Possibilities

Unless the trucks are just truly worn out, the problem is more likely with the wheels and/or how the trucks are mounted to the car.  Screws that are too tight or too loose can cause even the best trucks and wheels to perform poorly.  Make sure the trucks can rock properly, and the wheels are in gauge.

Assuming the trucks are in good condition. I'd just keep them and use some high quality machined metal wheelsets like Intermountain, ExactRail or Reboxx.  The first two will fit in most trucks but the axles can be too short for older Athearns; for those you may want to use the longer axles available from Reboxx or try some Kadee or Proto 2000 wheels which should drop right in.  The Proto wheels are cast metal, but seem to stay pretty clean.  Kadee wheels are also cast but may accumulate dirt over time to a greater degree than other brands due to the relatively porous surface.  The plus side is they are almost always in gauge and roll well, while the occasional Proto wheel wobbles.

For my money I'd say no.  The separate springs usually don't look anything like the real thing as they're far too fine.  To my eye most one-piece plastic trucks look better and usually work better with good wheels.  Rotating journals are fun, but I haven't added any to cars that haven't already come with them like Athearn Genesis.

MRH sponsor Accurail has bulk plastic trucks for relatively cheap, and they can be had without wheels so you can add your own.  ExactRail and Intermountain wheels work great in them  http://www.accurail.com/accurail/parts.htm .  Unfortunately the site says temporarily out of stock.

Atlas uses an odd axle length that won't fit in most trucks besides Atlas.  I'd suggest returning them and using other brands that fit typical trucks.

Peter.  While I have

Peter.

While I have replaced trucks in the past there are some constraints in doing so. Time frame modeled will play a very important reason to select the type of truck needed. You would not be putting 100 ton roller bearing trucks on a 36 foot reefer of 1900 vintage. Some call it rivet counting but at least you should have solid bearings on older equipment and roller bearings on more modern equipment. Some cars will have 33 inch wheels while others will have 36 inch or even 28 inch. There is a lot to be considered beside tossing a set of trucks on a car. 

Pete

Thanks and some clarifcation

Rob you hit the nail on the head,  Most of the trucks themselves appear to be fine.  My bigger concern is with the plastic wheel sets.  On that point opinion seems to be varied - I have had some people say they will only have metal wheels on their layouts while others swear by good plastic wheels. I would certainly be keen to hear from anyone that has used the Accurail wheels.  I check all my wheels with an NMRA gauge and roll them on a piece of glass to check for bumps and lumps.

Thanks also for the pointer on the Atlas wheels they were all the LMS had and will be going back there.

Pete - point noted on the accuracy of the trucks.

It would be great to get more opinions on what people use and why.

Cheers

Peter

Upgrading Trucks

I have a sizeable fleet of Athearn BB and Roundhouse freight cars on my layout.  I am still buying them on Ebay as I subscribe to the "Good Enough" philosophy.  That being the case all of my freight cars get the following upgrades:

1) Weight to NMRA recommended standards (I use Aline Lead Weights)

2) KD metal couplers (I buy the bulk packs).

3) I paint the black plastic trucks rust brown.

4) I use a "Truck Reamer" AKA "Truck Tuner" to fine tune the wheel pockets in the trucks.  (Available from Micro-Mark).

5) I replace the plastic wheels with metal Intermountain Wheel Sets (I buy the 100 wheel bulk packs).

Accurail Wheels Etc.

Before I could get all my freight cars equipped with metal wheelsets, I considered Accurail's plastic wheels to be unacceptable.  I didn't like how they performed at all.  I can't comment on Accurail metal wheels as I've never used them.

Perhaps the biggest reason I eliminated plastic wheels was the fact that nearly all of them wobble to at least some extent, especially as they wear, something almost entirely absent from good metal wheels.  Watch a train with plastic wheels and another with machined metal wheels and see which looks better as it rolls.

My opinion

I strongly suggest purchasing and using a truck reamer.  It reams the axle bearings for a much better fit with most axles, and the trucks roll significantly better as a result.  I now use it on every car, every time, as part of my standard construction/certification routine.

I'm not a big fan of plastic wheels.  Some are not bad, but I've never seen a really good one.  Metal wheels cost more, but in my opinion they're absolutely worth the price.  They're easier to keep clean and distribute less gunk around the layout, they add a little weight down low, and most of them are more accurate than their plastic counterparts.  Plastic wheels are all (as far as I know) injection molded, while metal wheels are frequently turned on a lathe.  I won't say that plastic wheels have no place on a layout, but they have no place on mine as long as I can afford to replace them.

