How to attach Kato snap-on passenger car trucks?

[nickelplate759]

I need/want to use some Kato passenger car trucks on American Limited core kits and some other non-Kato cars.  The newer trucks are all snap on to a bolster pin molded under the floor , rather than screw on as the earlier trucks are. 

What have people found to work well as a mounting technique to use the snap on trucks on cars that are designed for removable (screw or push-pin) bolster pins?

[Mark5]

I havent worked out the details yet, but I plan to use screws or kingpins based on Bryan's experience here:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=27628.0

Mark

[altohorn25]

You can still get the screw on trucks directly from Kato; I'd go that route.

[nickelplate759]

You can still get the screw on trucks directly from Kato; I'd go that route.

Not all prototypes are available as screw on.

[thomasjmdavis]

I need/want to use some Kato passenger car trucks on American Limited core kits and some other non-Kato cars.  The newer trucks are all snap on to a bolster pin molded under the floor , rather than screw on as the earlier trucks are. 

What have people found to work well as a mounting technique to use the snap on trucks on cars that are designed for removable (screw or push-pin) bolster pins?

Bryan's method can be adapted to most other cars, but may need some modification of the "bolster" of the non-Kato car.  If you look at an older Kato car, there is a "post" ( 0.128" or 3.25mm per my cheap caliper) diameter that goes all the way through the truck bolster, and the truck swivels on this post, with the screw serving only to keep the truck from falling off.  In many cases, a MTL bolster pin (which is a few hundredths smaller in diameter) or similar, or a screw of appropriate diameter, will probably work fine, but as an alternative, a "post" can be created by drilling out the bolster hole in the underframe and installing a piece of styrene tubing to approximate the original Kato mounting.  I think some clever folks have also gone the route of creating a copy of the current Kato post and installing this in the underframe of various cars- and clipping the trucks on directly.  I've also read of folks using old Rivarossi truck screws, and clipping the Kato trucks to them, but haven't tried that myself (yet) if only because those screws have become hard to come by, and I haven't retired enough RR cars to have spares lying around.

 The other thing that may need to be done is to either cut slots in the underframe for the electrical contacts on the Kato trucks, or cut or bend the contacts, depending on whether you want the option to use track power to light the car. This may be necessary even with the older Kato screw on trucks, IIRC.

Also of note, essentially the same things apply to utilizing Kato 6 wheel trucks (from the El Cap diner and I assume the Milw big dome) on non Kato cars like the Bachmann "big dome".

[Mark5]

Bryan's method can be adapted to most other cars, but may need some modification of the "bolster" of the non-Kato car.  If you look at an older Kato car, there is a "post" ( 0.128" or 3.25mm per my cheap caliper) diameter that goes all the way through the truck bolster, and the truck swivels on this post, with the screw serving only to keep the truck from falling off.  In many cases, a MTL bolster pin (which is a few hundredths smaller in diameter) or similar, or a screw of appropriate diameter, will probably work fine, but as an alternative, a "post" can be created by drilling out the bolster hole in the underframe and installing a piece of styrene tubing to approximate the original Kato mounting.  I think some clever folks have also gone the route of creating a copy of the current Kato post and installing this in the underframe of various cars- and clipping the trucks on directly.  I've also read of folks using old Rivarossi truck screws, and clipping the Kato trucks to them, but haven't tried that myself (yet) if only because those screws have become hard to come by, and I haven't retired enough RR cars to have spares lying around.

 The other thing that may need to be done is to either cut slots in the underframe for the electrical contacts on the Kato trucks, or cut or bend the contacts, depending on whether you want the option to use track power to light the car. This may be necessary even with the older Kato screw on trucks, IIRC.

Yeah, I have a friend that went the further distance using Evergreen tubing that is the outer diameter of the the portion on the Kato bolster that "sticks out". He drilled a hole in the bottom of the car the same diameter of the tubing and glued it with the same amount "sticking out". He filed away a small amount on the protrusions at the end of the clips on the trucks - that way he was able to still use them as clip-on.

That sounds like too much work for me, so I plan to to mimic the the Kato bolster by adding a small amount of tubing to the bolster as pointed out below so that I can used screws.

Also of note, essentially the same things apply to utilizing Kato 6 wheel trucks (from the El Cap diner and I assume the Milw big dome) on non Kato cars like the Bachmann "big dome".

I have two pairs of these on order to be used under modernized business cars. These are based on MTL heavyweight models, so I will have to move the bolsters anyway, then mimic the Kato bolster (the screwy way for me ).

Mark