Has anyone ever replaced the wheel sets in old Central Valley trucks? I guess one would drill out the rivet (or rivets in the case of six wheel trucks) and replace the rivet with a small machine screw. Is this worth doing from an operational point of view? Is it worth doing for appearance given that passenger car trucks are usually less visible from the end that are freight car trucks?
Yes. For CV trucks that have rivets drill out the rivets on one side and tap for 2-56 machine screw. Not every CV truck needs replacement wheelsets, though. Some have very good rolling characteristics already. It seems that CV wheelset quality varied at different times . Denny Anspach is the expert on this, I got the technique from his discussion on the Passenger Car List. He purchased a Reboxx Roll Tester and tests all his trucks on it. I do the same, but once the trucks are mounted under a freight car (mandatory STMFC content) I test the car on the six foot section of track that has a one inch ramp for the first foot. If the car bounces off the foam rubber at the end, it passes. Even Kadee trucks can benefit from replacement wheelsets. The only trucks I have found that pass without upgrading wheelsets are some CV trucks, a few Kadee trucks, and almost all D & G trucks.
