How would one replace the wheels in old CV trucks? Would it involve drilling out the rivet? What would replace the rivet? Are the "journals" on CV trucks cone shaped so that today's axles will fit and work? Is the axle length of most of today's wheel sets close enough to CV's to fit and operate well? Could someone who has actually replaced wheel sets in CV trucks respond?
Gene,
I have done it. For the CV arch bar trucks I tested them on a Reboxx roll tester. Some of the CV arch bars had very good rolling characteristics. They went into my "tuned" pile. On the others I was able to twist the frames so that the wheel sets popped out. I then reamed out each journal box with THE TOOL. Reboxx wheel sets replaced the CV axles that didn't roll well. I've only done five sets so far, but they roll fine. For the Fox and passenger trucks (4 and 6 wheel), I drilled out rivets on one side. I then tapped the hole/s for 2-56 screws and reassembled the truck with short brass round head 2-56 screws. I was unable to get good rolling characteristics out of any standard needle axle (couldn't effectively ream out the journal boxes) and so used Intermountain ball bearing wheel sets. For the Fox trucks this gave acceptable, but not great, rolling characteristics. The 36" ball bearing wheel sets rolled better, and the characteristics are up to my standards (18-20 half cycles on the roll tester). I just tested a few before answering your query, and could not find any 6 wheel trucks that I had done (a few passed muster with CV wheel sets), although I think I have done a few. However, except for the arch bar trucks, I had to rely on the Intermountain ball bearing wheel sets which have the .110" treads. For what it's worth, I have had similar problems using Reboxx wheel sets on Bethlehem Car Works trucks. The screw assembly system tends to result in less than square trucks and so the needle bearings are not riding on a true and even surface. I plan to buy some samples from Bitter Creek to see how they work. By far the best rolling comes from plastic and styrene trucks with the Reboxx wheel sets. My particular favorites are the Tahoe arch bar (5' 6" wheel base) with the semi scale Intermountain wheel sets (basically a Reboxx 1.010" axle) and Trout Creek's Theilsen trucks (purchased w/o wheel sets) to which I added Reboxx wheel sets. I also have some B.T.S. 4' 6" brass arch bar trucks, but have not assembled these yet, so cannot comment on how they roll.
