Model Railroading > Kay Dee wheels

Were the early(at least 20 years ago) KD cars have
plastic or metal wheels?

Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

retcsxcfm Wrote:
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> Were the early(at least 20 years ago) KD cars have
>
> plastic or metal wheels?
>
> Uncle Joe
> Seffner,Fl.

Metal 20 years ago too. Don't think they were ever plastic.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

KayDee has been making metal wheels for over 60 years! Why would they ever use plastic wheels?

The model manufacturers had used plastic to cut $'s. Kadee always made metal wheels.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

The newer KD wheels don't have the heavier black coating of the older wheels. I think they will run cleanier on the track. KD is always tweaking their products to make them better.

The sintered metal construction also has used a much finer grade powder in the past decade or so, giving a smoother surface.

Good to hear about KD tweaking thier sintered wheel, KD wheels and trucks have a phenomenal rolling ability probably due to the weight of the truck metal parts. Keeping the weight low like that also helps with tracking and leaves more room for finer fidelity in the carbody. At one of the Medford Train Shows I cornered a KD Rep and hammered the poor guy about the effect of the wheels leaving crud on the rails.

4thDistrict Wrote:
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>
> Metal wheels on plastic axles.

For what it's worth, a fellow hobbyist outfitted a long string of IMRC covered hoppers with Kadee wheel sets. He noticed it seemed to have a lot of drag on it. As an experiment, he replace all of the Kadee wheelsets with metal axle Jaybee wheel sets and notice a big improvement and a lot less drag. It seemed the plastic axles in the IMRC trucks gave significant resistance across the long train, something he didn't notice on a car by car basis.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

I never did like the plastic axles on the Kadee and P2K wheelsets, too much drag. I've been using the Intermountain wheelsets for years with great success.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

And a little shot of KayDee "Grese'em", which is powered graphite, will improve things at a much lower cost!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/17 18:30 by PHall.

Isn't Greas'em basically graphite?

Its likely moot for me since I only have couple of freight cars with kadee wheel sets and dont plan to get any more.

As for my friend who replaced his, they were the older blackened and coarser sintered Kadees so drag wasnt the only issue needing cured.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/17 17:30 by SPDRGWfan.

I have found, over the past 30 years that my best wheel experience has been with Intermountain semi-scale brass wheels (metal axle with one wheel insulated). These wheels,and a good reaming of the side frames, has resulted in not only outstandingly free rolling, but also less trouble passing through switches. I think the sharp pointed axles and reamed side frames make a big difference in free rolling. And I've been through most of the rest. Once had a lot of P2K plastic axle wheels, but wore most of the plating off the wheels. Once you wear through the plating (doesn't take long) the remaining pot metal crap collects dirt and spreads it nicely over the railroad. By the way, a lot of people may not know that most of the brand new imported locomotives come with a light coating of oil on metal parts, including wheels. Unless you clean it off before running the loco, you add considerably to the dirt problem.

funnelfan Wrote:
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> I never did like the plastic axles on the Kadee
> and P2K wheelsets, too much drag. I've been using
> the Intermountain wheelsets for years with great
> success.


For what it's worth, Walthers/ Proto wheels now come with metal axles.

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA