I don’t think this has been covered already, but after ruining an SD26 a few months ago and being stumped by my new 8-40B I must ask this: how do I remove the shells of my atlas locos? Could the undersides of the walkways be stuck to the frame by an adhesive? My older units, such as my geeps and u boats don’t have this problem, but only the newer ones (SD26, MP15, and Dash 8’s) do.
this is a real pain for installing decoders, and has been irking me ever since the SD26 incident. Also, What would be a suitable PnP decoder for my MP15?
Any tips? Experience with shell removal of newer Atlas?
On my Atlas Alcos, the walkways are perminately attached to the chassis, and the hoods are held to the walkways with pressure tabs. A slight squeeze on the hood at the tab location releases the hood from the walkway. You also have to wiggle the handrails out from the cab, before trying to remove the hood and cab assembly.
I haven’t tried to remove the hood of my MP15 yet.
Oddly enough I ran into the same problem just yesterday when I wanted take my 8-40B apart to weather the body, I never did get it off. It definetely isn’t like the old Atlas ones as described above where the chassis and walkways are one metal part. I did take off the coupler boxes/screws, but maybe there is another (less obvious) screw I’m missing (and no I don’t refer to the ones in my head, those screws are just loose not missing). [;)]
p.s. mine has a built-in decoder from the factory, are you sure you do need to add one to yours??
I did a decoder install job for another member of my club for three of the newer Atlas locos, I was stumped for a day or so too, you need to remove the coupler screws and pull the coupler box out. The shell theoretically lifts right off, but they are stiff to get off at this point. you can rock them loose but the problem on the three I did was that the shell right behind the cab was pinching inward on the frame, if you give it a gentle pry outward there you should have an easier time lifting it. After you get it off and try to put it back you will see exactly where the tight fit is.
I guess I should’ve said this before but the reason for removing the shell was to move the jumper plug into dcc mode. But I have some great news … I finally got the shell off of my dash 8[:D]. In addition to the coupler boxes (which I removed prior to posting this topic) I removed the handrails, then the cab, and then the long hood. All that just to move a dcc jumper[banghead]. At least it runs in DCC now. And I now know which decoder to use for my MP15…
As for the SD26, I’d like to fix the shell someday. maybe 4-5 years from now…