Has AZL improved trucks on new hoppers?

[tom mann]

 Previous AZL 100t trucks looked melted without the sharp molding that MT trucks have.  Did they improve them for their new run of ACF hoppers?

[ztrack]

Tom,

The tooling of the 90001 roller bearing trucks have not changed. But I do want to point out some news from AZL on thier trucks and couplers. First, AZL is now offering their roller bearing trucks with a 11.5mm arm. This is the medium length coupler and it being used on the hi-cube boxcars.

Second, AZL is using 17mm long shank trucks on their auto-racks. These are not available separately at this time.

Third, and the biggest news is that AZL has completely redesigned the wheel profiles based on David Smith's reviews. The new wheels look great! These new wheels can be found on the SP bi-level autoracks so those of you lucky enough to get a single or set, check them out! I will hopefully have photos of cars with these wheels starting with the next run. The current photo we have of the SP is the prerelease model and has the older style wheels.

AZL does plan to start using the new wheels on all upcoming releases.

Rob

[tom mann]

Rob,

Glad to hear about the wheel changes.  Any plans to offer them separately?

[ztrack]

I will check with AZL about this. I would love to have the wheels as a replacement part. I would also like to be able to offer the 17mm roller bearing as a separate item.

Rob