Athearn 2-8-0 drawbar

engineer bill Aug 23, 2015

  1. engineer bill

    engineer bill TrainBoard Supporter

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    How do you pull the drawbar off from the engine side? Mine is tight around the frame shaft half's so it slightly lifts the rear and cannot pull more then 2 cars. It has a plastic pin that I have tried pulling on but I do not want to break it. Thx for any info.
     
  2. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    If it is like my older one the plastic pin fits into the split drawbar post and holds the drawbar from the tender in place. Should be able to slip something thin under the head to the pin and gently pry it straight up.
     
  3. badlandnp

    badlandnp TrainBoard Member

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    I concur. It has a snug fit and pulls out with firm and gentle tension.
     
  4. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    If you do it that way, do be careful. It will break. Ask me how I know.

    What I do, now, is much trouble, but it does not result in a broken pin. I take off the shell, loosen the back screw that holds together the frame halves. At that point, I can pull out the pin.
     
  5. Jeepy84

    Jeepy84 TrainBoard Member

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    I second this approach, it was easy disassembled, which I was doing anyway to add cab windows.

    Sent from the magical mystery box
     
  6. engineer bill

    engineer bill TrainBoard Supporter

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    That's what I was afraid of, I was pulling on the pin to the point of no return, so apart it comes.
     
  7. badlandnp

    badlandnp TrainBoard Member

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    And I stand corrected. The memory needed that little jog. It is a simple loco to disassemble/re-assemble.
     
  8. Jeepy84

    Jeepy84 TrainBoard Member

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    I'm thinking just undoing to screws under the cab a few turns might help, might not even have to disassemble the whole thing... I could look into it Weds. when I'm back in town.

    Sent from the magical mystery box
     
  9. badlandnp

    badlandnp TrainBoard Member

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    When you pull the cab screws loose and remove the cab, be careful of the soft plastic 'nuts' in the cab that are in the cab. Teeny little easy to loose things! Then do the frame screw and it will spread a bit, and out comes the pin.
     
  10. engineer bill

    engineer bill TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thx guys, Ive always like this little gem but it just would not pull anything now it will see some running time. Just by pushing up the drawbar helps.
     
  11. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    Undoing the screws under the cab is only part of it. You will have to undo the forward screw that holds the driver retainer plate, pull the pilot truck, then undo the screw under it. Do remember to re-tighten the screw on the retainer plate, so that the drivers do not get out of quarter. After undoing all of the screws, slide the shell slightly forward and up. If you can access the screw on the aft of the locomotive frame, good. Loosen it a bit, push the frame halves slightly apart and the pin will slide out. Do not use too much force on the pin, as it can break.

    Make your adjustments, slide the locomotive shell back onto the power chassis, re-do all of the screws. Loosen the forward screw under the retainer plate, replace the pilot truck tighten the screw.

    Some have managed simply to pivot the pilot truck to one side and undo the long screw that it conceals, but that never has worked for me.

    A bit complicated just to do that, granted, but, the price of trying the shortcut could be a broken pin. I have manged to fashion replacements from tie pieces chopped off of flex track, but why lose the pin if you do not need to do so?

    I wonder if both MDC and Athearn made those pins out of recycled plastic, which is why they are so brittle.
     
  12. Jeepy84

    Jeepy84 TrainBoard Member

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    Just looked at mine, and brokemoto has it exactly right. Just taking the cab off won't get you all the way there. But, it sounds like you got it to work, so this is for others' future reference.
     
  13. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    If you want to take off the cab, you must remove the locomotive shell from the power chassis. You then turn the shell upside down and remove the screw that is under the cab roof. The cab lifts off. Do be careful when handling this locomotive as the whistle is delicate.

    I have more than a few of these things. They are very nice. They are amoung the best running out-of-the box locomotives available. I have "updated" a few of them and modified them to operate on my non-historic Short Creek and Nopedale. I moved the headlight to the smokebox, put a generator where the headlight was, added a power reverse detail, back-up light and made an oil burner from one mogul. I "updated" the mantleclock headlight (but left it in the high position), added a power reverse detail and back-up light to a consolidated. I have modified a few others, as well.

    The mogul is the main passenger power. The consolidated is a back-up switcher. The consolidated has fewer "update" details, as the railroads tended to spend less on switchers than they did on road power. The high headlight seems to be a switcher characteristic, even on some roads that generally used the center mounted headlight. I would expect that this was due largely to switchers' having drivers much smaller than road power, thus, the profile was a bit lower, as a rule.
     
  14. engineer bill

    engineer bill TrainBoard Supporter

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    update on the drawbar, it was straight up E-Z with all the help from TB members thanks it now pulls 12 cars no sweat! The top half of the drawbar was .012 tighter than the bottom half so a little reaming and its all good. Also added a small weight to the lead truck (it would jump at a certain joiner every so once in a while.
     

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