I’ve done the search and read for about an hour…I bought two of these in BN cream and green and one works OK and the other climbs the rails on 48" radius corners with the front truck. These were bought still in plastic wrap at a show this weekend from a private party so they were not someone else’s problem. So is there a good fix or do I try athearn for parts? Do you need any proof of purchase? How would this work?
Thanks,
Guy
First, try checking the wheel guage. For the price it SHOULDN’t be a problem, but always start with the simple and cheap fixes first.
check the pickup wires for the trucks, somtimes they get trapped or pinned down when the shell is put on the chassis and wil tweak the truck one way or the other, limiting the range of travel enough to cause trouble.
Not that this could be the problem (I am not too familiar with this particular model), but I have heard several times that the Genesis units had problems with warped sideframes. That may be something else to investigate. The replacement sideframes are available from Athearn.
I found some of both the SD70M’s and the SD70MAC can have trucks that are not level. If the truck does not set level, they will tend to derail on curves and some are so bad that they derail on straight track. Other SD70’s do not have this problem.
this was primarly an issue with the first run, (partically assembled models), but would be on list of possible causes if the truck is propery seated, wheel gauge correct, and free to move.
I wrote an email to Horizon Hobbies about the known defect, here is what they replied:
Thank you for your email. Please send your items to the following
address.
Athearn Trains
1550 Glenn Curtiss St.
Carson, CA 90746
Attention: Parts
Be sure to have them include a note on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper
describing the problem along with their name, telephone number and
shipping address. We recommend that they ship them via UPS or any other
carrier that offers a shipment tracking service.
Sincerely,
Athearn Trains
It doesn’t say they will fix the problem for free, or refund shipping costs. I live in Canada and shipping by courier to the US will cost big bucks. And who do they mean “them”, I wrote the question, not someone else.
automated response “them” package/packages
call and talk to human before sending anything to any manf. they may have trick for faster service, have a self fix checklist, or may just send you needed parts instead of you sending it in, paying shipping, have loco sit on a repair shelf for a month, be repaired and sent back at possibly your expense
Find out how much the fix will cost first. Perhaps the price of parts will be less painful than shipping the whole engine back to Athearn? It would be nice if Athearn would send you the parts for free. Another idea is just send them the trucks if they are agreeable.
Jim
I had 4 Athearn Genesis SD70M models with warped trucks that were so bad they would continually derail. At that time, Athearn refused to acknowledge responsibility and would not provide replacements. In order to be able to use the locomotives, I had to pay for the replacements, and they were not cheap. Athearn lost me as a potential customer.
[#ditto][#ditto][#ditto][#wstupid] I no longer buy Athearn equipment because of this very issue. I say I’m with stupid not because I think cacole is stupid but because I was stupid to buy more of the units after I had trouble with the first one. I have not paid for the repairs. The units are sitting in my JUNK box for everyone who visits to see, so they won’t buy Athearn Genesis units either.
I’ve not had good luck with any Genesis units. While the F units run well, they have come fresh out of the box with bad headlamps, poor internal wiring plugs, then all the issues with the 2-8-2s and 4-6-4, and don’t even get me started on their Challengers with the crappy electronics. My new advice is to avoid Athearn Genesis. Almost everything they make has been made by someone else.