Are MT trucks worthed the investment?

[Jacktal]

I have a few older Rivarossi made Pullman HWY cars (N scale) that I want to retrofit to MT couplers to start with but am hesitating.First,fitting those couplers with their pesty little springs to the originasl trucks is quite demanding to say the least and second,I'm not too impressed by the original Rivarossi trucks either.They seem to lose axles pretty easily.So I'm thinking of purchasing the pre-assembled MT truck/coupler (1018) as a solution.Easy to replace at a hefty price however,but I could live with this if quality is to par with price.

I'd also consider body mounting but there doesn't seem to be any coupler offered for this particular application.Any comment appreciated,thanks.

[tbdanny]

Jacktal,

When I was modelling in N scale, Micro-Trains trucks were my standard to convert older rolling stock to.  The ones I found best suited for heavyweight cars were #1018, with the adjustable couplers.  These make it easy to line up the couplers adjust the couplers to get the spacing you want between cars - just loosen a screw and slide it along.

The actual installation is quite simple as well.  My experience is for the Model Power heavyweights, but the basic principles are the same.  The trucks come with a bolster pin and a piece that they fit into (with a 'ledge' on one end).  Drill out the carriage bolster with a drill bit that matches the inside of the 'ledge'.  Then enlarge this hole from the inside of the carriage, and don't drill all the way through.  The piece that takes the pin should sit in this hole, ledge-down.  Fix it in with a drop of CA and all you need to do is put the trucks on from the other side.

Hope this helps,

tbdanny