I need to jack and crib the back of my freight car so I can roll the rear trucks back out of the way. Is it ok to jack the lower main frame to do this? I am concerned with the overall stability and if the front trucks alone will keep the car upright. Thanks in advance for any thoughtful input.

Set the jacks at the outer ends of the body bolsters, in line with the truck centers. Use wood (oak) blocking between jack head and car structure. Make sure the jacks are solidly set up on more good oak cribbing. Jack slowly and carefully, check each side as you go. Do not rush this, it's not a speed contest. Get a pair of solid car stands and set them near the jacks so that you can lower the jacks just a bit and have the car resting on the stands when you roll out the trucks. Do not depend on the jacks to hold the load. A few pairs of oak wedges are also very useful for taking up irregularities and for blocking the carbody firmly on the car stands.

Howard P.

Ethan, in general, you can jack up one end of a freight car (It appears you have a WWII troop sleeper, in effect a fancy box car) with sturdy jacks on each side of the car enough to roll a truck assembly out from underneath that end of the car. You need to use actual structural points on the car frame designed to support the load. These are usually marked as "jack here", or something similar.

You will want a good safe set of railroad car jacks, solid stable ground to rest them on, and some thin hardwood pieces (approx 1 inch thick) to form a high friction interface between the jacks and the car frame. The wood will compress and conform to the irregular surface of the car frame and jack lifting surface. This will help keep the car from sliding off the jacks.

Securely chock the other wheels so the car cannot move down the tracks.

The two jacks and the other truck form a "three point" mount which (if done correctly) can be very stable and safe.

Cribbing is used to "backfill" the space between stable earth and the car so if the jacks fail/slip the car only falls a few inches. If you need the truck assembly out from under the car for a while then cribbing (a stack of ties) can be used to hold up the car.

Cribbing can also be used to progressively lift an object if jacks with only limited travel range are available. Lift a little with the jacks, add some cribbing, lower onto the cribbing, reset the jacks and lift again.

I do not know if the WWII troop sleepers had a "locked" kingpin. Most freight cars rely only on gravity to connect the car frame to the bolster on the truck via the kingpin. Most passenger cars have a locked pin that firmly connects the car frame to the truck center bowl. You may need to remove this locked pin from the end of the car you intend to lift (but only that end).

Cheers, Kevin

No locking center pin on the three troop sleepers I've been involved with jacking and truck work on.

Howard P.

I would suggest one change:

"Securely chock the other wheels so the car cannot move down the tracks."

Do not block the other truck. As you jack the car up at one end, the rear is going to need to move toward you. If it does not it will tip the jacks toward the rear truck. You have a triangle when you start to jack. The car frame is the hypotenuse, and its length is fixed. As the vertical leg increases in length the horizontal length, along the rail, has to get shorter.

This is not just theory. I have jacked many cars. With drop platform cars, I have had to jack so high that sometimes the rear buffer sill will come down hard on the floor. WRM finally got a set of four electric car jacks. It is so much more civilized to lift both ends of a car at the same time with electric screw jacks.

There is on both our troop sleepers. There's a slot through the pin about 2 1/2" long near the top with a piece of flat steel going through the slot, then held in place with a cotter pin on both sides.

Thank you for the prompt response everyone! I tried to add photos but it my files are invalid for some reason.

Regarding David Johnston's point above, it is important to control the end of the car that is not being lifted. Perhaps "securely chocked" was not the best phrase.

But the end of the car that is not being lifted needs to be controlled so the car cannot roll towards (or away from) the jacked end and topple the jacks along the length of the track. I was assuming that no hand brakes were functional since they would of course be disconnected (at least at one end of the car).

Securing the unlifted end of the car will cause the jacks to tip just a little bit (assuming no end platforms or steps) towards the unlifted end of the car. Assuming a good stable high friction connection between the ground and the jack base and the same between the car frame and the top of the jack this is acceptable. The jacks become two legs of a tripod and are wider at the base (along the car length) than at the top of the tripod (in this case the center of gravity of the car).

At the very least put something at the unlifted end of the car so it cannot move more than a few inches towards or away from the end you are lifting. If the unlifted end of the car is unrestrained all heck could happen and you would have no control.

If the tilt of the jacks becomes too large it is time to lower the car onto some cribbing and reset the jacks for another lift.

Yes, four jacks that can be deployed at each car frame bolster at the corners of the structural frame is the ideal setup.

Good luck, Cheers, Kevin.

There appears to be several carriage bolts that hold the trucks to the frame, am I barking up the right tree?

I would say the WRONG tree.

As stated earlier, freight cars and the troop cars rest upon the trucks by gravity. This swivel connection is provided by the center plates.

The center plate has two matching fixtures -- one is attached to the body bolster and the other to the truck bolster. These may be thought as being a "male" and a "female" that make up the set. These may be cast integral with the bolsters or attached with bolts. You may be seeing the bolts that attach the center plate to the body bolster.

The bearing surface between the two is lubricated. Various lubricants have been used through the years.

I see... Is there any special tools I will need if the kingpin is the locking type, or just standard hammers, drifts, and locking pliers? Again, I appreciate the knowledge you folks have so gracefully shared.

You also want to check to see if there is a plate in the car floor over the top of each kingpin. If so, the kingpin can be removed before you even start jacking the car... the car will stay in place because of the 1" engagement of the centerplate. The kingpin should be loose... heavy, but loose, as there is no contact with the truck bolster unless the centerplate is very badly worn. Removing the pin before you jack the car means you won't have to jack anywhere near as high, and you won't have to work under the car while it's supported by jacks and cribbing.

"and you won't have to work under the car while it's supported by jacks"

DO NOT WORK UNDER ANYTHING THAT IS SUPPORTED ONLY BY JACKS

Jacks are designed for lifting. Cribbing (or car stands) are designed for holding up a lifted load in a stable fashion. Two different tasks.

A stack of sturdy ties can make good cribbing if nothing else is available.

A jack usually has one critical part (or set of parts) that is holding the entire load. Cribbing usually has multiple load paths in parallel making it much much safer.

Every few years or so we have local news stories of somebody maimed or killed when working under an automobile held up only by jacks.

If an automobile can maim and kill think what a railroad car will do.....

Be safe, not sorry.

Cheers, Kevin

Agreed... poor choice of words on my part. I just edited my post to read "supported by jacks AND CRIBBING."

Where is this troop sleeper?