# metal wheels or plastic?



## ruben123321 (Sep 27, 2011)

Which is best?


----------



## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Plastic wheels wear faster and this wear leaves a non-conductive residue on the tracks thus tracks have to be cleaned more often.On the other hand,metal wheels last much longer but have to be properly gauged so that they don't cause shorts in turnouts;however this is only an occasional problem.


----------



## ruben123321 (Sep 27, 2011)

mY Bachmanns all have metal wheels..crappy couplers hard to convert to MiroTrains.However my high dollar stuff has plastic..simple conversiion and MThas a conversion chart to get it right


----------



## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Metal all the way!


----------



## jzrouterman (Nov 27, 2010)

NIMT said:


> Metal all the way!


I agree. 

Routerman


----------



## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

NIMT said:


> Metal all the way!





jzrouterman said:


> I agree.
> 
> Routerman


This is my thoughts too. Katos have all metal wheels and they stay cleaner and require less maintenance. My Microtrains, Atlas and Athearn rolling stock all have plastic wheels. After a few days of normal use, the wheels start to gum up that in turn makes the track dirty. It drives me up the wall, lol. My goal this winter is to convert everything over. Hopefully the trucks I need will be in stock this winter.


----------



## raleets (Jan 2, 2011)

I was a brand spanking certified newbie to this hobby back in January. Over the course of the next several months I acquired about 25 pieces of rolling stock for my two HO freight consists. They were all purchased either on eBay or at swap meets and all were el cheapos with plastic wheels. 
At the urging of a few very wise senior train folks on this forum, I purchased a bulk (100) pack of metal wheels from Exactrail and switched out all my cars to the metal wheels.
The difference is AMAZING. Not only do they roll much better, but I really LOVE the sound of metal whizzing down the tracks as compared to plastic.
In addition, like others have said, no more dirty track!
I suggest you change to metal ASAP for superior performance! :thumbsup:
Bob


----------



## ruben123321 (Sep 27, 2011)

ok well im looking at about 50 cars to convert to metal


----------



## raleets (Jan 2, 2011)

Price + Performance = Happy! :laugh:
Do it when the budget allows and you'll be a happy camper.
Bob


----------



## ruben123321 (Sep 27, 2011)

ok I stripped down all my rolling stock for metal wheels..I counted 106 so I can do about 13 cars with what I have...but its a mixed lot..some silver some worn now I have to match up the right ones to each car....


----------



## ruben123321 (Sep 27, 2011)

as for the shiny wheels ..I got a dulling agent to turn metal dull.. I think it was in the Walthers catalog...I used it on my steamers and it looked great...I also used it on other projects


----------



## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Just don't dull the rail contact surface of the wheels.
It would cause you to get some excessive wear.


----------



## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

Watch swapping wheels around  keep track of what goes to what. All the makes used different axle lengths and spurs. Micro train even has about few different ones they used. The FoxValley wheels were popular as replacements but that was a try by trail and error to get stock rolling on steel wheels. BLMA then came out with replacement trucks. Problem with them they only make 70 and 100 ton trucks (modern style) and the 100 tons are always sold out. HO Scale is way easier then N Scale when it comes to this. Just saying so you don't get supper stuck.


----------



## Conductorjoe (Dec 1, 2011)

ruben123321 said:


> Which is best?


From my experience over the years, Nothing beats Micro-Trains wheels and couplers. I convert almost everything over to MT wheels and couplers. Kato wheels are pretty smooth and roll very well but i dont care for the couplers.
They dont seem to lock as well. Have found Atlas wheels are "ok" and have found Athearn wheels to be terrible.
Gunk on the wheels? Clean the track more often.


----------



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

All the metal wheels I have seen are insulated. Otherwise you would have a constant short.


----------



## xrunner (Jul 29, 2011)

Conductorjoe said:


> Kato wheels are pretty smooth and roll very well but i dont care for the couplers.


Agree. I have 6 Kato engines and converted all of them to Micro Trains with the MT 1015 coupler conversion.


