Ditch Light Replacment Help ~ Athearn SD70M

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Trucklover

Trucklover

BNSF SD70MAC's
I need to replace the ditch lights on the Athearn Genesis SD70M. I cannot for the life of me assemble 2 in a row, and im finding myself getting the ditch light parts from other older run Athearn Genesis locomotives to replace and use on the current ones im doing. This is very frustrating, and i keep loosing one of the halves when assembling them. I dont know how many of you have done the Athearn Genesis ditch lights, but they are dang near impossible to assemble without loosing one of the halves on the floor. I have thick carpet, so things tend to disappear no matter how hard i look :mad:

What are some alternatives i can use for a SD70M? Who makes one piece ditch light assemblies that i can just plug in and slip the light up into and be done with it?
 
NYSW F45 said:
I was able to assemble them with no problem. Took some time but got them done.
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I managed to get 1 of them done too, but i ended up loosing one of the other halves from the second ditch light assembly in the process for good (disappeared inside the thick carpet), and like i said, i had to pull the part from another Athearn Genesis loco that i have not assembled yet.... This is going to mess me up when it comes time to assemble the other one, so i need an alternative so i can just buy extra ditch lights to install them on the other units.

This isnt the first time this has happened to me with these Athearn 2 part ditch light assemblies, and i need some more extras to finish off the others that are not complete due to the same problem im having now, loosing the pieces cuz there so dang small lol
 


I was able to find someone on the atlas message board who had 3 pairs of lights. Brand new in the package, best part? Already assembled!!!! i'll have to find the part # for them.
 
NYSW F45 said:
I was able to find someone on the atlas message board who had 3 pairs of lights. Brand new in the package, best part? Already assembled!!!! i'll have to find the part # for them.
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That would be awesome, thanks Steve :D

I was hoping that Detail Associates or some other detail company would have what i need, but after a quick look, i didnt come up with any. If i missed them, and someone does make ditch lights (preferably assembled ones) for a SD70M then please let me know who manufactures them and what the item number is
 
Josh, try using a piece of scrap foam on your bench when you're assembling detail parts. I have a 1'x2' piece of one inch foam that I glued 1" "bumpers" around the edges, also made of foam. Set the parts on the foam and work on them. If a piece comes off, it will be caught by the foam and the bumpers.
 
UP2CSX said:
Josh, try using a piece of scrap foam on your bench when you're assembling detail parts. I have a 1'x2' piece of one inch foam that I glued 1" "bumpers" around the edges, also made of foam. Set the parts on the foam and work on them. If a piece comes off, it will be caught by the foam and the bumpers.
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Hmmmm now why didnt i ever think of that? :o Thanks for the idea Jim, i have some scrap foam board sitting up in my room that i can use to make something similar to keep track of the small parts when working on something like this
 
NYSW F45 said:
Josh, ATHG63825.
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Steve, those are the ditch lights them selves, i need the Ditch Light Assemblies or "housings" i guess you could say. Im not sure what they are called exactly, ill see if i can find them on the Athearn site, but im sure they are out of production as well....
 
I dont see a part number for the ditch light "housings" on the instruction sheet, but the parts im after is the "housing" or the assembly that the ditch lights (which are part number ATHG63825 that you posted above) go up into
 


i doubt you'll be able to get just the plastic pieces. These are the bulbs and housings assembled, $5 or so for the pair.
 
NYSW F45 said:
i doubt you'll be able to get just the plastic pieces. These are the bulbs and housings assembled, $5 or so for the pair.
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ahhh i see, i didnt know the housings came in those packs with the lights? If they do, and there already assembled, then im calling Athearn to try and get some lol
 
Trucklover said:
ahhh i see, i didnt know the housings came in those packs with the lights? If they do, and there already assembled, then im calling Athearn to try and get some lol
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Yes, they do comes with the lights. At least, all the bulbs I've ever bought from them had housings.
 
Just to be 100% sure here, here is a picture with the 2 ditch lights installed up through the anti-climber:

SL373684.jpg


and here is a picture of the Ditch Light Assembly/Housing im in need of. The ditch light on the right has the housing, the one on the left does not (NOTE! The housing is not pushed down all the way, just set ontop of the light for the picture....):

SL373685.jpg


So, the Athearn Ditch Light pack (ATHG63825) comes with both the ditch lights themselfs and the ditch light housings as the one in the second picture above?
 
Trucklover said:
Hmmmm now why didnt i ever think of that? :o Thanks for the idea Jim, i have some scrap foam board sitting up in my room that i can use to make something similar to keep track of the small parts when working on something like this
Click to expand...

using blue poster (thick tack or something like that) adhesive on your plier is quite userfull too
 
Hey Josh,

You may have already tried this, but you may want to email athearn. They have a parts email on their website. I recently used them after my son "Godzilla-ed" the trucks to one an athearn boxcar. The immediately sent out a replacement part, all for free in about a week. I was very impressed with their service.

Good luck,

Brad
 
They are out of stock and the picture is misleading. They still come with the separate bulbs and the two piece housing that has to be assembled. You just have to get good at gluing those little suckers together. :)
 
UP2CSX said:
They are out of stock and the picture is misleading. They still come with the separate bulbs and the two piece housing that has to be assembled. You just have to get good at gluing those little suckers together. :)
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Jim, I have several of those, they're the one piece modern housing. I have not found any Genesis parts from Horizon with the older two piece housing.
 


Thanks guys, being an Athearn dealer, im going to see if i can scrounge up any of these ditch light packs, i might as well get as many as i can seeing as how there "temp out of production", cuz the SD70 series are one of my favorite Athearn locos, and i do have quite a few of the older genesis ones to assemble still lol
 
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