I want to remove and replace the power truck assembly, which is the entire truck assembly including the sideframes, gear boxes, idler gears and axle gears, and the cover plates.
To facilitate the removal of the power truck assembly, I removed the four motor mount screws and took out the motor to free the driveshaft assembly. That permits me to remove the power truck assembly which is centered on a metal pin which is part of the chassis. It appears that the power track assembly is merely pulled off the centering pin, but I feel resistance when I do that and I don’t want to damage anything.
Has anyone removed this power truck assembly? Is it simply pressed onto the centering pin?
I did not remove the worm gear cover and worm, but they sit on top of the power truck assembly and float freely with the rest of the assembly. I am thinking that the power truck assembly snaps onto that centering pin, so it would seem that it is just pulled off the centering pin but I am afraid to apply too much pressure.
You have to remove the worm gear cover by prying both sides loose from their tabs, and then the truck should just drop out. It does not snap into place on the pin.
I have a feeling that again without seeing it,the pin you mention that the truck snaps onto,there must be some sort of built in pins on the pin,that must be pushed together to remove the truck,otherwise the truck would just slide off when you pick it up… Don’t know but makes sense to me…
If what you have is like the typical Athearn unit, there will be a pair of posts or prongs on that cover that contact the frame and keep the truck attached.
You probably didn’t have to remove the motor. Generally removing that cover and lifting out the worm will allow you to disengage the drive shaft.
You have to pry it off from the sides. Sometimes it is rather difficult to get off. The best tool I have found for this is a small flat blade screwdriver to work under the cover on one side and pry it away from the gear tower. Once the first side is loosened, the entire cover should come off, and sometimes go flying across the room.
If you’ve ever worked on one of Athearn’s Blue Box diesels, removing the truck from the Genesis F unit is exactly the same. The worm cover is the retainer, and it can be snapped off pretty easily. I insert a small flat-blade screwdriver from underneath to pry up one side, and then pop it off the rest of the way by prying the top with the side loosened (like cacole said before). The plastic’s flexible, so don’t worry about breaking it.[:D]
There are two wires going to each truck. They’re connected to the PC board using plastic caps, so that makes them just as easy to remove.
Way back in 2005, I purchased a second set of Athearn Genesis F7AB locos to consist along with a similar set of Ahrearn Genesis F7AB locos (different cab numbers) that I purchased in 2004.
The problem loco is the F7A that I purchased in 2005. It is the lead engine in an ABBA consist.
The first problem became apparent in early 2007 when I realized that the gears were locked up and the loco was being pushed such that the wheels on the front truck had flattened from dragging on the rails. I got replacement geared wheels from Athearn at the time.
Now, I recently noticed that the gears on the front truck were locked again. When I took over the gear cover, I detected some loose ballast wedged in the gears and one of the gears was actually “dented”, if I can use that term. I also noticed that a small section of the gear box was missing. I don’t know how or when that broke off.
So, I thought it best to replace the entire power truck assembly.
I have had other problems with this loco. I had to replace the original Athearn bulbs with Miniatronics bulbs because the Athearn bulbs had burned out prematurely. When I removed the shell, the window framing broke in half, so I had to replace that as well.
I have had no problems with the other F7A or either one of the F7B units.
Maybe it’s me or maybe this particular loco can be regarded as a lemon. No matter. I love
Well, I finally got the new power truck assembly from Athearn and got around to removing the old power truck assembly from the chassis.
Yes, you do need to pry the gear box cover off the power truck assembly to remove the assembly. But, before doing that, the sides of the gear box cover need to be pried loose from the the tabs on the power truck assembly.
I missed that when I first read cacole’s reply. So, the process is to spread the arms of the gear box cover and then snap the gear box cover off the assembly.