Model Railroading > QU about "balancing" HO Bowser coal cars

I have an issue with a collection of eight, HO-scale Bowser coal cars (3-bay, product #42395) -- it's "balancing" the cars after the trucks are installed.  They LEAN on each curve, toward the inside, and sometimes even when sitting still on tangent track.  Added weights did not solve the issue.  Could I be using the wrong size truck screws?  (I used the ones supplyed in the boxes.)  Thanks.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/20 09:31 by rbx551985.

Are the screws bottoming before the trucks tighten to the bolsters? Then the screws are too long. This may be your problem.

1st thing to do is make certain that the couplers are at the correct height. Raise or lower them using shim washers or by filing the bolster. I have found on a number of cars from different manufacturers that it will be different for each end. Then try to tighten one truck so that it just swivels. I usually make this the "B" end on all of my rolling stock. The other truck I tighten but have it that it can swivel plus have a bit of vertical play. This should solve your problem.

tramfan Wrote:
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> Then try to tighten one truck so that it just
> swivels. I usually make this the "B" end on all of
> my rolling stock. The other truck I tighten but
> have it that it can swivel plus have a bit of
> vertical play. This should solve your problem.

What he said (above).  Some call it 3-point suspension.

I had the same issue with my Bowser 100T 3 bay hoppers too.  I found that the truck screws were not bottoming out against the truck mounting hole because the screw hole lip from the bolster was too long and was protruding ABOVE the floor of the truck mounting hole.  I took off the truck only from the "B" end and filed down the lip from the bolster to less than the thickness of the truck mounting hole floor.  Once the truck is reattached the screw can be tightened up against the truck mounting hole floor to the desired tightness, and will prevent the lean you are experiencing with your hoppers.   This modification will also let you be able to use the three point suspension system.  I did this with all of my Bowser hoppers.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask me here or you can send me a PM.

Shawn



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/20 20:14 by osp1729.

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