Wheel and coupler upgrade

[@w.rustylane5650]

I spent nearly $400.00 on changing out wheel sets and couplers on about 100 pieces of rolling stock. I changed the wheels from plastic to metal & body mounted Kaydee couplers. I also took the time to weather each piece of rolling stock. Took me several months to complete the project. I also changed out all the incandescent lighting on coaches to LED lighting and changed out the headlamps of locomotives to LED's as well along with proper ballast resistors. I used mini full wave bridge rectifiers, LED strip lighting (the ones that can be cut apart at every 3rd LED & have the ballast - current limiting resistors - already on the LED strips). I also used 3200uF capacitors for flicker free lighting. I even lit up an old REA (Railway Express Agency) coach by making my own wheel pickups out of some scrap copper I salvaged from an old computer. The LED strip lighting is 12 volt DC and I think I used about 12 LED's per coach. I used bright white LED's but they turned out to be too bright, so I painted each LED with yellow acrylic paint and now they look period correct with yellow lighting. Cheers from eastern TN

[@davidr6585]

Thanks for the video. I learned of this jig last week and was about to order one (drill jig) until I unexpectedly ran across the 11003 kit that has both the dril AND tap jig so I ordered that. If I only learned one thing from your video, that would be "don't choke up so far on your drill bit" :) only chuck up enough for good retention in the pin vice so you have enough bit to drill as far as you need.

[@w.rustylane5650]

When body mounting couplers, if the screw is visible from the top, I used some black paint and painted the end of the screw that went through the Kaydee coupler. Every coal load including tenders got real coal put into them. I had a large lump of bituminous coal I went after with a hammer (outside of course) and crushed it into HO scale coal. Cheers from eastern TN

[@alanjohnson6764]

Great video Just learning about the A-line drill and tap jig made it worth the time to watch (I drove straight to our local hobby store 30km away to get one) all the other techniques shown are bonus. Thanks for sharing..

[@SoloContracting]

Thanks for watching . Glad the video helped.

[@sd90mac8]

That was some great helpfull info, for coupler replacements, NICE, 👌✌️👍

[@canyonpast]

What a cool little gadget. Thanks for sharing.

[@SoloContracting]

Thanks for watching.

[@disturbed1954]

On that car have you ever ran into the metal wheels shortening out against the metal hopper doors? I had 50 hoppers on my coal train that done that, took me a while to figure it out. Lol!

[@markwilliams2620]

You mean all these years......and there was a tool!? Keeping the remaining detail makers in business is a goal.

[@tazsnuts99]

Forget kadee #5 use #148 whisker couplers there much better

[@TheSwitchList]

Nice video. I replaced all the wheels in a bunch of Athearn 55' ACF centerflow hoppers with Intermountain wheelsets and they would not spin worth a darn! The axels were just a tad bit longer on the intermountain than the Athearn stock wheels - I ultimately had to replace the trucks with Tichy to get the dang cars to roll. Your car is clearly rolling fine - so not sure what the problem I had was ?!?!? :(

[@SoloContracting]

Micro-Mark makes a truck tuning tool that should help your problem. www.micromark.com/HO-Truck-Tuner_2?gclid=CjwKCAiAqt7jBRAcEiwAof2uK5uVz1hOwaK2arWj6laFVW5vxEZvLpZA-bwXD7lKJUpN5glRYX0nSBoCvm4QAvD_BwE

[@Relax_Inn]

Hi, enjoyed the video. I've a lot about the Intermountain wheel sets. But, which type to get, insulated or non-insulated ?

[@SoloContracting]

Insulated.

[@whiteknightcat]

I'm afraid I don't see the reason to add a coupler cover screw. I've got blue box cars purchased back in the 80's whose couplers work perfectly fine without the "suspenders".

[@SoloContracting]

Personal preference.

[@morganhay859]

What wheel sets did you use?

[@SoloContracting]

www.kadee.com/520-ho-scale-33-diameter-smooth-back-metal-code-110-wheels-freight-and-passenger