We're looking for the steel specification for wear plates in Alco/GE drop equalized road trucks ("AAR B"). This is for bolster wear plates, frame wear plates, etc. I suspect that pedestal liners would be the same spec. These are attached by welding, using E-312-16 "stainless" rod.

If anyone can help, we'd appreciate it.

We hope to be able to source the wear plates from a railroad supplier (using catalog part numbers), but if that's not successful, we'd have them cut by one of our local fabricators (using plasma, not flame).

Yes, there is an Alco-GE locomotive about to get some attention in NW Connecticut. Pics will be posted when appropriate.

Thanks,

Howard P.

MP 6, Thomaston Shop

I am not going to recommend a particular wear plate material, but let me tell a little about what I have learned over the years. Welded wear plates have been a problem for the industry for a long time. When I went to work for my first railroad, which was a medium size class 1, they had gone to AR plate for most wear plates. These material may not have worn as well as some of the harder material, but had many fewer weld failures.

When the AAR approved weld on coupler shank wear plates the weld cracking problem became so sever that some coupler manufactures introduced depressions in the sides of the shanks so a preformed wear plate could be just snapped on, no welds. But the coupler shank wear plate failures may have lead to a better understanding of the problem. What was determined to be the coupler problem was that the wear plates were so much stronger that the coupler material, when the shank was loaded and tried to elastically deform, the high strength wear plates would not deform and tried to carry the coupler shank load. The weak link in this chain is the welds. The lower strength wear plates, deformed with the shank and the welds were able to carry the loads. This maybe the reason some of the other railroad wear plates, like the column wear plates also had so many failures.

Ways to overcome this problem were to use lower strength AR plate, so it deforms with the member it is attached to. Another thing that can be done is to only weld the wear plates in the middle so, leave the ends loose, so the the wear plate does not try to become a load carrying part of the truck. If you google "column wear plate" you will get lots of available materials and recommendations. Hopefully someone of this board who has successfully done the same thing you are doing can advise what has worked successfully in service.

One thing that bothered me a little in your post was that you had already determined the welding process. The welding process should be driven by the truck and wear plate material. Since you have not determined the wear plate material, the welding process should be an open issue.

Howard,

Are you referring to the chaffing plates or the center bowl vertical and/or horizontal liners? I know you can still get the nylatron center bowl liners for the AAR B truck. The last chaffing plates we had made, we used the AR plate. The thinking was even if it wasn't as durable, we're never going to run it as hard as the class 1 railroad did. As long as you monitor/maintain the clearances does it really matter? The AR plate went on with a 70xx series rod. I'll go out on a limb and say if your using the stainless rod then its most likely manganese steel of some kind. Have you looked at the old Power Parts catalog -- if it was in there it would most likely show a material.

ETA

EMD has the following to say about bolster and truck frame wear plates.

From EMD Maintenance Instruction 1501
“Locomotive Swing Hanger and Switcher Truck Assemblies Equipped with Clasp Brakes”

“Prior to the application of new plate be sure that the mating surfaces of the parts to be welded are clean, smooth and flat. Use AWS E-7016 or E-7018 electrodes or equivalent for SAE 1060 heat treated steel wear plate.

In some applications other types of wear plates may be used. For manganese wear plates, use AWS E-Fe Mn-A electrode and for SAE 1095 heat treated steel wear plates, use AWSE-310-16 stainless steel electrode or AWSE E-Fe Mn-A electrode.”

Jason Lamb

Thanks to all who responded. The electrode spec was out of a 1960s GE U-boat manual. The wear plates in question are on the bolster ends and bolster pocket in the truck frame. We are using the plastic center plate liners.

Looks like 7018, with the 1030 plate, should do it. The "AR" stuff is "abrasion resistant"?

As mentioned, our duty cycle on these locos is not extreme, so that material should outlast all of us.

Thanks,

Howard P.

AR250 ABRASION RESISTANT STEEL PLATE


AR250 steel is a type of low cost abrasion resistant steel plate that offers outstanding wear and impact resistance at an economical price. AR250 offers superior weldability, formability, and toughness in combination with good weathering characteristics. In addition, it exhibits improved flatness and a clean surface.

This excellent combination of properties is possible because of the low carbon chemistries and the thermo-mechanical controlled rolling processes used in the manufacture of AR250 steel plates. These plates provide a good alternative to AR400 in applications where wear is not severe yet a hardness exceeding standard A36 plates is needed.

Hardness
200 – 270 BHN

Impact Strength
Charpy Impact Properties (Longitudinal Specimen), Minimum 20 ft-lb @ -40 ºF (27 J @ -40 ºC)

Cutting
AR250 steel can be cut with plasma, oxy-Acetylene, laser, and water jet as well as with abrasive cut off saws.

Machining
Drilling, countersinking, counterboring, tapping, milling, and general machining can be done with conventional equipment and carbide tools.

Forming
AR250 steel plates are made for improved formability with low levels of carbon and sulphur for inclusion shape control.

Up to .75" can be cold bent to minimum inside bend radius of 1.75t (where t is the plate thickness) with the bend axis transverse to the rolling direction. A radius of 2.5t can be used when bending parallel to the roll direction.

For plate over .750" a radius of 3t is recommended when forming transverse to the rolling direction.

Welding
AR250 steel has excellent weldability and can be welded with simple procedures and common consumables such as E7018.

Just curious, can you copy the welding instructions from the manual?

I have found AR-400-F to be an extremely good material for wear liner applications. While many original liner materials are manganese steel(least the specs I've come) that product can be difficult to get in less than sheet quantities. AR-400-F is readily obtainable. Its an interesting material..... and very easy to weld.

Just seems to me that 1030 (unless it's been hardened) would be to soft and one hardened not readily weldable unless one has experience welding such materials.

Matt?

Cheers, Jason

Jason,

What I am looking for is a copy of the paragraph from the EMD manual that specifies which welding rod specifically to use in welding liners to the truck pedestals.

Matt

Not EMD but GE:

From GE Maintenance Instructions #GEI-81903C, issued 7-63

Traction Motor Nose Suspension

Wear Plate Renewal

Do Not Preheat Parts

Use an AWS-E-312-16 5/32 or 1/8 inch welding rod with 125 to 145 amps a-c or reverse polarity d-c power.

Weld wear plate with 1/4 inch fillet welds in four 1 1/2 inches long increments. Increments to be centered on each end and each side of wear plate.

Complete one increment only (both passes) before proceeding to next increment. The second pass of weld should overlap between the first pass weld and the suspension support and should not touch the wear plate.