# aftermarket trucks.



## Dunbar (May 5, 2016)

Ok, so Im upgrading my rolling stock to steel wheels(ballbearing) and KD coups. I would like to get rid of the cheap,plastic trucks that are currently on my stock. Does anyone make a good , aftermarket truck. New to G and having a hard time googling trucks. I get all kinds of other stuff. I will post pics as I get each car detailed and weathered.


----------



## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

What scale, narrow gauge, Bettendorf, or roller bearing?
Chuck


----------



## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

KD has a new truck series you might loo at.
John


----------



## Treeman (Jan 6, 2008)

The Kadee's are all metal with metal wheels, pretty nice.

http://www.reindeerpass.com/kadee-metal-trucks-w-wheels-1-29-1-1.aspx


----------



## Dunbar (May 5, 2016)

1:29 scale Chuck. I just saw the KD's that Treeman posted the link for. I was looking for something like the 70 ton rollerbearing. Does anyone know if its possible to get them without the wheels. I would like to use nickel plated wheels that I can weather and rust, but still have that shiny tread and flange look.


----------



## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Dunbar;

Plastic does not necessarily mean cheap. LGB and USA trains trucks are very solidly made, and the plastic is a UV resistant engineering grade of plastic.

I don't know where you live, so this suggestion may not apply. I live in Virginia and attend the ECLSTS at the York, PA fairgrounds every March. USA Trains sells trucks separately at their booth. This year I purchased a pair of caboose trucks for an upcoming project. They cost $40.00, but they are very solidly made, and the blackened steel wheels that came with them are worth more than half that total. Just another option to think about.

Cheers,
David Meashey


----------



## Treeman (Jan 6, 2008)

Dunbar said:


> 1:29 scale Chuck. I just saw the KD's that Treeman posted the link for. I was looking for something like the 70 ton rollerbearing. Does anyone know if its possible to get them without the wheels. I would like to use nickel plated wheels that I can weather and rust, but still have that shiny tread and flange look.


http://www.reindeerpass.com/kadee-metal-trucks-w-wheels-1-29-1-1-1.aspx

These are more like you are looking for, They all come from Kadee with wheels, I could work a trade for plated USA wheels.

After a little more thought, I don't think the USA wheels would work with the roller bearing, need to take a better look.


----------



## rexcadral (Jan 20, 2016)

Dunbar said:


> 1:29 scale Chuck. I just saw the KD's that Treeman posted the link for. I was looking for something like the 70 ton rollerbearing. Does anyone know if its possible to get them without the wheels. I would like to use nickel plated wheels that I can weather and rust, but still have that shiny tread and flange look.


I agree, metal trucks are way better, they add "heft", particularly to light cars like gondolas.

The Kadee ones are black with black wheels, but if you have a Dremel and a wire brush tip, you can get a nice shiny tread in just a minute or so for each truck. Kadee uses a silver-colored, non-magnetic metal for their wheels.

For some chromed wheels (such as Roll-EZ) I've found that the plating wears off and you get a copper-colored tread, as mentioned above, USA Trains turn yellow-green. At a distance, the reflectivity is all you see, but if you really want steel colored, Kadee seems to have the best option.

Only thing I've found about the Kadee trucks is that they are very "free" in their equalization, which can lead to wobbly cars. To counter that, I made a "fun foam" washer that fits between the hub & the screw, and is slightly larger than the hub - this dampens the equalization, and now cars look like they have some weight to 'em.


----------



## Ted Doskaris (Oct 7, 2008)

*Roller Bearing Truck Comparison*

FYI,

Shown below is a comparison I made of selected 1/29 scale Roller Bearing trucks.










As to using the Kadee 973 Barber truck, I typically don't use the Adaptor Base plate so when the truck is mounted to the car it's more prototypically lower to the railhead which (when body mounting Kadee couplers) minimizes the thickness of (or eliminates using) a spacer between the coupler box and floor pad.

-Ted


----------



## Dunbar (May 5, 2016)

Rex and Ted D., thanks for your two posts. They are extremely helpful and beneficial. Ted, the comparison link you made should be posted more frequently. That was fantastic.


----------



## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

rexcadral said:


> I agree, metal trucks are way better, they add "heft", particularly to light cars like gondolas.
> 
> The Kadee ones are black with black wheels, but if you have a Dremel and a wire brush tip, you can get a nice shiny tread in just a minute or so for each truck. Kadee uses a silver-colored, non-magnetic metal for their wheels.
> 
> ...



