Replacement 33" wheels for old Atlas/Concor/Rivarossi heavyweights

[bobthebear]

Hi Guys.

Without converting to M/T trucks on 10 cars, has anybody changed the 33" pizza cutter wheels in Atlas/Con-cor/Arnold/Rivarossi Heavyweight coaches?
If so, what did you use? They appear to be .553", but I have some Fox Valley ones, but they won't turn.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated, plastic or metal.

Cheers, Bob.

[ncbqguy]

Both the HO and N Rivarossi cars have the same problem.  They both were factory equipped with sub-33 inch wheels.  If you put in better wheels you might as well use  36 inch wheels and trim a little more of the brake shoes.   The trucks look better with the proper wheels.
 Charlie Vlk

[mmagliaro]

I remember having this problem.  Sometimes you can just put some liquid styrene cement on the little brake shoe fingers to slightly soften them, then bend them back away from the wheel with a little screwdriver or tweezers, and hold them for a few seconds until the liquid cement evaporates.  That permanently deforms the brake shoe a bit and it still stay back away from the wheel.  This was easier than trying to sand or Dremel the brake shoe material out of the way.

[Mark5]

This probably doesn't help, but this site lists the axle length as 0.549"

http://www.nscale160.com/Modeling

Mark

[propmeup1]

I did this with MT wheels only. They are very loose and can pop off easily. However i haven't had any issues while running. No derail and they go over the Atlas and Peco turnouts alright. Iput them on my old from the 70's old Rivorossi six wheel trucks and some four wheel as well.

[mmagliaro]

I think we are possibly conflating two different problems.
To the OP:  Do the wheels rub on the brake shoes?  If not, are the axle points tight in the truck frames?

[Doug G.]

I guess I am wondering what the problem is with the original wheels or if he just wants correct size ones.

Rivarossi had a propensity for putting undersize wheels on their stuff. Look at the steamers, especially the pilot wheels.

Doug

[peteski]

I just converted a Rivarossi 3-axle truck, and posted a writeup: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=49923

[bobthebear]

Thanks Guys.
I suppose I should have explained myself a little better. I needed to replace the pizza cutters as we have many hand built turnouts, to NMRA standards, which cause these old wheels to derail. It was the axle length which was the stumbling block to finding replacements.
Thanks Mark5 for the chart, and peteski for the answer.
Cheers Guys!