InterMountain F units

[woodone]

I have a InterMountain F-7 A unit. The trucks fall out if you just look at it wrong. Seems to take very little to knock them out of the frame.
There is too much clearance in the clip that holds the truck to the frame.
Anyone else seen this, or do I have an odd ball?

[jjb62556]

I have a couple F3's that are that way...run fine anyway.....

[drgw0579]

When trucks fall out like that, in my experience, the frame halves aren't seated, or the screws holding them together aren't tight.  Maybe the plastic parts are worn.  Have you experienced the problem since they are new, or is it something that has developed over time?  Many N-scale locomotives share the same design, where the truck has a set of numbs on either side of the pivot point on the plastic truck frame.  They fit into the metal frame castings.    In the case of the Intermountain F units, those trucks are the same as Atlas GP trucks.    You might have success requesting replacement trucks at https://www.intermountain-railway.com/customerservice/csparts.html

I was in the habit of simply prying trucks out, but not too long ago, I broke one numb off a Kato Truck.   Fortunately, I was able to find one at a swap meet, because while Kato does sell parts often older models have been sold out.

Bill Kepner

[woodone]

This is a fairly new unit not too much run time and converted to DCC.
I tighten up the two screws that hold the frame half’s together. That caused a short has this pushed the frame into the brush caps.
I machined some frame material out where the brush caps were very close to the frames. Then retighten the screws. Short went away but the trucks are very loose when they snap into place. There is very little snap because it take a very slight push to insert the trucks.
You sure do not need anything to remove the trucks. Just a slight pull on a truck and it is out.

[MichaelWinicki]

My IM F units (and I have several) have the same issue... But as someone else pointed, they still run great.

[Angus Shops]

Same issue, but I don’t consider it a problem. I can pick them up, move them around, and do a Peteski style truck cleaning without the trucks coming off, but they pop off I if I even think about taking a shell off.

[reinhardtjh]

I have a InterMountain F-7 A unit. The trucks fall out if you just look at it wrong. Seems to take very little to knock them out of the frame.
There is too much clearance in the clip that holds the truck to the frame.
Anyone else seen this, or do I have an odd ball?

I have 4.  IIRC it was the last run before the ill fated sound chassis (which I still have a pre-order for with @SkipGear - unless they've been cancelled).  Mine were for a set of Norfolk Southern F's for the OCS.  Still in the to-do pile.

[peteski]

I have IM FT set (which I haven't had out for quite some time) and IIRC, part of the problem is that the tabs that keep the truck in the chassis are very shallow, and the gear case has thin walls (making it flexible).  Maybe the gap between chassis halves is also a problem, but I suspect that regardless of what you do there, the trucks will still snap out rather easily.