Yes to the dremel, no to a wire brush. that will leave fine scratches that collect dirt. I recommend these;
https://www.riogrande.com/Product/AdvantEdge-Silicone-Polisher-Kit/332600
One screw-in mandrel and a flat face wheel will do many wheels and no worry of flying wires.
John


----------



## Ted Doskaris (Oct 7, 2008)

*"G" scale Trucks*




Dunbar said:


> Rex and Ted D., thanks for your two posts. They are extremely helpful and beneficial. Ted, the comparison link you made should be posted more frequently. That was fantastic.


Thank you, Dunbar.

I am not sure what you mean by link posted more frequently! That would likely annoy many folks with duplicity. 

Anyway, I am currently working on a new "Vignette", title:
"*Kadee Coupler Body Mounting Considerations*": Covering Car Height, Floors, Trucks (including friction bearing types), Wheels & Prototypes that I plan to publish on Greg Elmassian's Website. It won't be ready until several days from today so you will get an error message until published.
 
Recently, I have done a few Kadee Truck installations, and I have done many Kadee centerset type coupler body mounts on a whole host of cars, some of which entailed lowering cars.

Greg graciously host *my Vignettes* (articles) on his Web site. On the Web site blue bar near the top, click on "*LS TRAINS*" to invoke the dropdown and click on "*Ted Doskaris Vignettes*" There are currently 7 pages with a 10 vignette group per page (currently 61 total articles on various aspects).
 
-Ted


----------



## Dunbar (May 5, 2016)

Ted,
While I was on hold/discussion for 2+ hrs with Frontier Communication(major f-up on my bill), I went through the Vignettes you stated above. Wow. Thats great stuff. Is there a way you can get that out in mainstream net searches instead of buried in another site. That stuff was so good,helpful, and important that it should be easily found by more people. If you hadnt told me about it, I never would have found it. Again, its great stuff.


----------



## Ted Doskaris (Oct 7, 2008)

*Greg's Web Site*

Dunbar,

I would think the various search engine Web crawlers would ferret out stuff that may be "buried" in a given Web site on a regular basis.
That said, it's Greg's Web site which is an excellent one, and don't overlook the wealth of Greg's own material that he has there. I am merely a privileged contributor to his site.

BTW, I, also, contribute to *Greg's YouTube site*. My videos are included with his videos that he organizes in Play Lists.

-Ted


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

dunbar, if you search for a large scale topic, there's a good chance you will get a reference to my site. the site has over 650 pages, so it is necessarily organized in some manner, in this case hierarchical.

more than a few times, I have started a page to begin research, then googled, only to find google presented me with my own page.

my site is very active, and if you scroll any page to the bottom, you would be very surprised to see how many people are on the site... often it is about 200, but i have seen 4 times that many.

So, it is not buried, indeed, it is good material that gets buried on these forums, just by age, or useless duplication, or by derailment. Often good information gets diluted by useless chatter.

Greg


----------



## Dunbar (May 5, 2016)

Greg. No disrespect meant. I have actually had your site saved for awhile and have been reading as much as I can when I have the time. Its a great info site and it is helping guide me in the direction I want to go before I start spending money on this hobby so that I dont find out the hard way I wasted that money. I just meant that when I was searching for swaping out trucks ( the original post here) that my search engines didnt pull Teds info up on your site. Thankfully Ted gave me the info. I had not made it to LS on your site yet as I have been studying and learning the DCC section of your site. BTW, sometimes I try to go into a page and I get " You have no permissions to view this page" message. I get it every time on DCC- Advanced DCC topics- BEMF.


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

ted was right in the midst of making a new page, so we accelerated the hosting of the pictures and the vignette.

thanks for the heads up on the bemf page, I will fix it, a recent update caused a few pages to go private... any and all comments are welcome, especially if you find errors, omissions, etc.

Regards, Greg


----------



## rdamurphy (Jan 3, 2008)

I love the info on your website, but the constant popup asking for access to my clipboard is a tad annoying, and rather confusing as well...

Thanks, 

Robert


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yeah, sorry about that, I'll look into that... it's a weird byproduct of protecting the pictures from theft.

Robert, I have seen that before, but I cannot duplicate the problem right now.

Would you please email me directly (link in signature) and help me duplicate the issue so I can fix it?

I don't want to derail this thread.

Thanks, 

Greg


----------



## Ted Doskaris (Oct 7, 2008)

*Vignette Published*

Dunbar,

The Vignette (article) below is now published.

*Kadee Coupler Body Mounting Considerations*: 
Car Height & Attitude, Floors, Trucks, Wheels & Prototypes

-Ted


----------



## Ted Doskaris (Oct 7, 2008)

*Updated Vignette*

FYI,

The *Vignette (article)* has been updated to include more illustrations, including Kadee Wheel Measurements.

-Ted


----------

