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Just got 4 new box cars from RO, and I found that every car has a problem with the wheels not turning freely..

The wheels seem to get stuck in the plange and do not move.  I tried oiling the axle but nothing works.  Anyone else have this problem?

They are nice long box cars, but it appears that the wheels are too small for the weight of the cars.

 

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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!

 

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

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.....

 

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.

 

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.

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.

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

 

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.

Last edited by John Korling

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