure if my truck turner would help.
Also this hasn't happened before. I got this set about 6 years ago and only use at Christmas. Can't figure out what happened to make the wheels so tight, so to speak.
You might try Kadee Greas-em, a dry graphite lubricant that can be applied on the trucks where the axles fit into the sideframes.
You need the truck tuner, that metal elctrical contact strip should interfere with the rolling ability.
Mike.
My You Tube