NWSL: 2 questions

Hi Martin,

I have purchased and assembled several sets of NWSL unassembled wheelsets for Lionel roller bearing spinner wheelset conversions.  You will need some kind of press; like a 4” bench vise or small arbor press (something like a NWSL sensi-press will work but on the edge of just barely being strong enough for pressing O scale wheelsets).

I also had to make some special aluminum blocks that allowed the small diameter roller bearing end of the shaft to protrude down through a hole in the block and rely on the more stout shoulder further up on the axle to press against since you will damage the small roller bearing shaft end if you try to press against this for pressing on the non-insulating wheel (don’t ask me how I know).  The wheel that presses on with the nylon insulating bushing goes on quite easy; however, the axle end that takes the wheel that presses directly on to the axle (non-insulating) takes a fair amount of force since this is a steel-on-steel interference fit.  I use a light oil on the axle and this helps ease things along a bit. 

The next hurdle is keeping the wheels square with the axle, if you are careful, the non-insulating wheel (wheel that presses directly on the axle) generally goes on pretty square but the insulated wheel almost always needs some fiddling to get square.  Maybe the injection molded plastic bushing isn’t cast to enough of precision to make this process come out smoothly.  I machined up some special steel blocks to sandwich the wheels and try and keep them square and in gauge but not crush the axle while pressing really hard with a ½ ton arbor press to try and force them into “squareness” but it didn’t really square them up so I still had to manually try and straighten them with a pair of pliers (this is what NWSL says to do in the assembly instruction to square up a wobbly wheel) .  I find that some of them take way more time than the savings you gain (you only save about a dollar per axle by assembling them yourself anyway) to justify assembling them on your own.  The assembled wheelsets that come from NWSL seem pretty true and in gauge right out of the box so I don’t know if they have any special tools but even they kinda imply that they really don’t like assembling the wheelsets due to the extra time it takes to get them to come out right so that is why they offer them unassembled .      

Scott K.

Austin, TX

Scott, excellent information.

I just received a set that had been on back order.  I called and talked to them about assembled vs doing it myself.  Quickly concluded I'd rather let them do it and pay the few extra dollars.  Not because I'm lazy, it just kind of seemed to be a pain and I'd rather use time to work on other projects.  My assembled set is excellent out of the box.

I may still end up assembling a set further down the road but have tried to limit that as much as possible.

Also, I was told the do it yourself sets ship quickly.  I waited a while for my assembled set because the wheels were on back order.

FYI P&D Hobbies (see website) usually has a variety of NWSL wheelsets in stock if you are in need quickly.   I am not sure how many he stocks, there are usually 4-6 of each type he has on the rack.   He does mail order regularly.

If you are needle point axles as in the old plastic weaver trucks, Intermountain wheelsets work great and might be a little cheaper.

FWIW, I've assembled hundreds, if not thousands, of NWSL wheels & axles.  I ruined quite a few early on and continue to do so when I get careless or don't watch what I'm doing.

Over the years I've created a few jigs to assist in their assembly but they aren't absolutely necessary.  It just speeds things up.

A small press is absolutely required along with a small drilling vise that has a notch in it's center.  I secure the axle in the vise using said notch to hold the axle perpendicular (vertical).  If the axle has pointed shoulders I will place a small piece of hard plastic between the bottom of the vise jaws and the end of the axle to prevent destroying the point when pressing on the wheel.

I always start with the non insulated wheel first.  I press the wheel onto the axle to a predetermined spot, remove from the vise, invert the assembly and press on the insulated wheel.  Please note, the insulated side is not extremely tight so it doesn't take much to pressure to install the insulated wheel.  Check the gauge and adjust accordingly.

Having access to a lathe will help tremendously when making gauges, holders, stops, etc.

The whole operation is fairly easy and gets even more so with repetition.

I like to purchase my NWSL wheels & axles unassembled because it saves money and I usually get them faster than their assembled version. 

Bottom line, time spent thinking about what you want to do and planning your steps will pay dividends in the end.  Don't get in a big hurry to slap things together.  It's easy to bend and axle or ruin a wheel but nut all that easy to repair after the fact.

in case it helps anyone else, i have much better luck with the insulated wheels if i put the plastic piece on the axle and press the wheel on, rather than putting the plastic in the wheel and pressing the wheel on the axle.

Very good, detailed answers so far.  Thanks a bunch guys.

However, it seems nobody knows if I can put these wheels in metal weaver rb trucks...

"However, it seems nobody knows if I can put these wheels in metal weaver rb trucks..."

    Measure the Weaver axles and then order the one's that fit. If they don't stock what you need  NWSL wheelsets can be ordered to fit anything if you want to pay for their set up time. For Weaver cars I'd just buy 2 rail trucks and sell the 3 rail trucks, NWSL wheelsets cost more than complete Weaver trucks. I ran plastic Weaver and Athearn  trucks for years on my O trains so there's no reason to spend big bucks for NWSL wheels unless one is converting to P-48 then you might want to look into Protocraft also....DaveB

Maybe they have a phone number you could call at NWSL?  Going directly to the source might cut out a lot of the middle man discussion?