Next dumb question

Jim

Box car wheels from Intermountain - are they the 33" or 36" variety.  I am picking that the wheels on my Box Cars and Cabeeses are 33" as that should scale down to about 3/8" while the steel wheels on my Walthers Bethgons would seem to be 36" (.4137 thou)

Peter

PS suggestions to date are along my earlier thinking that metal wheels are good and plastic wheels are bad.

Size matters

Almost all older models would have come with 33" wheels, regardless of prototype.  A few more recently (usually but not always the ones coming with metal wheels from the factory) have had 36" wheels where appropriate.  You can use either, though you should only use one size on any given car!

Prototypically, passenger cars and freight cars on 70 ton and higher trucks had 36" wheels.  For a modern era railroad, almost everything should be 36", except a few intermodal cars and auto racks which sometimes have wheels as small as 28".  Older equipment, especially the 40' stuff, would generally have had 50 ton trucks and thus 33" wheels.

Since I model the '40s, most of my stuff had 33" wheels.  A good friend models the modern era, so almost everything he has is on 36" wheels.  Intermountain makes both, as well as 28" wheels.

Another thing to think about when you buy metal wheels is the choice between RP-25 (typically code 110, or .110" thick) or semi-scale (code 88) wheels.  My opinion is that the semi-scale wheels look better, but it only shows on things like tanks and hoppers with open ends beneath the slope sheets.  In general, the wider treads are a little less derailment-prone, being a bit more forgiving of less than perfect track.  For the most part, I stick with the RP-25 wheels.

Diameter and Treads

Cars with nominal ~70 ton or less capacity typically have 33" wheels.  This includes cars with a capacity up to 154,000 pounds or a bit more.  I model the late 70s-early 80s era when the "70 ton" boxcar was ubiquitous, and nearly all of them had 33" wheels. 

There seems to be something of a gap between what are thought of as "70 ton" and "90 ton" cars, the latter, and those of greater capacities, most often having 36" wheels.  There are exceptions with certain cars like tri-level auto racks and various intermodal equipment with 28" wheels.

Also note that NMRA "RP 25" wheels can be of various widths, so a code 88 wheel can still be an RP 25 wheel.  Tread width is independent of the recommended practice.  See http://nmra.org/standards/sandrp/pdf/RP-25%202009.07.pdf .  Code 88 wheels can be problematic on some commercial trackwork, like Atlas code 100 #6 turnouts and Walthers code 83 curved turnouts.  You may find yourself having to do a lot of tuneup to get portions of these in gauge so they work properly with the wheels.  Any HO track that's correctly in gauge will work with code 88 wheels.

What a great resource this is

Thanks Ken and again Rob for your comprehensive and helpful responses.  My knowledge base has increased considerably.  I will certainly look into the truck reamer.

Peter

Replacement Trucks?

 I generally try to use the original athearn (or whatever brand car it is trucks) unless they are really ugly or structurally unsound. I replace all the wheels with metal wheels as I like the look and the weight of them better plus they seem to roll better and collect less dirt. You don't have to do all your cars at once. Do a few at a time  and see how you like the metal wheels compared to the plastic wheels, maybe you won't care that much after running them, I know guys who just leave the plastic wheels and forget about them. Before getting too much into the project buy a cheap digital or dial caliper so you can measure the axle length of the wheels you are replacing then you can buy the correct length axles with the new metal wheels . Intermountain metal wheels will fit some cars and reboxx has lengths to fit most of the others.  Sometimes when you try the new axles they might feel too tight or too loose so it's handy to have a few wheel sets with different length axles in your tool box for trial and error replacement....DaveBranum.

Updated Replacement Truck Selection

I apologize for again reviving a ago old thread but I like to use the search feature 

I have been reading JoeF's book on making the rolling stock run like a dream and have ordered the materials to make my own testing bed for tuning my rolling stock. I do not have a lot of rolling stock, maybe 25 HO scale cars.
 I do not see the fleet getting a lot bigger any time soon either. I have read a lot of the threads about wheel/truck replacement and a few things confuse me.

Would it be better to try and use the supplied trucks with my rolling stock ( some Atlas, a few Walthers Proto and about 5 or 6 Accurails ) replacing all plastic wheelsets or try and replace both trucks and wheelsets in one maintenance run ? - I have a set of calipers to measure individual axle lengths -

Are all metal axle/wheelsets compatible with DCC or is there any things to be on the lookout for ?

Has time made any products less or better for use in todays ( 2012 + ) model applications ?

