It’s been a while since there’s been a discussion on the Bowser H21 and GLa hoppers so I wanted to see what everybody’s thoughts were on this topic. As we all know the factory axles are plastic and troublesome. Those gets swapped immediately. The other initial problem is the truck mounted couplers. Those are also an easy fix as there are mounting holes in the frame. I have done this to each member of my fleet. Adding weight to these can be handled a couple of ways but I have seen reports of running with more or less weight with success.
What I really wanted to talk about is an issue I have not seen addressed. When I was removing the trucks to add body mounts and to cut off the factory coupler, a ton of my bolster pins wouldn’t come out and snapped off. I have cleared the mounting holes and bought new pins from bowser. This has led to another issue or made it rear its head. I am now having issues with the pins falling out during operations. I’ve also had issues with pins being too tight when pushed in far enough to hold in the hole. I’ve glued some of them in but feel there should be a better fix. My thought was to drill and tap the center of the pin and the frame to accept a 00-80 screw. I have a ton of mtl screws that length wise. That has been hard as the plastic is tough and doesn’t want to drill. The frame also seems resistant too. Maybe it’s the angle that is being drilled.
