Got one Athearn SD40-2 part way done.


B

Blues909

Active Member
I posted a while back March 2014 about cutting the fuel tank from 19' to 13' for Milwaukee Road. I did the frame maybe 5 years ago yet finally fit it to the shell. I already shortened the hood to 81" and used Details west cast metal coupler pilot pockets and thinned the coupler mounts and shortened them so I could remover the 4 pins that mounted the shell. Today I thinned out and shorted the replacement frames coupler mounts to it would fit and mount the same way as before.

I used # 5 couplers and thinned them as much as I could. It looks like the trucks hit yet it's a angle, the wheels hit yet it would do a 22" radius I think. I shorted the tank from 19 feet well Athearn had it at 19 1/4' so it is now 13 1/2' . I left a bit of the frame ahead of the tank so it would be stronger and it doesn't really show to much. I still have the frame I removed so later I might go the 13 ' and see if it holds up, Maybe. I also might see what other couplers I can fit for more clearance yet since I don't have a layout it doesn't matter #5's seem to be the thinnest yet the boxes are the longest.

It's just to see if at my old age I could still do this then I'll finish the GP-35 so I can mount the shell to the rail power GP-35 shell to the modified Athearn GP-35 frame.
I forgot to include a link to the original post I made on this forum about doing this. http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/...d40-2-for-milwaukee-road-fuel-tank-mod.24418/




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Wow that’s a lot of work, but it paid off!
I’ve cut the back off of the coupler box before to gain clearance but there are smaller coupler arrangements also.
 

I was a lot of work I did it with a razor saw and files even when I shortened the fuel tank. I'm adding 2 more photo's to show the truck clearance and the best I could get of the front pilot since the black plastic seems to shine.
 
If you want smaller, more scale size couplers, get Kadee's #158 Whisker couplers. #158 "scale" on the left. #5 on the right

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tootnkumin said:
If you want smaller, more scale size couplers, get Kadee's #158 Whisker couplers. #158 "scale" on the left. #5 on the right

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Yes but I need a gear box or else I can't get the unit to hold the frame to the shell. The SD40-2 is fine, it's the Rail power GP-35 shell to the Athearn GP-35 frame . The shell has bolsters on the pilot so there is no open bottom where the coupler fits so I don't need to fill that. They made the bolster stick out more than needed and the top is thick so I can file that more so I might not need to file the frame pads down much if at all. I can't use #5 because the back of the gear box will hit before the hole lines up. I have other Kaydee's that will. Once I open the bolster top so it's higher and file just a bit off the other ones I forget the number they have a spring that the coupler shank fits in between to center it and you can mount the spring section at the top or bottom to get the height where it's needs to be. Man Kadee's have certainly gone up in price so I need to try to use what I have. However thank you for the insight, didn't know they had more models available. Once I get one to fit I still need to secure a styrene block and drill and tap so I can run a 2-56 screw up from the bottom and that is the easy part. This way I drill a trough hole in the frames pad and sandwich the gearbox between the frame pad and tapped block.
 
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