Converting Life Like Caboose to Micro Trains

[Eriediamond]

I'm not real familiar Life Like cabooses but I'll attempt to give some things to check that would make the floor bow like that. I assume by pins, you mean the friction pins that hold the trucks on the car. Are they the original pins and if so did they appear to go in further with the replacement trucks. What I am getting at is that the car weight may be attached to the floor in the center of the car and these pins may be forceing that weight up from the ends which if attached to the center would force the center up. Is the floor attached to the car by little tabs in the center. If so, when you pushed the pins back in, the floor popped loose from these tabs and since the floor is flush with the ends and cannot move up, the center part did. There has to be a logical reason if the floor was alright before the truck change.

[Benjamin Maggi]

I own two N scale Life Like "North Eastern" Cabooses and wanted to convert them to Micro Trains couplers by swapping out the trucks. I had some Bettendorf 1000-10 short shank couplers on hand and figured they would work (whether they would be the appropiate type, or even if Great Northern had a North Eastern Caboose!). However, when I installed them the floor was bowed so that the outer wheels touched the rails but the inner axels rose up. Somehow, just installing the pins caused the floor to rise in the center... on BOTH cabooses!

What am I doing wrong?