Kadee Trucks and Weaver Hoppers

I’m in 3RS.  I noticed these a while back when original Weaver diecast trucks had insane prices. Atlas bought the Weaver  tooling for the Wagontop boxcars. I guess it was easier to come up with a new truck or MTH did a run for them. Rather than redesign the chassis to accept their own. I have no experience with them.

I’ve read good things about the Kadee trucks and have looked them over at a show. They seem to have plenty of adapters for different applications. The Atlas option may be a less expensive one. I’m guessing your cars are 2 rail maybe with plastic wheels is the reason for going the Kadee route.  You maybe even can use Intermountain wheelsets in what you already have. Hopefully someone in 2 rail can share their experience.

Thanks for your response.  The cars I’m planning to re-truck are a mixture of two- and three-rail and a couple of them are still in their original boxes and never had trucks to begin with.

Weaver hopper cars were designed with NMRA standard compliant bolsters and coupler pads.  There have been many brands of trucks produced with NMRA compliant bolsters.  Among them are Kadee, Athearn, Weaver, and Intermountain.  Unfortunately, Atlas trucks (and freight car bodies) do not have NMRA compliant bolsters.  Since the AtlasO truck bolster is higher above the rail head than the NMRA spec, when an Atlas truck is mounted on a car with NMRA spec body bolsters (like a Weaver hopper) the car will ride noticeably higher than the prototype.

  For good-looking low-priced Bettendorf trucks, it is hard to beat Intermountain plastic ones fitted with Intermountain metal wheelsets. Assembly is required but once you learn the process it takes less than 15 minutes to assemble a set of trucks.  Appearance wise I favor Intermountain trucks as they have brake shoes and realistically heavy looking plastic springs.  Properly assembled they equalize over uneven track better than most trucks with working metal springs.  I have several hundred in service on my railroad and haven't had any failures in over 30 years of operation.    A typical show price for Intermountain trucks is around $12. 

@Mister_Lee posted:

Thanks for your response.  The cars I’m planning to re-truck are a mixture of two- and three-rail and a couple of them are still in their original boxes and never had trucks to begin with.

if some of the cars have Weaver 2 rail trucks already installed, just curious but why do you want to replace them? Is it because they are plastic?

Why would I replace them?  Because they are plastic

@Mister_Lee posted:

Why would I replace them?  Because they are plastic

@Mister_Lee Sorry, I misunderstood your post. I thought you were replacing all of the trucks on all of your Weaver cars. Good luck with your project. I wish MTH would have made more of the die-cast trucks they made for Weaver in Weavers last few years. I like the Kadee trucks a lot. I haven't tried them on a Weaver car yet. Are they a drop in replacement on a Weaver car?

There's nothing wrong with plastic/Delrin trucks. Just add 2-rail Intermountain wheelsets, which have a good weight, and you have an excellent truck that rolls freely without lubrication. I have had good results from spray painting my Athearn Delrin trucks and the wheelsets with matte-finish camouflage dark brown from a can and then brushing them with finely powdered weathering material to bring out detail. I have been running mine for decades without an issues at all.

You’ve made good points in defense of some people’s delrin/plastic trucks, but that’s not necessarily true with some of Weaver’s freight car trucks.  I’ve encountered more than a few plastic Weaver freight car trucks that disassembled themselves either prior to purchase or during operating sessions on the local three-rail club’s layout.  The side frames slip away from the truck bolsters, the axles separate from the trucks, and you have a prescription for imminent derailment.

this is not something I did: some of the Weavers I’ve bought at flea markets or on the Bay have been delivered with trucks held together with rubber bands so they won’t make an embarrassment when the buyer unpacks them.  I think you can guess why I might think that replacing such plastic trucks might be a good idea.