In keeping with my transition away from pizza cutter flanges, I picked up a few sets of the Lionel Roller Bearing replacement axles after finding out they were on the streets from this post. The wheels appear to be the more modern code 145 profile . They're 33" wheels, but I believe that 36" wheels would be more appropriate for the 66-foor mill gondolas I plan to convert.
The best setup (for me) was to use the replacement truck cross beam with the approximately 1/8" riser in the middle. The replacement beam without the riser put the gondola extremely low, which looked really good but restricted the truck movement to the point I suspect the gondola wouldn't negotiate a 36" radius curve and also put the couplers lower than they should be (maybe they'd be right for 36" wheels). Here are a couple of photos at the club layout. With the 33" wheels, the brake shoes are a bit far from the wheels, but with the 36" wheels, the car would sit higher and require shims. The original truck cross beams (about 1/8" higher than the conversion parts I used) were set up to allow the car to clear the larger 3-rail flanges and allow for sharper curves (27"/O-54). The next step is to convert the other two gondolas and a couple of Lionel PS4427 hoppers.
Here you see the gon coupled to one of my MTH 2-rail GP35's (operating in 3-rail mode at the club). It derailed at one curve on the layout which I think is out of gauge. Looks like I have some work for next weekend.
