It’s definitely not right. I suspect the spring helps to keep the pilot wheels, which are too big, from smacking into the underside of the pilot casting. The whole assembly needs replacing.
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I am 100% confident it is not Gilbert, as it doesn’t match what the Gilbert HO hudsons had. I have two incomplete 151 Hudsons, one of which has its original pilot truck. The Gilbert pilot truck looks quite different.
The pilot truck present looks completely identical to the pilot trucks of my Lionel HO pacifics, so I’m inclined to think that’s what it is. it appears to have Delrin wheels on one side, and steel wheels on the other, a configuration Lionel used on its HO pacifics starting around 1963.
-El
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I don’t remember at the moment if the wheels on one side are delrin or not. But I agree that these might be lionel wheels they do look identical in photos of the Lionels that you or others have said they maybe from.
Lionel used Delrin for a number of plastic parts, such as the 566-27 and 566-54 plastic knuckles with integral spring on O gauge cars, or the removable 3830-106 “Induction Tube” used for winding the nose cone of the 3830 Submarine. It often has a dark reddish-brown color, and is actually very slightly translucent- thinner parts will pass light through. Some parts are darker than others.
Lionel used this material for several HO parts, including couplers, axles, truck bolsters, wheels, gear covers, and sometimes gears.
-El
I looked, they are steel on the other side.
Not sure when ill have time to fix this. Thanks for all the help!