Broken Boxcar Axle

[nickt22]

I Have some box cars where the axle is bent. Is there a way I can take the axle out and bend it back into shape so the wheels aren't all messed up?

[FJ and G]

wow, more than one! Must be a high bench and concrete floor :-)

 

You can use a wheel puller or put the wheel in a vice and try hammering it off. If too difficult to bend back you might use a nail of suitable size and file the tips. Loctite might hold the wheel on the axle 

[csxt30]

I would remove the axle from the truck, set it on a piece of wood, in between the wheels, that you can rotate it on & tap it as you rotate it with a small brass ball peen hammer. That should get it close if you work at it long enough you can get it almost perfect ! I have straightened bent shafts for R/C helis this way !!   

Thanks, John  

[chuck]

If these are needle point bearing fast angle wheel sets, just replace the wheel set.  By the time you get the unit out of the delrin pocket you might as well just replace the wheel set. 

Are you sure the truck side frames haven't been damaged as well?  It's hard to bend the axles from something like a drop without having suffered other damage.

[FJ and G]

great idea, John!

 

(a bit of bend would give the car a pretty cool roll, sort of a swagger) 

[kpolak]

If these are PW cars with staple or bar trucks, you can gently pry open the trucks and lift the axles and wheels out from the bottom.  The axles fit into a pocket in the truck.  Then you can straighten the axles.  Make sure you lube the axles and wheels as you re-install.

Kurt

[lionelsoni]

They're not that strong.  I haven't found one yet that I couldn't straighten just with my fingers, and often without removing it from the truck.  Give it a try--there's nothing to lose.

[billbarman]

I tried to fix a ment axel on  my postwar caboose and it broke in half, Does Lionel sell them?

[PhilaKnight]

Remove the axle from the truck, try to pull just one wheel off by hand. With the one wheel off put the axle in a vise with the shaft of the axle running the same way as the jaws of the vise and gently squeeze and rotate the axle untill it looks straight. By leaving one wheel on it's easier to rotate the axle, you just butt the wheel to the jaw of the vise. Then push the wheel backe on. Or you could use a finishing nail and grind dowon the ends I've done that and it works.