Lionel's 86' Hi-Cube Boxcars

Which #'s did you purchase? I will have the 6-82420 SP Wednesday. I will let you know if the wheels turn on this long box car....Thanks for posting...Happy Railroading.....

BLUESTRAIN, I have had problems as well with some of my 86ft cars, my wheel sets turn ok, but they squeak !

I have oiled them a number of times and it keeps coming back. I have looked and I see nothing wrong, also

my last set of cars I ordered, the coupler on two of them wouldn't work, they where put together wrong!

It took me about hour to fix them. Sorry this was not much help, hope you find out what's wrong!

Got pics of the issue?

Have u checked the wheel spacing? Do you mean that they fall between the rails? Do they spin by hand?

Wheel diameter should not matter unless you are saying they're too thin?

For your information, the fellow that picked up my car from the dealer, checked it out and all is Just Fine. The wheels spin freely.....SP 86Ft Hi Cube car......

Gents,

The trucks squeak because you have a plastic bearing cap on both ends of each axle in the truck. The wheels aren't turning for you because the bearing caps are pressed onto the axles too tightly. Use a small pair of side cutters or a dull hobby knife and pry the bearing caps outward slightly, allowing the axles to move side to side slightly. Apply a drop of really thick oil (the stuff LaBelle makes) between the outside face of the wheel and the side frame (where the axle goes into the bearing pressed into the side frame). The squeal will disappear for about a year plus (if you run your trains 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, longer if you run less frequently). 

The trucks used on the 86' boxcars, as well as the recently shipped 89' auto racks are the same 70T rotating bearing cap trucks we have used on our rolling stock for the last 16 years. A standardized part, who knew? 

Thanks,
Mike

Mike - thanks for the info. Dealer is holding some of those cars for me (and a couple autoracks) until the C&NW model ships (6-82423). That one seems to have disappeared off the shipping sked. If I may ask - is that for the bearing caps, or something else?

EDIT: Mike, disregard. Matt (below) has updated my info.

David

Well I don't have to guess what a "plange " is anymore. I thought something was odd.

Engineer-Joe posted:

Well I don't have to guess what a "plange " is anymore. I thought something was odd.

We have the two sets, the NYC and the Frisco - no issues at all. Take a look at the NJ HiRailers FB page where we have posted a video. 

Kevin 

NKP Muncie posted:

Mike - thanks for the info. Dealer is holding some of those cars for me (and a couple autoracks) until the C&NW model ships (6-82423). That one seems to have disappeared off the shipping sked. If I may ask - is that for the bearing caps, or something else?

David

The CNW and SP cars are in. Charlie shipped them out late last week.

Thanks, Matt. I should hear from dealer soon, then. And disregard my question, Mike Reagan.

David

I just received 2 boxcars today, Chessie and B&O, and they roll perfectly with no drag or squeaks. I bought these from Charles Ro and I'm not sure if they oiled them or if somebody else did but when I got them the wheels/axles on both boxcars were lubed.

update:  I tried moving the caps outward a bit, and the wheels still did not turn.   I took a cap off by accident and guess what, the wheels starting turning freely, so I took the cap off the other side of wheel and it turns freely now, no problem.

I ended up doing this to all the affected wheels on all four box cars, and now the wheels turn with no problem.  Its just two caps on one wheel on each car, and you don't see the caps missing unless you are looking......only I know they are missing.....

I have some of their cars with these trucks and no problems. I ordered spare caps from them anyways for extras. You could do the same.

 I can't see in my head how they would need removing unless they were deformed. 

Rock Island posted:

BLUESTRAIN, I have had problems as well with some of my 86ft cars, my wheel sets turn ok, but they squeak !

I have oiled them a number of times and it keeps coming back. I have looked and I see nothing wrong, also

my last set of cars I ordered, the coupler on two of them wouldn't work, they where put together wrong!

It took me about hour to fix them. Sorry this was not much help, hope you find out what's wrong!

 

Curious on how you repaired the couplers.  My Conrail Hi-Cube 2-pack had one bad coupler on each car.  Lionel replaced the couplers, but the issue just re-occurred on another car.

I took my 2 new ones out of the boxes today, an SP and a Chessie. The SP rolls fine, the Chessie however, started jamming up, and the axle seems to have cleared itself by just breaking the rotating cap off the end of the axle. There's still a piece of the cap stuck on the end of the axle, but the bulk of the cap fell off to parts unknown. Its gotta be somewhere on my layout, I just havent found it yet. I guess I'll be calling Lionel CS monday about it, but in the mean time... if they're jamming up on you guys, you might want to shut it down before the cap lets go.

I just received my 8 door B&O hi-cube this morning.  I didn't check the wheels yet but one of the stirrups was laying in the box.  I could see it had glue on it but was not attached to the car anymore. 

Rick

Note that the latest run of these cars do not have the brake rigging as did the earlier run.  According to Lionel this is a production change.

Mikado posted:

Gents,

The trucks squeak because you have a plastic bearing cap on both ends of each axle in the truck. The wheels aren't turning for you because the bearing caps are pressed onto the axles too tightly. Use a small pair of side cutters or a dull hobby knife and pry the bearing caps outward slightly, allowing the axles to move side to side slightly. Apply a drop of really thick oil (the stuff LaBelle makes) between the outside face of the wheel and the side frame (where the axle goes into the bearing pressed into the side frame). The squeal will disappear for about a year plus (if you run your trains 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, longer if you run less frequently). 

