Truck swap on ST carbon black hoppers

[ridinshotgun]

So I need to do a truck swap on my 1st run ST carbon black hoppers that ride on 70 ton roller bearing trucks.  No matter what I have done either by changing out wheel sets or smoothing out the bearing surface under the car has solved a bad wobble these exhibit going down the track.  So now I look to change out the trucks. 

The BLMA truck is out since atlas is dragging their feet on restocking anything BLMA.  According to spookshow MTL makes a 70 ton truck but for the life of me I can't find the 70 ton trucks on the hot mess that the MTL site is.  So I am left with trying out the ESM 70 ton trucks.  Has anyone done this before on those cars?  Not sure how the trucks would sit under the ST cars or if they will even match up to the ST pins under the car.  Anyone?

[BruceStikkers]

I have some Atlas 70 ton trucks and one of the ST carbon black cars so I tried putting the Atlas trucks on the ST car. The Atlas hole is slightly larger than the ST one so the truck does have a little wobble when it is put on the ST car. The car ran smoothly with the Atlas truck, but it also ran perfect with the ST truck. I have a few cars with the ESM trucks, but it would be difficult to find them.

Bruce Stikkers
St. Joseph, IL

[Skeebo]

Why not contact ST for a set of replacement trucks?

                Jim

[ridinshotgun]

Why not contact ST for a set of replacement trucks?

                Jim

Because I am tired of dealing with ST on these cars.  Gone through multiple couplers that seem to spontaneously deconstruct themselves then dealt with them on their screw up in the mold that reversed the pin in the coupler pocket making MTL couplers anything but drop in and the wobble issue that their suggested fixes don't seem to fix.  Haven't bought a piece of ST rolling stock since and probably won't unless they can figure out a way to not mess up the exactrail or fox valley stuff they acquired.

[samusi01]

You might try calling MTL - I have had luck calling them direct to order the trucks under their husky stacks, which are what I believe you are after - 70 ton, roller bearing, centered bolster trucks. I'm sure they have an internal part number but I don't know of a public part number. These are different from their old number 1031 and 1036 which are various flavors of roller bearing but with the offset bolsters.

[nkalanaga]

N Scale Supply has both the old and new numbers on their MTL Trucks page.  They have an "official" MTL header image that shows all of the parts, and the actual trucks-for-sale listing still uses the old numbers.
https://www.nscalesupply.com/mtl/mtl-nscaletrucks.html

I believe what you want would be the MTL 1037, now MTL 003 02 042.  I have a bunch of these.

I've found that, if one wants centered-bolster-hole trucks, the "medium extended" coupler version almost always has it.  I know, you don't need the coupler, but their truck-mounted couplers are good 1023/1025 couplers.

[ridinshotgun]

N Scale Supply has both the old and new numbers on their MTL Trucks page.  They have an "official" MTL header image that shows all of the parts, and the actual trucks-for-sale listing still uses the old numbers.
https://www.nscalesupply.com/mtl/mtl-nscaletrucks.html

I believe what you want would be the MTL 1037, now MTL 003 02 042.  I have a bunch of these.

I've found that, if one wants centered-bolster-hole trucks, the "medium extended" coupler version almost always has it.  I know, you don't need the coupler, but their truck-mounted couplers are good 1023/1025 couplers.

Thanks I’ll take a look at their website. I found several places that talked about a 70 ton truck, inlcuding spookshow’s site and cars they were used on, but nowhere did I see they identify they part number and MTL just indentifies everything by roller bearing truck with no specifics and product pictures are nonexistent.

I am half tempted to shave off the coupler pocket and replace it with a 3D printed one to fix the issue it has with accepting MTL couplers. I wonder how they would roll without body mount couplers and just go with some medium extension trucks that I do have laying around. Worst case is I do put on some new coupler pockets. Hmmmm.

[nkalanaga]

If you're going to remove the existing coupler pockets, yes, I'd definitely try the trucks with couplers.  If the car doesn't roll well with new trucks, there's no point installing new couplers!

[SAH]

Here's another solution for wheels and coupler conversion.  A bit off the beaten track but it works for me.  If you're set on metal wheel sets, well, never mind.
Scribbles from my notebook follows:

1)  Replace the wheelsets with Atlas 36" plastic
2)  Pull the cover off of the coupler box and discard
3)  Remove the coupler centering pin.  File the bottom (top?) of the coupler pocket smooth.
4)  File the sides of the coupler box so that the thickness of the side wall is the uniform front to back
5)  Drill and tap for a 1-72 screw.  The diameter work well for an Accumate centering post.

[ridinshotgun]

Yeah I had things apart the other day and pulled a MTL truck from another car, not the correct one but good enough to fit, and due to the smaller bolster pin size on the ST car there is a lot of play.  So I need to see if I can find some styrene tube that will work as a filler.  I may also try and drill out one those MTL bushings but in looking through my drill bit box I don't have one that is the same size as the car's bolster pin.  I have used those bushings previously by cutting them down when reequipping my rapido car with MTL trucks.

[SAH]

I screwed around with all kinds of MT conversion options.  Nothing worked to my satisfaction.  1025 couplers alone (no box) sort of worked.  I run 100% Accumates now, which explains how I arrived at my solution.

[ridinshotgun]

Yeah I have MT couplers on the cars now and I have been less than happy because ST cast the little post in the coupler box in the wrong location so they don't center very well.  That fix didn't solve the wobble.  ST provided some new wheelsets.  That fix didn't work so now the last variable would be the truck swap but it won't be easy due to the off size bolster pin.

[jargonlet]

Here's something that I do in ho that might help here. I set up all of my rolling stock this way: One truck on each of my cars is screwed down tight enough that it will still pivot left and right freely but has no play up or down. I leave the other one fairly loose so that it can pivot in all directions. I do this by cutting one of the truck screws a little looser and then I can adjust to keep the car from wobbling.

[nkalanaga]

If Atlas 36 inch plastic wheels fit, ESM 0.553" 36 inch wheels should also fit.