Kadee wheelsets

[Hudsonline]

I was wondering if anyone can help me locate the correct Kadee wheelsets for some Lifelike reefer cars that I am upgrading. They would need good wheelsets, Kadee Couplers and some weathering. The Lifelike wheelsets on there now are so cheap, they will derail if you couple more than 3 of them together:curse:.

They are nice looking cars with vintage beer logos that will be a nice addition after they are upgraded.

I see a few different types of kadee wheelsets for box cars, but unsure of which ones to order. Also, these couplers are truck mounted.

If anyone has any experience, I would love to hear from you. You would spare from spending an afternoon at the hobby shop trying to match them up.

Thanks in advance
Tom

 

[GN.2-6-8-0]

Best bet for billboard 40 foot cars would be the Kadee 33" freightcar wheel sets.

 

[Hudsonline]

GN, thanks for the info. I would actually like to change out the whole truck. Would you know what model to use?

 

[GN.2-6-8-0]

GN, thanks for the info. I would actually like to change out the whole truck. Would you know what model to use?

Their a bit pricey but Be hard to go wrong with the Kadee sprung trucks w/wheels.
Extremley free wheeling with good tracking quality. you'll find you can pull at least 25% more cars when all are equipted with them.

 

[MasonJar]

I like the Proto2000 wheelsets. The particular type of truck you use (Andrews, Bettendorf, archbar, etc and whether the wheels are ribbed back or smooth) depends somewhat on the age of the reefer, or at least the time period you choose. Bilboard type reefers were more prevalent in the 1920s and 1930s, and was outlawed by 1937.

Bettendorf trucks were introduced in the 1930s
Archbar were allowed in interchange prior to WW2
Andrews were used until about 1950

You can get the above in talgo style from Kadee to avoid body-mounting the couplers if you wish.

All the P2K wheelsets that I have seen in my local store do not have the talgo type couplers (i.e. truck mounted). So you will also need to body mount the Kadee couplers using the draft gear box that comes in the bulk #5 pack.

Wikipedia has a good overview of reefers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_car


Andrew

 

[Squidbait]

If you're going to go to the trouble and expense of upgrading the wheelsets, you're further ahead to just replace the trucks completely. Those body mounts are sloppy, and the car will wobble all over the place on them. Regardless of what trucks you replace the LL ones with, you'll need to fill the hole in the bolster with styrene tube, so that you can screw the new trucks on to the body. It's an easy job, just get some styrene tube that fits the hole (probably 3/8" or 5/16"), stick it in the hole, trim it off flat and hit it with some styrene cement (like Plastic Weld). Then you can screw on the truck of your choice.

Your best-bang-for-the-buck in metal-wheel trucks are the Walthers trucks, at $2.98 per pair, followed by the Atlas trucks at $4.25 per pair, followed by the Proto 2000 trucks at $5.50/pair.

 

[Hudsonline]

Thanks for that great info guys. It was very helpful!