Metal wheelsets for Tichy trucks

[tstage]

Greetings,

This may have been addressed previously but I didn't find it.

I just finished assembling & painting a Tichy 52' war emergency gondola kit.  I went to install Kadee 33" ribbed wheelsets into the supplied trucks but the Kadees bind in the journal cones.  The plastic wheelsets, OTOH, spin quite well and freely.

Comparing the two wheelsets, there is a noticeable difference in the tip axle OD between the Tichy (left - 0.062") and the Kadee (right - 0.090"), as well as overall length of the axles themselves (0.995" vs 1.015", respectively):

I have a Micro-Mark truck tuner but suspect it may not help enough in this case.  Is there a metal wheelset that will work with the Tichy trucks?  Or, should I abandon the idea and use an identical plastic truck (Bettendorf) from Accurail?  Or, perahps a Kadee metal truck would look better.

Thanks for the help...

Tom

[maxman]

 Don't know if it will make a difference, but Intermountain wheel sets have axle length of 1.006 +/- 0.004.

[SeeYou190]

Interesting that you are having problems.

I bought two ten packs of Tichy caboose trucks and installed Kadee wheels after a pass with the truck tuner. They are so free-rolling that they will uncouple over Kadee 308 magnets.

I had to put wipers on the plastic axles to add a little bit of drag.

I have no idea what is the root cause with the Bettendorf trucks.

-Kevin

[MisterBeasley]

I've replaced all my old plastic wheelsets with Intermountains.  Part of the effort was replacing all my Tyco Talgo trucks.  These old trucks are oddly metal with plastic wheels. The trucks are very solid and it's impossible to replace wheelsets.  I removed them and tossed them, body-mounted couplers, and bought Tichy trucks.

The Intermountain wheelsets slip in easily and roll like a dream.

[tankertoad135]

I have had similar issues with binding wheelsets from Kadee when installed in various trucks.  Using the ho Truck Tuner solved the binding issue, even in AHM's trucks.  A truck tuner is a 'mandatory' addition to a model railroader's tool box.

[tstage]

I decided to take a chance with the truck tuner and...problem solved!  VAST improvement in rollability and I could used the Kadee ribbed wheelsets.

Thanks everyone!

Tom

[MisterBeasley]

Part of my wheelset changing regimen is always to use the truck tuner.  Maybe that's why I have no problems with the Intermountain wheelsets.

[tstage]

I test all my trucks first.  If - after installing the metal wheelsets and giving each a gentle flick with my forefinger - the wheels spin for <5 sec, I use the truck tuner.  If the wheels spin > than 5 sec, I leave them alone.

Tom

[ATLANTIC CENTRAL]

Tom, this should explain the problem and the solutions:

https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/288283.aspx?page=1

Sorry, I don't remember the secret handshake to make the link live.

Sheldon

[tstage]

Thank you, Sheldon.  I made the link clickable in your post.  I'm also bookmarking it in my browser for reference.

And here's the "secret handshake" to make forum links clickable:

(url)https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/288283.aspx?page=1(/url)

Replace the parentheses with brackets --> Linked...

Tom