Menards Rolling Stock - How to spread wheels? Axle not spinning freely.

For my menards cars when the wheels don’t spin freely, i take the axel out and sand down the points.  They are just too long sometimes, works every time for me.  Just sand off the points.

I have a couple of Menards WW2 Jeep flat cars and they derail regularly. I thought perhaps they were too light as I have a Menards halftrack car that has no problems and it is die cast so considerably heavier than the jeep models that are plastic.

I might try the above trick to see if it works although I did check the axels prior to running and they seem to spin freely. Good luck to the op.

I have two Menards hopper cars that frequently derail.  Looking closely as they run, it appears that not all 8 wheels are in full contact with the track.  I'll have to get into them, for it appears the trucks may not have enough vertical play.  I have a few other Menards cars, that seem to have no problems.

I have found that most Menards cars have a gauge that is slightly too narrow.  This can cause derailment especially when going over Gargraves switches.  I use a Timko wheel puller to increase the gauge.  As I recall, gauge (distance between flanges) for most Menard cars as received is usually around 26 mm to 26.5 mm.  I generally increase it to 27.5 mm to 28 mm.  If you make it too wide, the outside of the wheel will rub against the track side.  Th wheel puller does not appear on the Timko website, but give Frank a call or email and he will send one to you.

Timko Repair Depot

@Tony H posted:

For my menards cars when the wheels don’t spin freely, i take the axel out and sand down the points.  They are just too long sometimes, works every time for me.  Just sand off the points.

Tony,

I removed all the trucks on all six tanker cars and lightly hit the axle points with the Dremel tool and my problem was solved. They all roll free just as good as other brands I own. The wheel spacing was off some but I left that alone. I ran the cars several times around the layout with no derailments.

@R Whitley posted:

Tony,

I removed all the trucks on all six tanker cars and lightly hit the axle points with the Dremel tool and my problem was solved. They all roll free just as good as other brands I own. The wheel spacing was off some but I left that alone. I ran the cars several times around the layout with no derailments.

Glad it worked for you.  Not sure why I first tried it, but it works.