The trucks used on the 86' boxcars, as well as the recently shipped 89' auto racks are the same 70T rotating bearing cap trucks we have used on our rolling stock for the last 16 years. A standardized part, who knew? 

Thanks,
Mike

My 3 auto parts cars work well out-of-the-box, but I have experienced squeaks on some Lionel covered hoppers for the same reason Mikado describes...work on the rotating bearing caps to solve the problem.

Got mine from Charles Ro & they have the same problem with the binding axles. But I plan to convert mine to 2-rail with either Atlas or Protocraft trucks or else I would have followed Mike ‘s rework procedure.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Got a CNW and SP 8-door from Charlie at Nassau Hobbies. Both rolled fine on the club layout all day yesterday.

I received my 86' UP box car from Charles RO.  Very nice but I was disappointed that none of the doors opened.

Ken M

Ken M posted:

I received my 86' UP box car from Charles RO.  Very nice but I was disappointed that none of the doors opened.

Ken M

[Opinion] Opening doors are over-rated. [End Opinion] They end up opening when the train is in motion. Weaver cars were about the only ones where the doors stayed closed.

I noticed that the 8-door PRR version that I bought had no undercarriage details that were on the NYC boxcars I bought last year...Missing was the lines that would control the brake system. Also the single plastic cover that protects the full car was in two smaller pieces covering just the ends. I have an email into Lionel...I converted the cars to 2-rail they look nice and as other wish the doors opened.... 

Dennis210 posted:

I noticed that the 8-door PRR version that I bought had no undercarriage details that were on the NYC boxcars I bought last year...Missing was the lines that would control the brake system. Also the single plastic cover that protects the full car was in two smaller pieces covering just the ends. I have an email into Lionel...I converted the cars to 2-rail they look nice and as other wish the doors opened.... 

If you read up about a half dozen posts you'll see that I have already received a response from Lionel on this.

Received PRR, PC and C&NW versions today. Opened only the CNW so far - one bearing cap loose in packaging, another popped off when I tried to spin one of the axles. Thought I felt another little piece of plastic fall - if so, haven't figured out what it was. A small section of the sleeve on one of the bearing caps was missing.

David

Just curious: on the new 8-door 86' boxcars, what data is given for the load limit and the light (empty) weight?

Cheers!

Keith

I posted above about 1 of the stirrups fell off the car but I rolled it along the track and the wheels roll just fine.  I like the fact that there are no brake lines.  That way when I grab the car to remove it from the box I don't snap any of them accidentally.

Rick 

Keith :

On the CNW car: LD LMT 155900    LT WT 147000   Other cars appear to have lower numbers.

David

NKP Muncie posted:

Keith :

On the CNW car: LD LMT 155900    LT WT 147000   Other cars appear to have lower numbers.

David

Thanks, David.  That's great.  The image of the car in the 2016 signature catalog showed obviously incorrect numbers for LD LMT and LT WT.

Cheers!

Keith

Ken M posted:

I received my 86' UP box car from Charles RO.  Very nice but I was disappointed that none of the doors opened.

Ken M

It was stated by Lionel (way back when both versions of these cars only existed as rapid-prototype samples) that there would be no opening doors in order to preserve the scale appearance of the door hardware.

---PCJ

Thank you RAILRIDE I missed that.  I really like them thou.  I was just surprised that the doors didn't open.

Ken M

Mr. DunnIII thanks for the information on the newest Lionel run of 86' cars. Lionel never answered my email to them from  few days ago. I will make my own brake lines just so I have 3-cars that are similar...Thanks Dennis

Not to start a war ,but I am glad the doors are non -opening, wish all b.c.'s were that way. Agree with matt Jackson on the doors....

Non opening doors are not an issue with me.  I have never seen a 86' Hi-Cube running down the tracks with the doors open.  The only time I have seen the doors on one open was inside the Ford engine plant in Lima, Ohio.  I would rather have the better door detail than opening doors.  The only way I would want a Hi-Cube with opening doors is if Sirt did his magic on it first.

Tom

Yes sir Fellow Big Box Car Enthusiest, These cars are really LONG. So far, all 3 of mine are fine....I do not know if they are true to scale, or lettered accurately, however, they are fun to run....Enjoy...

larry, these cars are true scale...lenght,width, height...i have a morning sun book with the company that made these cars. there were almost 30 paint schemes when first made in the 60's .all of lionel cars produced to date are prototypical road names and colors so far....ditto for the 89' auto rack.....

AGHRMatt posted:

Ken M posted:

I received my 86' UP box car from Charles RO.  Very nice but I was disappointed that none of the doors opened.

Ken M

[Opinion] Opening doors are over-rated. [End Opinion] They end up opening when the train is in motion. Weaver cars were about the only ones where the doors stayed closed.

Not only that, but typically with freight cars that have opening doors the door guides tend to be grossly oversized.  Lionel's 57' mechanical refrigerator cars are a prime example.  Compare how the door guides on those look with the same car by Weaver that doesn't have opening doors.  The difference is significant.