changing or upgrading to metal wheels

[doctorwayne]

In addition to what has already been said, I will note that there are slight differences in axle length between brands. Sometimes it makes no difference, but I am told some brands of wheels will fit too tight in some brands of trucks. I havent run into this, but if this happens, you can either try a different brand of wheels, or buy one of those reamers to ream out the journals on the trucks. Most hobby shops and micro mark sell them.

Plastic wheels have a worse rap than they probably deserve. Start replacing the wheels that are causing you problems now. Some people actually prefer plastic wheels because they are less noisy and non-conductive. To each his own, i guess. I replace any derailment prone wheelsets with metal, but the ones that work fine, I leave as they are.

I agree with Kevin: the "Truck Tuner" reamer is a great little tool that will improve the rolling qualities of most trucks.

And plastic wheels, for some reason, do get a bad rap. Granted, there were some bad ones out there, with out-of-round wheels or wheels not concentric on the axle, but, for the most part, I've had few problems with them, and most of my rolling stock is still fitted with them. If I have problem wheels, I replace them with either metal or plastic ones, whichever I have on hand, but I wouldn't spend the money just for the sake of changing them if they perform well.

Wayne