Has anyone else noticed that Athearn is now using a coupler box and screw to mount the coupler on it’s latest run of GP’s? The only problem is it mounts from the top and that makes detailing the pilots difficult and shell removal nearly impossible. Anyone care to comment on this new feature from Athearn?? Wonder what they were thinking?? [%-)]
The older versions of the Athearn GPs had plastic mounts clipped onto the top of the coupler mount, but I don’t get why they did it that way either. The new screwed-on coupler boxes are mounted on the existing mounts for the plastic clips, which is cheaper than making a new mold for the frame. But they do at least work better than the old plastic clips, and are more reliable because of the screws.
P.S. You posted the topic twice. Just thought I’d let you know.[:D]
The only problem with either way of mounting the couplers…is the hole left in the pilots. I have an older GP7 that formerly had the plastic clip-style mounting. However, when I went to Kadees, I simply screwed the Kadee box to the frame. If I had to do it again, I’d build up a mounting pad on the shell, and fill in the pilot holes. That way, I could still remove the shell if I had to, otherwise, I’d have to remove the couplers first.
Heres the way I been mounting couplers on Athearn BB units for years…A Dremel tool makes this work easier.
That’s the way I do it. I cut the lug off the Athearn frame and mount a pad for the coupler. The front opening gets covered with the plow and I only have to fill in the rear. It is nice not having to remove the couplers to pull the shell off.
Jim
There are lots of other loco’s, like Atlas, Kato and Life Like Proto xxxx to name a few that mount the coupler to the frame but do not have a huge hole under the coupler, they just slide the coupler in after the shell and frame are togther and the couplers hold everything. Only problem I have had with that set up is if you want to change the OE coupler box for a Kadee, sometimes the hole is too small (anyone remember the Atlas FP7? They were like that).
But as Athern re-tools, it looks like they are also going that route, see the re-done SD40-2’s and compare them to the orginal.