MTH freight car conversion 3 rail to 2 rail trucks

Yes. Remove the shell. The screw threads into the truck from up above.

Hi Dave,

  Are you telling me that to remove the shell, it is just a snap fit? I tried putting a knife Blade between shell and bottom and springing the sides out and would not seem to come apart, I,m afraid I might damage it. Must be a better method?

Dale

@polekat62 posted:

Hi Dave,

  Are you telling me that to remove the shell, it is just a snap fit?

Dale

No. There are 4 screws, one at each corner of the car. The screws are "jis" although LOOK just like Philips head. If you do not have "jis", i.e.  Japanese Industrial Standard screw drivers, be careful using Philips head drivers.

Besides that, why would you post this on the Announcements Forum?

here's his car I believe.

20-94563 | MTH ELECTRIC TRAINS (mthtrains.com)

There should be screws as HW posts above. I don't have this car to look. All of mine have screws somewhere.

Maybe look in the hatches?

I have just now found the screw holes. they are under the trucks and i,ll give it a try to remove them,

   Thanks

Sorry, misread your post. I thought you were talking about the trucks being a snap fit. As Hot Water said there are 4 screws. You may have to swivel the trucks to access them.

i've converted several MTH cars to 2-rail. Just about all of the MTH cars have a multi-step process to convert them. Unfortunately, they don't give the diagrams on the cars.

• First, you have to remove the bottom of the car. There should be eight (or more) screws that hold the bottom of the car to the body. Be careful here as the doors are typically held in with a snap-in track for sliding doors, or they may be a snap-in retainer for the swing-out doors on this particular car.
• Upon removing the bottom of the car, you'll see the screws that hold the trucks in place. Unscrew them and replace them with the MTH scale-wheel trucks. I've also converted MTH trucks using Intermount #20050 33" single-insulated scale wheels (make sure you have the insulators on the same side of the truck and on the same side of the car if it has a metal chassis). MTH modern "hidden tab" trucks are tricky to disassemble, but it can be done, just make sure you have the truck inside a plastic bag while removing one of the side frames so when the springs go flying you'll have them,
• Reassemble the car by reversing the process. Install the Kadees using 2mmx8mm screws on most cars. 2-56 x 3/8" will work if the 2mm are loose (I found this to be the case on the Gunderson cars.

Hope this helps.

I've converted quite a few MTH cars also.    I have found I can convert the original trucks.    I take the truck off and remove the large coupler.   Sometimes this has to sawed off the bolster, sometimes unscrewed.

I think take the truck apart and replace the wheelsets with Athearn or Intermountain wheelsets.   The axles drop in and roll fine, however they are a little loose.    I have convert about a dozen hoppers, and about 8 R50B.  

Call me crazy, but I turned my own wheels to fit on the original axels, but Im sure there are wheels to fit, the axels where 2.5 mm as I remember? They are time consuming to do, compared to other cars that unscrew from the bottom of the truck. cTr...( Choose the Right )