No. I saw a photo of one of the loco(non)motives at Disneyland Paris with its driver wheels removed several years before the accident at Disneyland. That was the only one that I know for a fact did operate at least once with the wheels missing. I'm not sure about the other versions of the coaster though.

Before?

Mechanically, because of the ride speed, the large drivers act like gyroscopes. Every turn in the track requires serious forces to counter this. Since the rear drivers are strictly for appearance, maybe they could be re-made out of carbon fiber composite.

Here is the thing Roy. This accident while tragic is overstated and a fluke. The engine was flagged requiring maintenance, for almost 20 years there were no issues at Disneyland, WDW, or Euro Disney. In fact Fantasialand in Germany has a duplicate ride that rolls through the Grand Canyon and they have never had this issue. The big wheels were removed for no reason other than to appease the greedy lawyer scum bag that sued the Park. And yes I met the trash in court and told him what I thought of him. He was in my court on an unrelated case and saw my desk with BTMRR on it and told me who he was. The sensationalism at the time was to ruin the amusement park industry. The media jumped on Disney, Knott's, 6 Flags, etc. Ever hear of the kids from Great America who were decapitated on the Whizzer roller coaster? Great America has had more in park deaths than Disneyland by far, yet you never saw that on nation news or read it in the paper. So a carbon fiber wheel is not going to do a darn thing. How about pay the workers a decent wage, train them in proper ride operation and maintenance, and obey red flagged equipment and dont put it on the track. And better still, open communication with management about safety awareness.

Why did the "greedy lawyer scum bag" want the drivers removed? There's no money in that, for him.

Further, Locoboy5150 said he saw photos of the Paris ride w/o drivers long before the DL accident.