[charter.pa]

I have mainly Varney rolling stock. I removed the plastic wheels and they are 1.055 point to point. Inter Mountain is 1.005 and Rapido is 1.012. Does any one know who makes a 33" wheelset that is at least close to the Varney width ? I did not want to buy trucks and wheels. I have way to many old Varneys for that.

 

[wvgca]

i use mostly intermountain semi scale, but i don't have any varneys that i know of ..

 

[traction fan]

axle lengths

I have mainly Varney rolling stock. I removed the plastic wheels and they are 1.055 point to point. Inter Mountain is 1.005 and Rapido is 1.012. Does any one know who makes a 33" wheelset that is at least close to the Varney width ? I did not want to buy trucks and wheels. I have way to many old Varneys for that.

charter.pa;

Fox Valley models and Kadee/Micro-Trains (HO/N) both sell wheelsets in several axle lengths. I don't know if they will have the exact length you want. Have you tried squeezing the truck frames in a little. I often find that squeezing, or spreading the truck frames slightly will be enough to adapt them to a slightly longer, or shorter axle.

Good luck;

Traction Fan :smilie_daumenpos:

 

[wvgca]

the intermountain wheelsets are all 1.006 in HO scale , i don't know about kadee ?

 

[charter.pa]

I have the IM and Rapido's. They are both to short. I put a few emails out to get measurements. Kadee has a 1.025 ( I think ). I don't know if squeezing these old white metal trucks would work. Most of the time they are brittle.

 

[wvgca]

i don't know either, as far as i know, all my trucks are plastic ...

 

[Lemonhawk]

Does that 1 mm of slop that you get with IM axles make any difference?

 

[charter.pa]

1mm ? Try 49 thousand of an inch and yes it sure does ( IM 1.006, Varney 1.055 point to point ). All but falls out of the truck. I will most likely have to buy truck sets to go to all metal wheels for the older cars like Varney and Gilbert. Can't find any wheels over 1.025.

 

[LateStarter]

Unfortunately, there's no Standard for point-to-point axle length (at least that I can find).
Since the old Varney, Mantua, Tyco days, the plastic truck gurus have made the 1.015" length pretty much the average.
And yes, those Zamac truckframes will snap like glass if you try bending them.
I can empathize with your situation... replacement trucks won't be a cheap proposition if you need to replace a lot of them.
To save a little $, you might look at Tichy or Accurail with plastic wheels.