----------



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

I bought about a dozen packages of 20 Kato couplers each about 10 years ago. I have converted my Rapido couplers to these old Kato knuckle couplers and I have converted all the Micro Trains couplers on my F3 and F7 models to Katos as well. There is no coupler more annoying to put on in my experience than a Micro Trains coupler. If they come on truck assemblies, OK, otherwise not.


----------



## jzrouterman (Nov 27, 2010)

pmcgurin said:


> There is no coupler more annoying to put on in my experience than a Micro Trains coupler. If they come on truck assemblies, OK, otherwise not.


Agreed. Yet it has been accepted by most that Micro Trains couplers are to N scale what Kadee is to HO scale. Even so, for me, coupler installation has always been the down side to N scale. Because of this, is precisely why I always purchased the entire truck assembly with the coupler already installed. Though it costed more, to me it was well worth it.

Routerman


----------



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

+1. For freight and passenger cars I replaced the Rapido couplered trucks with Micro Trains trucks where possible. On some cars, like Atlas and Con-Cor, the couplers were easily replaced with Katos which are simpler to install than a Micro Trains coupler. On Locos like Kato Fs, Life Like Es and Bachman F7s with Rapidos you have to change the couplers, and I chose the simpler 2-piece Kato knuckle couplers. 20 couplers for about $6 was relatively inexpensive.


----------



## Russell (Dec 11, 2009)

Note - the post above mine is from 2011!

I'm bringing this post out of its coffin and back to life to talk again about trucks . 

Looking at the above posts, do you all still agree that metal trucks are the way to go? Secondly, elsewhere I've heard that Atlas metal trucks are preferred. Do any of you agree? Do any of you have experience with Atlas metal trucks? Finally what about things like size of trucks and extended or not couplers?


----------



## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

Do you mean trucks or wheels? 
I have had few plastic wheels develop problems, and probably no problems with metal wheels.
I can't remember finding any metal trucks.
On freight cars I would generally prefer MicroTrains trucks with the coupler installed. When money was short I used Kato two-piece couplers on stock trucks. These usually lasted well. Sometimes I have found that two couplers of any type might not couple well. If a MicroTrains coupler broke, which sometimes did happen, I would replace the truck rather than try to put in a replacement MicroTrains coupler. It's just too hard for me to work with such small parts.

Most of my locos are Kato. I have used Kato couplers, because they are easier than MicroTrains couplers for me to work with. Usually they all couple together as well as any model train couplers. When I was a kid I had the same number of issues with American Flyer couplers that I think were S scale, not sure what the scale is called. Then some cars would uncouple at inopportune times. Same thing with these N scale couplers. I have left some trains, like the N scale Thomas the Tank trains with Rapidos, not wanting to mess with those at all.
Generally I go with what works for each car. Nowadays I just put some consist together and run it around a 4 by 8 board, continuous running. I have never been into this enough to develop a detailed train scene, and I like the trains to run continuously, four trains on separate tracks with the crossovers sometimes switched to let the trains roam all over the Kato track. Pretty mindless entertainment.


----------



## Russell (Dec 11, 2009)

Thanks for your reply and for the information pmcgurin. I did mean trucks, but I wasn't clear. I meant trucks with metal wheels. But of course you're right. The wheels come off easily, even in N-Scale, and so all I need are the wheels. The couplers and trucks wouldn't change. I hadn't really thought this one through. 

With a magnifying glass, I've noticed lots of build up on my plastic wheels. It can't be good for the track.


----------



## spiralcity (Sep 21, 2013)

Honestly, I don't have a problem with either. I always keep my track as clean as I can and plastic wheels never seem to be much of an issue. I know have much bigger issue to spend my money on, so I don't worry about a simple thing such as this.


----------



## Russell (Dec 11, 2009)

Good point Spiral. Maybe I'll just keep the money in the bank.


----------



## tr1 (Mar 9, 2013)

*reducing short circuit derailment*

with the conversion from plastic to metal wheels for improved rolling performance and for reduced cleaning maintenance. Will also, converting trucks to plastic from metal greatly reduce damaging and expensive short circuits of a DCC operating layout. Thank you in advance.
tr1


----------



## daveh219 (Sep 16, 2012)

Bob...Iwent to Exactrail's website but don't see any N scale wheels. Am I wrong??

Dave


----------

