cleaning freight truck wheels

[Anonymous]

[:I cannot remember ever seeing articles about what to use to clean dirty and or gummy wheels from box cars etc,?)]

A long time ago I used some varsol and if I remember correctly it seemed to soften the material that they were made from, so I have not used it since,now I think the newer wheels are made from Delrin or some thing like that[:)]

Any thoughts

Willytrains

[dknelson]

you might try Goo Gone or even regular Pine Sol, lightly soaked on a paper towel
and run the car over it
Then I'd run the car over a clean paper towel or piece of cloth.
Years ago a guy created a wheel cleaner that involved two pieces of wood which moved in opposite directions but where in perfect gauge. To my knowledge nobody makes a commercial version. Even if only one "rail" moved that could work.
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dknelson
To my knowledge nobody makes a commercial version.

Kadee has a driver wheel cleaner http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page159.htm

Jay

[Anonymous]

Pine Sol-sol is a good cleaner, however it can also be used to strip paint. If allowed to stay in contact with paint the paint may lift/disolve and the plastic may soften. This happened to me several years ago.
I find if I have a thick layer of grime arond the wheels I use the flat edge of a jewellers slot screw driver to gently scrape off the build up. This however is time consuming.

[Anonymous]

I have gone to metal wheels because of this problem. The metal wheels stay cleaner. This gumbo that builds up on plastic wheels, is the same crud that builds up on the rail heads. Since alot of us are using Goo Gone to clean track, this cleaner will likely help remove the stuff from your wheels. I would try what dkneson suggested.

[AntonioFP45]

Hello Willytrains.

These gentlemen have given you good answers.

I know how frustrating grime is. Cleanings are a must. You didn't mention your scale. The following may be helpful if you're an H.O modeler.

Suggestion:
Consider "gradually" changing over to metal wheelsets. I've been doing this with my HO Athearn and MDC cars in the past year and I've noticed a major difference. On my 6ft. long test track set up the cars roll more smoothly, track better and even the "clickety clack" sound is much sharper and more pronounced. The rails will stay cleaner longer and locomotives won't be picking up plastic grime and smearing it inside their gearboxes. When needed, just clean the wheels with ordinary Isopropyl alcohol.

I've been buying the Proto Wheel sets. They retail at $8 at most hobby shops but you can get them for $6 at discount dealers on the internet. They look great! One pack has enough wheel sets for 3 cars. Get the 33" for freight cars. After a long time of running the nickel silver finish on the part of the wheel that rolls on the rail may start wearing off. This shouldn't affect the wheels performance, and in fact they'll look even more realistic. Hope this helps!

[cacole]

If you want to go with a really high tech solution, remove all of the wheelsets and clean them with an ultrasonic cleaner -- but replacing them with metal wheelsets would probably be cheaper, depending on how many sets you need to clean. Personally, I throw away plastic wheelsets and replace them with metal.

[nfmisso]

You can make a sonic cleaner very easily.

All you need is a metal pan ( a small loaf pan works) and one or more piezo buzzers.
(like these: http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=466&type=store)

Glue the piezos to the bottom and/or sides of the pan with epoxy. Use a battery(ies) for power.

For a cleaning fluid, water with a very small bit of Dawn.

And you should toss the plastic wheels, and change to metal. Clean the track, all you locomtive wheels and the new metal wheels before installing them with MAAS.

[BR60103]

I use a piece of paper towel with a few drops of my favourite track cleaner. In one discussion group, we had all sorts of cleaners including various denatured alcohols. I keep a few pieces of sectional track on my workbench for this. Put the towel over the track and put a few drops of track cleaner on it -- moisten an area about a truck length or two inches. put the car on the tracks and roll the dirty wheels through the track cleaner. Then roll them onto the dry towel (or even another towel). You should get black streaks on the towel. Keep doing this until it comes off clean.
Try not to catch the uncoupling pins on the edge of the towel.
Some gunk needs to sit in the solution before it softens.
You may need to press sideways to get it all clean.
Your best incentive: remove all your rolling stock and only put back the ones you've cleaned.

[Anonymous]

In support of Antonio's suggestion go to the following sites.

http:www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/002/197xvpbs.asp

http://www.nmra.org/beginner/wheelsets.html

www.micromark.com for truck tuner tool and type in item # 82838

Metal wheels have greater free rolling ability and you can run longer trains.

