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Athearn Genesis F7 coupler/truck problem Locos and rolling stock
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New member 3 posts Dave Loveless New member 3 posts
Dave Loveless

I have looked several places and either I can't find or no one else has had this problem. After owning for several years, but not operating my Genesis F units because of the crummy MRC decoders, I have replaced the decoders with Soundtraxx decoders. What a difference! But now I have a new problem!

  The problem is the rear truck on the A units and both trucks on the B unit hit the coupler pocket. I had replaced the original couplers and pockets with the recommended KaDee #36 and #38 (I believe) and the end of the truck "bridges" onto the pocket. I tried replacing the original pocket and coupler and got the same result.

The consequence of this "bridging" is that the truck will barely ride level (in fact runs downhill slightly toward the coupler) and has no play to swivel up or down. The result of this is the trailing truck's leading wheel is raised up and doesn't make good contact with the rail (creating the usual problems). These trucks also rub as they try to swivel side to side when going around a curve..

Has anyone noticed this? Any suggestions? At this point all I can think of is to re drill the coupler mounting screw (and there is little room for that) or cut off the end of the truck (which would weaken it and expose the gears)

If you owners of Athearn Genesis F units would take a look at the truck/coupler interaction and respond, I would appreciate it.

Thanks, Dave Loveless
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Russ Bellinis Prolific poster 3,335 posts
Russ Bellinis

I've got one that I have not run, yet.

I picked it up used from a local hobby shop that buys trains from estates or collections and sells them at very reasonable prices.  I haven't run this one because I haven't installed a decoder yet.  It has couplers installed which I will replace becasue they are the standard Athearn supplied Bachmann plastic couplers.  In checking out the rear truck on mine, it hits the steps before it touches any part of the coupler pocket.  I haven't made up my mind if I will use it on a passenger train on the modular club layout or if I will use it at a permanent club layout that I hope to join in the next few months.  Minimum radius on the modular club is 36 inches, and minimum radius on the permanent layout is 48 inches, so I don't expect to need to modify the trucks or body for any sort of tight radius curves.

It looks like the back of the coupler pocket was cut off flat to give a little clearance between the coupler pocket and the truck.  There appears to be no centering spring, but I have found centering springs to be unnecessary on locomotives, and of little use on cars as well.
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jlewisf3 Active Member 55 posts
jlewisf3

Athearn Genesis F7 Coupler/Truck problem

Last night I finally got around to replacing the couplers on a set of Genesis Atherarn F7's.  I did not have any #58 series Kadees, so I looked around and found some Kadee #450 coupler sets designed to put Kadee #5's on Stewart Diesels.  This set contains a few pieces which are not needed, but the key is that it contains the Kadee's which have the 3 piece box.  That box is short enough to clear the gearbox covers on the Atherarn trucks IF YOU DON'T TRY TO USE THE ATHEARN TRUMPET HEADED SCREWS.  Use round headed screws, and you'll have no problems. I used a Kadee # 26 on the pilot ends of the A units, the regular Kadee #5 box will work here, but I went ahead and used the 3 piece box.  A little research showed me that this 3 piece box is the one used by the Athearn #36 and #38 couplers.  I think that the key is to throw away the Athearn screw, which has a head larger than a regular 2-56 machine screw and use a machine head screw.

Jeff Fry

 
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