Re: Best source for bulk Kadees and wheelsets

I'm a little confused by this statement. While IM wheelsets do indeed have brass axles P2K have plastic axles just like Kadee. It's also been my experience that the Kadees had a higher quality of manufacturing than the P2Ks. Basically the P2Ks are Chinese copies of Kadees.

Jon,

The 'engineering plastic' in the axles is different. The Kadee axles tips are not needle-point, but a small rounded end. The rolling qualities are OK when first mounted, but deteriate very fast. The Intermountain wheelsets or Reboxx(I suspect they are one and the same) seem to be among the best I have used. The Jaybee and NWSL wheels are good for special apps and engines. The owner of Reboxx did a 'clinic' at the Toronto convention and had a lot of good information. As far as I am concerned, metal wheels are the only way to go. He did two clinics: High Performance Wheels & High Performance Couplers. A lot of good information and history of model railroading in his clinics. Whatever Kadee uses for their 'non magnetic' axles is now a 35 year design. They really need to investigate a better material for the axle, and better axle end profiles and bearing surfaces in their trucks. I have been using Kadee wheelsets since at least 1968-69. The reason I went to metal wheels was not magnetic coupling(I just cut off the glad hands). I regauged Athearn plastic wheels and put epoxy behind the back of the wheel to keep them in gauge. The trucks rolled very well. The problem was the buildup of 'gunk' on the wheels themselves. It is very hard to remove the stuff. With the Kadee wheels, I just pop them out of the trucks, and place then in one of those little dishwasher 'net' bags and hang it from the cup rack in the dish washer - magic cleaning! The Athearn wheels might deform from the heat, and the axles 'rust'. The gunk problem is made worse by the use of Goo-Gone or 'oiling' the track. I clean the track with an abrasive block, and vacumm the track. Once a year(it coming up after the summer). I do the dishwasher thing to all of my wheel sets, and make an inspection of couplers,etc(about 200+ cars) I clean the engine whels on a special test track with 409 soaked paper towels. Now I put some light oil on about 2-3 feet of track and let a set of 2-3 engines go around the layout. The oil does seem to supress arcing/sparking and I have not notice a lot of pulling power loss. I clean the 3 engines that ran around the layout and then put the cars on(anothergood evening to get cars at their 'spots' for the card system. I do not oil or Goo-Gone after that, and do not allow plastic wheels - that will bring on the 'gunk' for sure....

Jim Bernier

Jon Miller wrote:

have delrin axles annd do not roll as good as Intemountain or P2K< I'm a little confused by this statement. While IM wheelsets do indeed have brass axles P2K have plastic axles just like Kadee. It's also been my experience that the Kadees had a higher quality of manufacturing than the P2Ks. Basically the P2Ks are Chinese copies of Kadees. ________________________________________________________________

My experience with Kadees has been that a large percentage of them come through out of gauge (about .005 too narrow).

I don't bother with them anymore.

Don

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HTH

Noticed that when I sent the post(upgraded my broqwser and some setting have defaulted).

Jim

Wolf Kirchmeir wrote:

Don,

I have had very good luck with P2K wheel sets(33" solid back). The difference is the strange shape of the 'end' of the axle on the Kadee. Also, I think they are using a different engineering plastic that the P2K. I noticed some tight gauge on some wheel sets about a year ago(Kadee), but I not seen any problems since. I have had old Kadee wheel sets slip off of the axle. These were 'old' wheel sets(about 30 years old) tha have been cleaned in the dishwasher many times. By the way, is the Trainfest show going to have manufacturers like last year? That was really nice. With the National Train Show cancelled, I was wondering if more manufacturers might want to display at Trainfest this year.

Jim Bernier

Tra> >By the way, I would not get Kadee wheelsets. They have metal whels, but

Yes, that is the plan. Here's the text of the announcemnt that appeared in the June 2003 NMRA Wisconsin Southeast division newsletter:

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2003

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2003

Wisconsin State Fair Park Now in the NEW Expanded Exposition Center

So. 84th Street & Greenfield Avenue West Allis, WI

Now including Model Railroad Industry Association Manufacturers Trade Show.

Over 40 Operating Model Railroad Layouts from Z to G, Historic Models, Displays, Artists, Hobby Shops, Demonstrations, Model Circus Trains, and More!

Trainfest Website:

TRAINFEST and the TRAINFEST LOGO are registered trademarks of the Wisconsin Southeastern (WISE) Division, NMRA, Inc.

=>Noticed that when I sent the post(upgraded my broqwser and some setting have =>defaulted).

OK, you're forgiven. :-)

But don't you hate it that the defaults are just the opposite of standard acceptable usage?

Not as much as I hate it that many people simply don't read HTML posts and may lose out on the opportunity to share useful advice and information.

Can Kaydees that are out of gauge be regauged by twisting the wheels like Athearn or MDC wheels? I've never tried it, believe it or not. Gene ABV61-1043.001.HCB