Chuck Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 This is what I did to re-work the USA Trains bi-level autoracks to better suit my rr. Since all my trackage has 20' - 30' diameter curves, I won't even go into if these will negotiate a 10' curve. All I can say is if that's the biggest curves you have then stay away from these cars...after all they're around 38.5" long! Even the real 1:1 railroads have curve restrictions on these cars. First off I use Kadee bodymount couplers exclusively unless I mount the MTH One-Gauge Operating Proto-Couplers on my engines...which I do! So to Kadee these autoracks it was a fairly simple process. The cars come equipped with USA knuckle couplers on a big long shank and they do tell you how to adjust the height but that didn't suit me...and one coupler bound up so enough of those things. Instead what I did was use the supplied optional metal coupler "cover" for a Kadee mount. Made of metal with 4 mounting screws figured that would be strong enough. After I marked where I wanted the Kadee mounted I just centerpunched, drilled & tapped the holes for #4-40 mounting screws. I used the #906 couplers as I feel they're a bit stronger, and they have a bit of slack action. I don't have to worry about the wheels hitting them as they're far enough away. To use them I installed without the top cover but had to remove the cover locating nubs which are btw the mounting posts. Then I just simply mated the coupler to the metal cover and fastened with some #4-40 stainless steel screws. I also installed nuts..just for safety. Then mounted the whole thing to the car. The coulpers are a bit "low", like a 1/16" compared to the Kadee height gauge but that doesn't really bother me as my trackage is all elevated mounted on solid wood benchwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Posted December 17, 2014 Author Share Posted December 17, 2014 After I got some of the autoracks fitted with Kadee couplers I noticed that a few of them didn't roll very good. Infact one had an axle that refused to roll! So I take a die-cast metal truck apart and see that USA used a steel axle bushing in the truck frames. Steel axles riding against steel bushings isn't a very good mix. So I popped the steel bushings out, measured both the od of the bushing & the axle od and ordered up some ball bearings. I used 684ZZ bearings which measure 4 x 9 x 4mm or 4mm inside diameter x 9mm outside diameter x 4mm wide (thick). 2 for a buck off eBay from Hong Kong delivered...Can't beat that! Beautiful thing is they almost push all the way in by thumb pressure Bad part is the axles are the same size as the ID of the bearing. So I press the wheels off the axles, chuck the axles in my lathe and remove about .005 of material...and that was mostly the shiny plating. Note whenever ball bearings are used the axle ends have to be a bit smaller than the bearing ID. Main reason is most all truck frames aren't perfect and both truck sideframes don't stay in perfect alignment with each other. The axles have to have "slop" in the bearings and I'd say or .005 is a good place to start. If you try and hold the tolerances any tighter the wheels may have a tendency bind. I've noticed this when installing bearings into MTH, USA plastic, AML die-cast & Aristo-Craft truck frames over the years. Once put together and installed on my fleet of "racks" they roll really easy! Almost too easy as any small incline will get them rolling as gravity takes over One other thing worth mentioning is the USA 60' boxcars appear to have the same truck under them...but they don't. They use a die-cast truck that looks exactly the same but the axles where they ride in the bronze bushings is smaller. The bushings measure 9mm OD but the axles measure right at 1/8"/ 3.175mm instead of 4mm...Those things are another can of worms to use ball bearings. Have to either turn the axle ends down to -3mm which I don't recommend, go with inch bearings but then you'd have to bore out the die-cast metal truck frame for say a 3/8" OD bearing or make new axles...or buy the autorack wheelsets. Could always sleeve the axle ends up to 4mm...or just leave them alone as they do ride in bronze bushings Here's a good place to look at the various mini-bearings available...but can usually beat their price by at least 50% by shopping on eBay though it may take a few weeks to receive an order...just order in advance http://www.avidrc.com/product/1/bearings/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markoles Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Chuck, I don;t have any of these cars, but I do have the aristo heavyweight passenger cars, 12 of them, most with the 3 axle trucks. I am thinking it might make sense for me to swap out to ball bearings eventually. Do you have any experience with those cars and installing ball bearings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman4449 Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Very nice work Chuck at some point I will get around to doing this on some of my rolling stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginear joe Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 I just did this on my only auto carrier. I thought it rolled good enough but decided to do it anyways. I gave the car a push in the basement and it rolled about 3 feet. After the upgrade I did it again. It rolled so far, I had to run and stop it, before it hit a parked train. I got four CF hoppers used from Derrill V. They had bearings installed and I noticed how good they roll. So I'll be doing all my cars so I can run longer trains. I don't know what bearings he used. I will take one apart to see. I put these same bearings in for now. I used shrink wrap on the axles as they are much thinner. I can't find a bearing that has the correct ID and OD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginear joe Posted September 14, 2015 Share Posted September 14, 2015 It appears that those hopper's sleeves are just reamed out some or just from wear? There's no bearings in the trucks. They roll much better than any of mine did so I believed him when he said they had roller bearings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginear joe Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 I converted one of these cars before, to KDs. I just guessed at the coupler set back. I was doing it again and I moved the coupler out a little more. It looks like I guessed at about the same distance as you set them? I was thinking to move them out even more?? I tried to find my bearings and I can't. I think I used them all up? I ordered more and the shipping notice now says next month!!! Urrggg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Have you seen Burl,s couplers ... http://burlrice.com/_LS_Coupler/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginear joe Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I only have the set that came with his tank car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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