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 Posted - July 02 2010 : 2:29:30 PM
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Helpful Hint How-to : Stabilizing rolling stock with spring washers so they don't wobble and wiggle
Hi, Jerry's Tip o' the Week, on how to keep your your rolling stock from looking like toy trash rolling down the track, doing the wobbly-weeblies. If you've ever run Tyco, Bachmann, Model power, etc cars and watched them oscillate back and forth while being pulled in a consist, you know how UN-prototypical that is ( and looks ). Here's a cheap way to fix it without modifying the original car body or truck, so you could return it to stock form with a few simple clicks.
The cure? A simple spring washer, it's a very thin wavy-looking flat washer, and as it's name implies, it's springy. Used when there is need to take up a gap between hardware, but no room for a conventional spring. These I'm using are actually 4mm metric types, but any small enough to fit the truck pin will do. Here's the first picture, this is my first guinea pig :
Simple basic flat car, but would wobble back and forth due to the excessive space between truck and car chassis. Here's the truck off the body, with washer next to it :
Takes a bit of effort to pull the trucks straight off, I'm going to see if I can make a tool to make it easier. Anyway, here's a pic with a washer on the truck, and one on the mounting pad :
You may need to use more than one per truck, my Lifelike RF&P boxcar required THREE per truck pin. My Tyco Union 76 Tanker took 2 each. My Purina open hopper car took only 1, like this flatcar with trucks. So it varies, depending on the space between the fingers which catch, and the pivot surface. Here's one of the finished flat car, you can see the gold washer in the holes :
So, there you have it. I'm not sure how much they cost, or if you can get these locally. Probably have to order them through a distributor which deals in small electronic hardware. That's where my company gets them from. I'll look them up on Tuesday when I get back to work, see what the dimensions are.
The only glitch seemed to be the Athearn oops Lima flatcar I tried, the trucks have two raised sidewalls, so the washer won't fit between them. Guess they could be cut off, but I'm loathe to do that to original equipment. I think they're supposed to prevent the truck from wobbling, but since they're too far from the push-pin to contact it, they're useless for the most part. But they worked WONDERS on the Lifelike and Tyco cars I tried, I'll see if they work on Bachmann, Marx, Athearn and others later on.
Well, hope you enjoyed this demo, and maybe you can get your rolling stock to stop wobbling now, too. All for now,
Jerry in Virginia
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
Edited by - AMC_Gremlin_GT on July 02 2010 7:31:01 PM
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Posted - July 02 2010 : 5:05:17 PM
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Lowe's has that section of drawers full of odd ball hardware. If I think to look there next time I go... to see if they have them. Is there a part number number or size on the washers or can you get a number from the box that they come in at work....?
Walt
Luck, usually comes dressed in work clothes...
Edited by - walt on July 03 2010 02:46:09 AM
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Posted - July 02 2010 : 5:48:43 PM
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quote: Is there a part number number or size on the washers or can you get a number from the box that they come in at work....?
Originally posted by walt - July 02 2010 : 5:05:17 PM
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I'll look up our supplier info on the part, and try to get a part number for it. Shouldn't be too difficult to do.
Here's the dimensions of the spring washer :
8mm across OD
4mm opening ID
I'll see if I can find the vendor, I believe these parts aren't currently being used, so it's probably been awhile since they've been bought at my company.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - July 02 2010 : 6:10:06 PM
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Here's a website ( albeit in the UK, although some of our supplies came from our UK office when they closed down some years ago, and I think this washer came from them ).
http://www.springmasters.com/sp/wave-spring-washers-4.html
The one that looks closest to the ones I have is P/N 508/16, Beryllium Copper. It's got 3 contact points on the washer for equalized pressure points. I don't think the 2-contact point type would work as well, just my opinion. But this is a start, and I know we have at least one UK member on here. :)
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - July 02 2010 : 11:12:46 PM
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| I really like this tip. I'll look for these washers next time I'm at a hardware store. Thanks!
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Posted - July 03 2010 : 03:00:28 AM
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I too, like this topic and I'm glad Jerry posted this one. I like this fix because it is not a permenant modification, nothing cut or changed on train car body...
JERRY, did you glue the truck cabs to the flat car? I notice the blue truck in photo with the flat laying on its side, and looks to be a space under the flat laying upside down.
Thinking back many years it seems like the cabs & trailers "moved around" on the flat car as the train traveled...
Guinea pig? OR Guinea piggyback 
Walt
Luck, usually comes dressed in work clothes...