 

metal wheels for me

"Would it be better to try

   I think it would be easier to just replace the wheelsets in the stock trucks( assuming they are decent quality trucks). Reboxx and others offer wheelsets in many axle lengths so most cars can be retrofitted. When one changes trucks it often requires an adjustment of the bolster height to get the correct car body height.....DaveB 

@Peter

My preferred wheel sets are intermountain. They fit great in Accurail trucks. In some models the Athearn Gons for example the trucks use the Athearn long axle wheel sets. Some Bowser models have different lengths in their caboose trucks which also have shorter wheel base trucks. I believe I swapped them for some trucks from another model still.

The accurail trucks and intermountain wheels are my favorite choice. I also like the semi scale wheels code 88 instead of code 110 but I use both. They look better to me. I will also use the wheels in the kits for branch line blue print and yard master kits as well as proto 2000 kits.

I stay away from kadee wheel sets and change them out as a lot of the ones I have used really pick up dirt like crazy. I have been told they were sinterred and the reason for the dirt pick up is the tiny surface irregularities. I am not sure if that is correct or not but I do know their wheels are not up to the standards of their couplers as far as I am concerned.

Peter I think you know that running qualities are very important to me, more so than springs or other gadgets. I believe my methods are very much same as those outlined in Joe's excellent text on rolling stock and he covers that aspect very well. I also run my cars heavier than normal. Best complement I ever received regarding that was the refusal of my club brothers to test new track with my equipment. They said my cars go through bad track just fine but everyone else's derails.

wheels

I have bought about 60 accurail cars because they are a good value, but I think their plastic wheels have way too much drag so I replace them with kadee wheels because they always work perfectly. I did a test one time with an old trainset engine (Bachman F9) and it was starting to labor with 8 accurail ore cars. I put metal whells on all of my ore cars and the same engine did not labor with 17 ore cars.

My take on this is to examine whats ON the rolling stock

Some models have appropriate and accurate trucks supplied... roller bearing vs Bettendorf on 50ft moderns for example.  Verify you want what's on the cars.  Then proceed... various paths would be suitable.

But given the size of your task, I'd get a handful of Accurail trucks and fit them with Intermountain wheels... per GregC's method (I like that combination, too) ....  then swap them Same for Same until you run out.

Once you've run out, strip the excess (old stock) trucks of their wheelsets and verify axle length... don't want to mess with that variable unless Needed.  Take these now naked trucks and re-equip as above... but examine them for quality first... old stuff sometimes reveals odd defects, especially if stored in hot places (attics).

As for axle length... I find only odd-ball old manufacture are an issue... and Reboxx  or Atlas offer suitable alternates for these. I'd rather replace the truck, too,  so my wheelset inventory is uniform.

I have a few dozen Accurail cars.....

I haven't had any problems with the plastic wheels

@Rich that's not quite the point

Plastic wheels are known to cause and spread dirt on rails... thus, many people Prefer metal wheels.

I, too have no 'problem' with Accurail wheels, I go out of my way for their trucks... I just prefer metal wheels in them to keep the layout clean.

Also, my opinion as to Accurail wheels: if you feel their fine, I can't fault you at all!

I also run the accurail plastic wheels.

I don’t change the wheels on accurail and bowser rolling stock that is the bulk of my fleet. The current offerings are usually good and straight wheels. Older kits on the other hand usually are rather rough looking. The complaints about plastic wheels dirtying the track are actually a chemical reaction with the solvents used as track cleaner. The more you clean the more you need to clean. I use the no-ox method for track and no longer clean track.

All of that said I might change my wheels to all metal in the future since the driving reason for sticking to plastic wheels was the lack of extra funds. 

Accurail trucks

Watching TMTV's Q & A program Joe F made the comment about Intermountain wheels having a lot of slop in an Athearn truck. He mentioned using Accurail trucks with intermountain wheels to cure this problem. Sounds like a solution to me.  I have several blue box freight cars I would like to use and searching here on the forum I found this thread and answered all my questions.

Thanks,

Brian

I've never really seen

I've never really seen excessive slop on my Intermountain in BB installs. I'm going to chock it up to luck. 

Frequency of use

One thing that influences me is how much use a car gets.  The 8 axle depressed center flat will be seeing little run time, so if it runs well with the included wheels, it will be fine.  Most of the time, it will be sitting on a siding.  (I haven't finished it, or decided what the load will be, but it's more for looks than function.)

Everything that spends a lot of time on the rails gets metal wheels.

Accurail Plastic Wheels

I thought Accurail plastic wheels were fine until I started doing heavy testing of my layout. I have some very tight curves and I run short equipment to start with but the Accurail cars exhibited issues making the curves until I outfitted them with metal wheels. My old MDC Roundhouse G&D cars have plastic wheels with metal axles still and they work fine but I still will eventually replace them with all metal wheels.

Don't get me wrong, I love Accurail cars but the plastic wheels definitely caused me problems.