The Metal Wheel Wobble Factor

[Doug G.]

There has been much written and discussed about metal and plastic wheels and which are better, etc. but what I want to know is if modern metal wheel sets are plagued with wobble as was the case in early N scale (RoCo). Have the makers pretty much eliminated that problem?

Doug

[Mike C]

 I have FVM wheelsets on 40 or 50 different cars and have never noticed any wobble . Have Atlas metal wheels on a few cars and no problems there either......except the appearance .....

[djconway]

I have metal wheels from Atlas, Bachmann, Broadway Limited, Inter Mountain and maybe a few others nearly 20% of my 700+ car fleet.  These ain't your old 1970 something wheels, no wobble detected.  All seem to be rolling true.

[Santa Fe Guy]

The early IM metal wheels caused me some grief however since moving to 33inch FVM I have had no issues, they work and look fine.
Rod.

[cjm413]

Metal wheels need to be insulated from each other, which means that metal wheelsets (e.g. 2 wheels and one axle) can't be manufactured as a single part like plastic wheelsets.

The problem with "wobbling" is probably the result of one of the wheels being loose and/or off-kilter...

[drgw0579]

>Atlas, Bachmann, Broadway Limited, Inter Mountain and maybe a few others

At least two of those come out of the same machine.

[jagged ben]

I get wobble on some FVM and BLMA wheels.

[nkalanaga]

My last wobbler was from ExactRail.  As the others have said, modern metal wheels are quite good, unlike the early ones.

Off topic. my Firefox spellcheck approved "wobbler", even though it often rejects perfectly good, if obscure, English words. 

[Doug G.]

Thanks guys. Yeah, the AOL/IE spell checker rejects some good words too.

Doug

[Blackout]

Last time about 1/3 of a bulk pack of Fox Valley meal wheels were wobblers or broken apart. I though they were supposed to be a high quality product.

[Smike]

I too have had about 20% rate of FVM wheels that wobble.

[milw156]

With the FVM wheels, I have found you have to hold them by the non-insulated end when you put them in or take them out of a truck, or you can pull them apart. I have also had one BLMA wheelset that was not insulated, rendered the layout inopperable till some one figured it out.
Rick

[Kisatchie]

Hmm... I'll stick with my
Micro-Trains plastic wheels...

[Doug G.]

Yeah, I mean the reason I asked is because, a few years ago, I got hundreds of trucks and wheels really cheap in an ebay auction and I have replaced some of my old metal wheeled RoCo trucks with new Atlas plastic wheeled trucks because the wobbling bothered me a lot more than it used to. And actually, in past years, most of my equipment had the gauge a little narrow and it didn't matter because my track was old too and tolerated that anyway. Lately, I have been using newer switches and have regauged all my stuff to NMRA and it exacerbates the wobbling because the more eccentric part of the wheels end up closer to the rail.

I had been considering buying metal wheels because I like them better than plastic, other than the wobbling, but now, after reading some comments, I think I'll just leave the plastic ones in there. They don't sound as "railroady" to me but the wobbling is worse and it doesn't sound like the wobbling factor has been completely removed.

Doug

[coosvalley]

I too have had about 20% rate of FVM wheels that wobble.

Last time about 1/3 of a bulk pack of Fox Valley meal wheels were wobblers or broken apart. I though they were supposed to be a high quality product.

To those with wobbly FVM wheels, have you guys tried contacting them about this issue?....If so, did they send you replacements?....

The only way for them to remedy the situation, is to be aware of it!...And if they did remedy the situation, don't leave that part out!

I, personally, have not had any issues with FVM wheels, (4 bulk packs worth), and think they make a huge difference in the appearance of the rolling stock....