A word of caution here; not all axles have identical lenghts.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the posts about changing to metal wheels - I intend to do this when I can afford to... Until then, I have another possible solution. You could try a rotary wire brush in a Dremel or similar tool running at low speed - I've used this with no problems, you just have to be careful about the more unusual wheelsets (like the Hornby car with plastic pinpoints that kinda melted a bit... Hey, the axles were metal, I thought they went through the wheels!).

I've also considered another possible mechanical way. Maybe one of the companies that manufacture the "rolling road" units designed for static testing of locos could consider doing something similar, but motorised and with fibre rollers that could be soaked in cleaning fluid - you'd just put the car on the rollers, switch on, come back a minute or two later and the wheels would be clean!

[cacole]

I personally can't think of anything worse than a wire brush in a Dremel for cleaning plastic wheels. No matter how careful you are, the wire brush is going to cut into the plastic and leave grooves that can attract even more dirt. You run a high risk of overheating a wheel, softening the plastic, and possibly burning a flat spot on it, not to mention possibly overheating and melting the truck side frame or warping an axle if you're trying to clean the wheels while they're still on the rolling stock. Even though tedious, some type of cleaner on a Q-tip held against the wheel while you turn the axle between your fingers would be much better than an abrasive cleaner or wire brush.

[AntonioFP45]

For now, I just use alcohol on a clean, lint free cloth.

[Anonymous]

I am slowly tossing the plastic wheels. Have been at it for 1 year. I expect to be done with all the plastic wheels switched to metal wheels by end of this year. Yes, they are expensive but I feel that it will eliminate most of the issues related to dirty track.

Now all I need to worry about is keeping the track clean

[jrbernier]

Plastic wheels are a loser operation and I would not waste time trying to clean them. I wasted my time years ago and sometimes the 'crud' just does not come off. Using an Xacto blade works, as long as you are very careful. I even tried putting the wheel sets in a small 'mesh' dishwasher bag and placing it on the top rack. Even that sometimes melted/deformed the wheels.
Last year I bit the bullet and ordered 20 packages of P2K wheels(M B Klein has the for $3.99/pack). After cleaning all of my track, I pulled all of the plastic wheels and replaced them with the P2K metal wheels. What a difference! I have now 'banned' all plastic wheels from the layout, do not use Whals Clipper oil, Goo Gone or whatever. The track stays clean, and there is no crud being tracked around the layout! I suspect that the plastic wheels built up a static charge, and attracted the dirt/crud. They then tracked it around the layout.

Jim Bernier

[Anonymous]

I take the trucks completely off the car, then clean them in an ultrasonic cleaner. I have sufficient extra trucks to put the car back into service with no down time. I do not do all the cars at once as I do not have sufficient extra trucks for all of them. I do a few every week on a continuous basis. I keep the track and loco drivers clean as well. Doing it this way, I never have trouble with dirty wheels, and the track seems to require less effort to keep clean. I use plain tap water with 2 drops of Palmolive dish detergent to a quart of water in the sonic cleaner. The big problem with the sonic cleaner I have found is that the clear coated chalk weathering comes off about as quickly as the gunk. I have now started a campaign to do all freight car truck weathering with solvent based paints. I hope it works. I have made the switch to metal wheelsets, and that has also helped keep things cleaner. Hopefully,one day a manufacturer will produce track that does not require cleaning and will also produce self-cleaning wheelsets. What will we do with all the free time?

Keep the steam up.

Tom

[Don Gibson]

A double length of paper towel; laid over a straight section of track with an Atlas rerailer:

Take one car at a time, and roll it back and forth over a spot of denatured alcohol on to the dry, and the crud comes off.

Works on Pastic or metal. Move the towel!

[AntonioFP45]

Hey Don!

I had never thought of including the re-railer when rolling the car back and forth on an alcohol soaked towel.

As always, Thanks!

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Don Gibson

A double length of paper towel; laid over a straight section of track with an Atlas rerailer:

Take one car at a time, and roll it back and forth over a spot of denatured alcohol on to the dry, and the crud comes off.

Works on Pastic or metal. Move the towel!

That is almost exactly what I was thinking of doing, right down to the denatured alcohol. Most of the recommendations around here like isopropyl alcohol, but I prefer denatured. I'm not sure if one is actually more effective than the other, but the denatured's sweet smell is better than the doctor's office smell of isopropyl.[swg]