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Posted - July 03 2010 : 07:57:43 AM
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quote:| did you glue the truck cabs to the flat car? |
I'll bet no cause the clips that hold the trucks down are pretty tight 
Will hafta look for these at local hardware stores
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Posted - July 03 2010 : 10:49:02 AM
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quote:quote:| did you glue the truck cabs to the flat car? |
-Walt
I'll bet no cause the clips that hold the trucks down are pretty tight
Originally posted by microbusss - July 03 2010 : 07:57:43 AM
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Actually, Walt, like Micro sez, there are two flat plastic tabs for each truck that hold them on. They have a tooth on each one that grabs the truck axles, to prevent it from just sliding off, although the yellow truck tabs are slightly weak, and it pops off easily. But they won't shake, rattle, or roll running down the track. The yellow one kept falling off when I'd turn the car sideways for pictures, which is why you saw it loose. The tabs are pretty well-hidden in the photos, because they're right behind the wheels, from the side you can't see them at all.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - July 03 2010 : 11:04:06 AM
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Ben & Jerry, You guys are correct! I had forgotten about the tabs the point upward holding down the truck cabs. It must have been the trailers that I remember walking around on the flat car....
Walt
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Posted - July 03 2010 : 6:01:53 PM
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Update - Tyco train cars successfully tested on club layout
I took the Union 76 and 3-truck flat car with me to my club's Open House today, and ran them behind a Bachmann NW engine. I also made some interface cars, with one horn-hook and one Kadee coupler, so I could interface with the Tyco's without redoing their couplers. Both the tanker and the flat car with load did swell, minimal shaking, I just need to add weight to them now. But there was no major wobbling running around the layout at all. Even the club members commented on that when I told them they were Tyco's which I'd added some stabilization to them, and were impressed. Only problem I had was a switch point, the little piece that hangs down was catching on one particular switch, so I cut it off about 1/16th of an inch, and then it cleared ok. Here's a shot of them on the move :
I also took two other consists with me to try out, one is a tourist train I call the Getaway & Cabooze RR, it consists of former MOW cabooses converted to "traitel" rooms ( Motel is Motor hotel, Traitel is Train Hotel ), and the train travels from city to city, you can take your car with you, go site-seeing, then come back to the train and go to another destination. The all-white caboose is the Honeymoon special, but I had to take the train to a side spur after awhile - the rocking of the white caboose kept derailing the trailing caboose behind it! Sigh...get a room, people! Oh yeah, they DO have a room! Get a siding then. Sheesh! :
My last consist was a Purina special Pet train, mostly Tyco but some other makes as well. I didn't convert these yet with wavy washers, I just ran them with stock horn-hooks, and they did fine. The classy track cleaner on the end was a hit, I could tell where my train was at all times without even looking, and people could hear me comin' ! It has beads? in the center wheel, so it kinda sounds like a railroad Maraca. LOL. Had no derails or much swaying with the Purina cars, I was impressed. :
So I had a good 2 hours of train running with Tyco, Model Power, and some misc. other cars, all in all a sucessful running day. The spring washers did the trick on those two cars, they still need additional weight, but I think they'll do fine with no coupler conversion if I chose to go this route. All for now,
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - July 04 2010 : 02:38:39 AM
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quote: The all-white caboose is the Honeymoon special, but I had to take the train to a side spur after awhile - the rocking of the white caboose kept derailing the trailing caboose behind it! Sigh...get a room, people! Oh yeah, they DO have a room! Get a siding then. Sheesh! :
Originally posted by AMC_Gremlin_GTÂ -Â July 03 2010Â :Â 6:01:53 PM
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Snerk! Who said the romance of rail was dead?
There is a recalcitrant Roco freight car taunting me that could benefit by this washer treatment. I've also observed replacing plastic wheels with metal ones can sometimes improve performance, quite markedly on occasion. Thanks for the handy advice, AMC_Gremlin_GT.
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Posted - July 05 2010 : 09:20:41 AM
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Update - correct nomenclature for washer - Crinkle
Well, while searching for a source for these washers, I came across a reference to them, they're actually called Crinkle washers more specifically, they're also spring washers, but the crinkle variety is made of thinner metal, used in electronics rather than big hardware applications,etc. So, sorry I wasn't up-to-date on this, but figured I'd post this so if you go looking, like I was,you'd have an easier time once you knew the "correct" name to search on. Got more valuable hits with Crinkle in the search than wavy or spring washer. So now you know the "rest of the story"....
Jerry in Virginia
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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